Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Poetry Units for Modern History

I'm knee-dip in curriculum planning for the fourth grade this fall and loving it. Yes, I know, I'm a bit of a geek that way.

So tell me...if you were planning to introduce/study 4-6 English speaking poets to and with a 4th grader, poets that would correlate with the modern history time period we're also studying (1850 to the present) which poets would you choose? I've already decided on 3, but am hoping to choose another 1-3 poets, and I'm genuinely curious to know who comes to mind for other readers/teachers/poetry lovers. (I'll post more about my selections soon.)

Would love to hear your thoughts!

7 comments:

Free Range Anglican said...

Robert Louis Stevenson. I've always loved using his poetry in schooling.
And Jack Prelutsky. Poetry for the rest of us. :) Especially those of us who happen to be little boys.
And it would be cool if such things were taught in a co-op or something.

Beth said...

Ah, two favorites! I love RLS -- have blogged about him here a few times. We've done him a lot, so I don't know if he'll be one of our main guys this year, though I'm sure I'll incorporate him somewhere. S. loves his poems. Me too.

And Prelutsky -- what's not to love? We just stumbled upon a copy of S's absolute favorite Prelutsky collection at the library sale -- we are now the proud owners of A Pizza the Size of the Sun. :) It was like Christmas in July!

Beth said...

And hmmm...yes. Poetry in a co-op. Sounds like a grand idea. :)

Erin said...

Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are always good, and as much as I love Prelutsky, I'm equally fond of Shel Silverstein. 8-)

Beth said...

Good choices, Erin! You're onto me, I can tell...! :)

OlDave said...

Are you, perhaps, trying to re-invent the wheel? Are there not collections of poetry edited for content level and interest for various age levels? I'm thinking that maybe hearing a lot of voices would be better than hearing a lot of a few voices.

Beth said...

Greetings! No, I don't think I'm trying to reinvent the wheel. :) There are some lovely poetry collections for children (in fact, always finding new ones) that we love and dip into often. My little girl has been hearing different poetic voices since she was very young. But there are also some wonderful resources for children that "dive deep" with a particular poet -- we particularly like the Poetry for Young People series. I think children get to a stage, long about the mid-grammar years, when they are ready to "dive deep" with some specific poetic voices.

My post isn't really a plea for help as much as it is a friendly invitation to talk about what poets work particularly well for children of a certain age. Sorry if that didn't come across!

Thanks for stopping by.