Dancing Minds and Shouting Smiles: Teaching Personification Through Poetry

Calendar Activities

Professional Library

 

CALENDAR ACTIVITIES

Grades   9 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  December 10

Poet Emily Dickinson was born in 1830.

Students discuss Dickinson's poem "This Is My Letter To The World" and use it to focus on how audience affects voice.

 

Grades   3 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  August 30

Caldecott Medal-winner Virginia Lee Burton was born on this day in 1909.

Students discuss similarities in Burton's illustrations and writing style in her many books, in addition to her use of personification.

 

Grades   5 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  November 28

Poet William Blake was born in 1757.

As a class, students brainstorm abstract concepts and personify that concept through a drawing or story told about the character who personifies that concept.

 

Grades   7 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  February 1

Langston Hughes was born in 1902.

Students examine the poem "Dreams" and identify metaphors in each sentence. Groups of students then compose poems with metaphors for dreams.

 

Grades   3 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  February 14

Valentine's Day is today!

Students find examples of figurative language and write an original example of each device, illustrate, and share them with the class.

 

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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Grades   3 – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Journal

Cold Plums and the Old Men in the Water: Let Children Read and Write "Great" Poetry

The author of this article advocates using "great" poetry with children, and providing the link between the reading and writing of poetry.

 

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