Caterina C. Salamone
The first step is to subtly introduce your students to poems. Stack your classroom library with books filled with poems with some of your favorite authors. Choose poems that are fun and entertaining. Encourage the students to visit the library daily and find poems that are fun. When the students enter the classroom in the morning and are getting settled, encourage the students to choose a book and read in a quite spot on the rug. Students can read with a buddy during this time as well. Once the students have had some exposure to the poems on their own, start putting some poems up on the chart paper and hang them up in the classroom.
Each day during morning meetings, read a poem that reflects the season, holidays, students' favorite activities, or one that is a favorite or yours. When we choose poems that are near and dear to the heart, the meaning and message is conveyed much deeper. Make it a point to include one poem each day into the morning meeting. This not only sets the tone for they day, but creates the hook that we need to get the students on board. After a while, students can choose their own poems to share with the class. Each day one student can be the reader and take a few minutes to read their poem. This will help students to become comfortable in the classroom and gives the teacher a chance to notice the students becoming excited to read in front of others.
