Poetry

The Emily Dickinson Museum (M, O, T)
The Emily Dickinson Museum contains biographical information about Emily Dickinson and offers a multitude of lesson plans and learning resources to accompany her writing. The lessons encourage students to explore language, environment, and a writer's history when examining poetry.

Glossary of Poetic Terms (O, T)
This extensive glossary from the Poetry Foundation covers everything from poetic devices, types of poetry, and more.

Maya Angelou Educational Toolkit (M, O, T)
This teacher's toolkit from KERA provides a good overview for learning about and teaching Maya Angelou. It includes several lesson plan ideas, biographical information, and links to additional resources. Designed for upper elementary to high school students. Be sure to review any content for age-appropriateness.

TEDed Poetry Video Lessons (Y, M, O, T)
TEDed hosts a large collection of poetry-related video lessons that cover fascinating and unique topics. You can find lessons on famous historical poets, multicultural poetry, poetry from ancient cultures, and more.

PBSLearning Poetry Lessons (Y, M, O, T)
PBSLearning has a large collection of K-12 poetry lessons. The lessons include units on famous poets and poetic devices, as well as topics like poetry in pop culture, multicultural poetry, and using poetry to raise awareness.

Hip-Hop & Shakespeare? Akala TED Talk (Video) (M, O)
An excellent TED talk by Akala, a hip hop artist who fuses rap/rock/electro-punk with lyrical storytelling. He "demonstrates and explores the connections between Shakespeare and Hip-Hop, and the wider cultural debate around language and its power."

Slam Poetry Groups, Events, and Resources (O, T)
Power Poetry is a site that features and facilitates slam poetry writers and events. Use the resource map to find a poetry group near you, discover numerous online poetry groups under the groups tab, or create your own! Check out the resources page to find lesson plans, teacher guides, and other resources for teaching poetry.

Poetry Lessons from the Pulitzer Center (O, T)
These five lessons from the Pulitzer Center focus on how poetry reflects current events and culture at the time its written. This page is updated annually with contests and workshops.

Poetry in America Courses (O)
Poetry in America connects high-school students to online, college-level poetry courses from Harvard University and Arizona State University. Some are audit-only, while others can be taken for college credit.

Ideas for Teaching Creative Poetry (Y,M)
A poetry unit study the looks at various poets and forms of poetry. The students get a chance to read and write haiku, cinquain, couplets, limericks, form poems, shape poems, and free verse. From Scholastic.com for grades 3-5.

Picture-Perfect Poetry Projects (Y,M)
Visual poems, like shape poems and rebuses, are always a favorite for students. From Scholastic.com for grades 1-2, 3-5

eMagnetic Poetry: 4 Ideas Across the Curriculum (Y,M)
eMagnetic poetry makes it easier than ever to free the words from the refrigerator door to use in creative lessons across the curriculum.. From Scholastic.com for grades 1-2, 3-5, and 6-8.

Master List of Themes for Poetry Teatime (Y, M, O, T)
Help kids embrace poetry with Poetry Teatime from Brave Writer! Poetry Teatime pairs reading poetry aloud with a special treat and tea, and can be made more engaging with seasonal or holiday themes. Additions to the master list of themes are ongoing. Be sure to check out the links to all kinds of delicious teatime treats for ideas on what to serve!

Newspaper Blackout Poetry (Y, M, O)
Even students who aren't poetry fans may enjoy this cool way of "writing" poetry. "Using a black marker," Austin Kleon "takes away the words he doesn't need, creating new poetic verses. He has compiled his poetry into a book called Newspaper Blackout and invites others to upload their own blackout poetry on his Tumblr page." Take a look at the examples on the linked page and let your kids try it out. The user submissions on his Tumblr page come from all ages, so if you visit that, preview for appropriateness for your family. Reading through the submissions inspires creativity and may encourage your budding poet to create his or her own blackout poetry.

Poetry Foundation.org (Y,M,O,T)
The Poetry Foundation.org publishes Poetry magazine. Their goal is to select good poetry and get it out to a large audience.

Poetic Terminology.net (Y,M,O,T)
The site lists typed of Poetry and gives a concise definition and example.

Shadow Poetry (Y,M,O,T)
A poet's writing resource.

Sea Life Poetry (Y,M)
Using Internet resources listed with the lesson plan, students discover oceans and sea life and use this material for different forms of poetry. Good way to integrate language arts into an ocean unit study.

Knowing Poe (O)
All about Poe

Poets.org (T)
Curriculum & Lesson Plans

Everything You Need to Celebrate Poetry Month (T)
From Education World. Links to lesson plans, activities, articles, and projects for teaching poetry.

Rhymes with (Y,M,O,T)
Internet rhyming dictionary. Warning - program does not edit content for words some consider inappropriate.

Walt Whitman: Patriot Poet (M,O)
From PBS.org

Haiku and Beyond: A Study of Japanese Literature (Y)
Haiku and Beyond A Study of Japanese Literature - by Denver Public Schools. Grade 3

FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary (Y,M,O,T)
My daughter loves using this online tool when writing poetry. Just put any word in the form and specify whether you want results with end rhymes, first syllable rhymes, last syllable rhymes, beginning rhymes, or double rhymes. Your child is sure to find a word to use in their poetry or limerick from the results

Poets Org - Materials for Teachers (Y,M,O,T)
Find poems for kids and teens, lesson plans, essays, and more.

Modern American Poetry (Y,M,O,T)
MAPS=Modern American Poetry Site. Includes more than 30,000 pages of critical essays, images, biographies, and syllabi relating to 161 poets.

Poetry (T)
From ProTeacher.com