Poetry: What we do

Q: For next year, I'm debating how I'll tackle poetry . . . whether each child does it individually, or we do it as a family.

A: For the most part, at Fisher Academy, we do poetry together. I feel that most poetry is best enjoyed when read aloud and with other people (this is not a well thought out or documented stance, it's just my opinion at the moment :) I do personally enjoy reading poetry all by myself quietly, I'm just not sure my kids would feel the same way yet.

I remember as a child being both intimidated and challenged by reading poetry. Intimidated as in, I would have been mortified to have been made to read poetry aloud w/o having read it before and yet challenged because I loved poetry and wanted to do it full justice when I did read it aloud.

I teach my kids poetry, taking those things into consideration.


  random girl reading... poetry? courtesy of bjearwicke, site here

So, for the most part we share it aloud, read by me. Randomly, I will have the older kids prepare to read a medium-ish length poem aloud. I give them time to prepare ahead of time (5min or so depending on length).

I have had my kids read AO year specific poetry some on their own, but didn't follow through with my older boys very well (since we've always read aloud). I hope to do more of that with my youngers. Mostly we have always read together and I leave it up to them to seek it out when they want more. They know where the books are. :) And I'm always pleased when they do this occasionally!

We also use favorite poems as recitation for the older kids. They pick a favorite (usually one they've heard me read aloud or one they already kinda know).

I REALLY like what Brandy shared about incorporating poetry w/ the commonplace noteboook! She said: **For my Y4 student, he does this entirely on his own. He has recently begun a commonplace book, and I asked him to choose his favorite poem from each week to put in it. At the end of the term, he chooses his favorite of his favorites, and that is the poem he memorizes the next term. **

As for handling multiple years, I've done different things. I've selected a poem or two from each year to read aloud in the mornings just after Bible reading (or in the past I've read at lunchtime or tea time). I've also just gone daily through an anthology (currently this is what we're doing), reading several poems each day. Both work. I do really appreciate the AO year specific poetry selections and will be incorporating these again soon (part of the reason I was using an anthology was for convenience sake in this oh-so-busy season we're in... having it all in one book! but I look forward to going back to using the AO suggestions).

My older boys have gotten into writing their own poetry now, which is lots of fun! In y7, the Grammar of Poetry has helped prompt this some, but mostly they've taken it on themselves.

Source: google.com via amy in peru on Pinterest

Helpful Links:

There is tons of info on the AO Poetry page, it can be found here:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/Poets.shtml
Parent's Review Articles:
The Teaching of Poetry to Children
An Address on The Teaching of Poetry by the Rev Beeching
What is Poetry? by H. A. Nesbitt

The books we currently use:

The Oxford Book of Children's Verse (Oxford Books of Verse) - this is my favorite anthology used of late! Jam-packed with familiar and not-as-familiar poems for children, we have really enjoyed this one! It's got 346 pages of poetry + forward and resource material.

Random House Treasury of Year-Round Poems (Random House Poetry Treasury) - I'd recommend this book for people living in climates where there is real seasonal change. It's a cute little book, not a ton of poems, arranged seasonally by month (8-10 poems per month).

A Treasury of Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Carl Sandberg, Walt Whitman -We've used this treasury as well as other books in the series for the poets recommended in different AO years. Find the series on individual poets here: Poetry For Young People Series


PS. Dont forget the CM carnival tomorrow!

The upcoming Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival has Poetry as it's theme, so we may have a few posts about poetry in the mix. As always there are a number of blog posts on a variety of CM related subjects, plan to join us!! If you would like to be put on the list to receive a reminder of the CM blog carnival please send an e-mail to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com.

If you have a post to submit on poetry to be included in the post tomorrow (TUES, 3/6), please do so ASAP! You can always submit it or any other CM-related post to the upcoming carnival by e-mailing charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com at any time!



:)