Writing Poetry Month by Month

Many teachers know the magic of students writing poetry in the classroom, but these days it seems like there’s just not enough time in the curriculum to do so. But what if there were small ways to make space for students to write poetry each and every month of the school year? Award-winning educator and children’s book author Valerie Bolling shares a way to do just that in Writing Poetry Month by Month: Inspiring the Poet in All Students.

In each of the core chapters (one for each month of the school year), Writing Poetry Month by Month:

• introduces readers to a type of poem;
• suggests a variety of mentor text read-alouds that immerse students in this poem type;
• outlines ways to teach students to write this type of poem (whether you have time for just one day of poetry writing or many);
• offers organizers to help students get started;
• provides scaffolds that support and extensions that challenge;
• includes several student examples (across grade levels) of the poem type for teachers to share as mentor texts; and
• shares ways to celebrate students’ poetry.

Writing poetry helps students develop important literacy skills and brings joy to the classroom. Writing Poetry Month by Month helps teachers make space for this vibrant classroom practice!