Why Warm Up Poems
Just as a shared reading lesson series opens with a poem, JOYcabulary book pairings also link a poem or a song to books. Why poems? Amy Ludwig Vanderwater said it best in her book Poems Are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres:
“Why poems? Poems are teachers. From grandparents’ lullabies to rhyming picture books to barroom limericks to long remembered eulogies, we all have ribbons of poetry tied to our bones. Poems change us. Anyone lucky enough to have been read poetry as a child carries certain lines forever, and anyone who has found poetry as an adult knows to hang on as if to a wild horse. For poems wake us up, keep us company, remind us that our world is big AND small. And, too, poems teach us to write. Anything.”
Poetry exposes our children to word play, alliteration, metaphor, and simile— all parts of word learning. Students joyfully chant the rhythm of a favorite poem. in JOYcabulary, a poem sets the stage for deeper comprehension, or enriches conversation when used as a closing. It often provides another opportunity to teach new words. As Mike Ochs of Word Love says:
“When people ask me how to develop student vocabulary, I tell them: read poetry!”
When we marinate our students in poetry, amazing things can happen. Consider this poem from a 1st grader in Saugerties, NY:
... a stained glass window from an abandoned church?! Not only a powerful image, but ABANDONED! From a 7 year old!
