Poetry Program, Session III: Concrete Poems

I could create a whole book of poetry workshops! There are people who have. Look for books like Poetry Aloud Here!: Sharing Poetry with Children in the Library, by Sylvia M. Vardell. Lee Bennett Hopkins has more than 100 poetry anthologies sharing thousands of poems. Concrete poems. These are the simplest poems to make, with the words of the poem on the page creating a picture of the subject. Pick a topic, like dogs. What are the attributes of a dog? Wet nose, warm paws, wet tongue, soft fur, waggy tail. Using the words, create a quick picture of the dog. That is a concrete poem.

Preparation

Step 1: Gather poetry books. Make sure to get a good, broad selection, such as A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, edited by Paul B. Janeczko, Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems, by Bob Raczka, and Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry, by Joyce Sidman.

Step 2: Have Writing Boxes and heavy stock paper available.

Step 3: Choose a few poems that speak to you. Practice reading them aloud.

Step 4: Choose a mentor text poem.

Step 5: Copy a few poems to hand out as examples.

The Workshop

Step 1: Show and recite a concrete poem

Step 2: On chart paper, ask the children the attributes of a dog. Write each word on the chart paper in the shape of a dog silhouette. Example: the tail is formed with the words tail, wag, wag, wag.

Step 3: Ask each of children list words that will form an animal or object and then create thier own concrete poem.

Step 4: Give a five-minute warning for cleanup. Remind the children when the Writing Boxes are available to use in the library. Clean up the area and put away supplies.

Step 5: Take a few minutes to share the poems.