Poetry Starters
· Read “What Should I Be?” Have students make a list of what they would like to be. Write a poem about what that experience would be like. How would they look, act, talk, walk?
· Read “Trick and Treat.” Give students the opportunity to look at the artwork. Ask them to write a poem from the perspective of the spider or the fly.
· Using “Halloween Wish” as a model, make a classroom wish book. Each student will have a page to write and illustrate. Each page could begin, “Wish I may, wish I might, see a ____________ tonight.” Students may add a descriptive verse.
· Have students read “Dinner Dilemma.” Ask them to think about what kind of Halloween stew, kebab, roast or meal they might like to make. What is the most delicious concoction they can create? How would you make a candy kebab? What ingredients would you use for a Halloween stew? Ask students to make a recipe for their ultimate Halloween treat.
· Using “Skeleton” and “Bat” as examples, have students write short poems based on factual information. Take this across the curriculum: perhaps there is something in science, social studies or mathematics that your class has been studying that would lend itself to this exercise. Create a classroom collection of non-fiction poetry on a particular topic.
· Discuss the rhyming pattern in “A Witch’s Favorite Day.” Students can use that pattern, or one of their own choosing, to create their own poems about a day that made them feel special.
· “A Broomstick’s Life” is told in the voice of an inanimate object. Select an object and write a poem from its point of view. For example, how do your sneakers feel when you put them on? What would it be like to be your skateboard? Your scooter? Your bicycle?
Contributed by Laney Nielson
