Poetry Unit – Poem Of The Week Activity

This resource is included in the Stellar Literacy Collective. Click here to learn more!

If you’re still searching for the perfect resource for your poetry unit, you’ve come to the right place. Poem of the Week will give you 10 poems (and paired passages) along with questions and activities that will help your students understand and enjoy reading poetry. Poem of the week is a quick and easy reading routine that could be the backbone to your poetry unit – and the best part is there is zero prep for you. Just print out your poem of the week booklet and you’re ready to teach!

Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t feel like we have time to teach poetry! But this poem of the week resource makes it easy. Each week your students will read one poem and will answer just a few comprehension questions each day. It only takes 10-15 minutes to complete each daily task. Students will have a lot of fun reading and exploring different types of poetry. I can guarantee it will be worth your time.

AND to make this resource even more beneficial for you and your students, each week there is a paired passage written on the same topic as the poem. This will give your students a chance to practice comparing and contrasting poems to other texts, which I know is something a lot of students will see on their end-of-year state test. Think of poem of the week as a fun way to do test prep!

HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:

In this resource, you’ll get 10 Poem of the Week Booklets/Worksheets. Each Poem of the Week set includes the following:

• Weekly Poem (perfect for 3rd – 5th Grade)
• Paired Passage (on the same topic as the poem)
• Weekly Fluency Practice Checklist
• Comprehension Activities
• Bonus Word Study Activity
• Answer Key
• Digital Version (created using Google Slides)
• Two Printing Options (can print as a booklet or just as a set of worksheets)

POEM OF THE WEEK ROUTINE:

Each week your students will follow the same routine to learn how to analyze and dig deep into understanding poetry. The questions for each day match up to the following daily focus skills.

• Monday: Identify the elements of poetry.
• Tuesday: Analyze word choice.
• Wednesday: Visualize the poem.
• Thursday: Analyze the speaker’s point of view and identify the theme.
• Friday: Compare the poem to a text on the same topic.

LOVED BY BOTH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS: 

Teachers inside The Stellar Literacy Collective have been using Poem of the Week with their students and both teachers and students love it!

• Your students will love the topics and variety of poems. They are fun, engaging, silly, serious, emotional, witty and just plain fun to read. Your students will have fun reading the poem of the week!
• You’ll love how low prep poem of the week is. All you have to do is print and copy the booklet for the week and all the directions and passages are assembled together in an easy-to-follow weekly routine.
• Your students will love the weekly fluency checklist. They’ll enjoy working on their expression and phrasing while they read the poem!
• You’ll love how easy it is to teach poetry with this resource. Poetry can sometimes be tricky to understand, but with this routine, the prompts, and included answer key, you can be confident in helping your students learn how to understand poetry.
• You’ll also love that this resource will help your students prepare for the end-of-year test in a fun and engaging way! The weekly paired passage is an easy way to help students get practice with comparing poetry to other texts!

Prep is quick and easy… Just print the poem of the week booklet and you’re all set for the week!

HOW TO USE POEM OF THE WEEK IN YOUR CLASSROOM:

• Poem of the week could work as the core resource for your poetry unit.
• You could also use this as a warmup to your reading block or as part of your daily morning meeting.
• Poem of the week makes a GREAT reading center. Students will get practice with fluency and comprehension with this one activity.
• Use as a fun alternative to test prep (paired passage included!)
• Give students as homework.
• Use during the month of April to celebrate National Poetry Month
• Use all year long as a fun and engaging way for students to explore poetry!

Be sure to check out the preview to learn more about this resource!