If you don’t have time to implement this idea this year, it might be one to tuck away for September. Get some hints for using poetry journals in your classroom at The Inspired Apple.
Poetry journals are a great way to encourage and model fluent reading in your classroom, but they also will help you introduce a wider range of poetry and poets to students. You can also use them to practice figurative language, introduce vocabulary words, and even build community as students share their own work and read the work of their classmates.
You can differentiate this work product by having some learners write shorter or less complex poems, by adding sample poems to the journals of certain learners, or by allowing one or more students to write some poems collaboratively.
Want journal ideas for older students? Check out this post on using journals in fifth grade.
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