Neat Poetry Website

I am always trying to find interesting things for my students to do during computer lab.  Poetry is a really fun thing for first graders to practice and it always helps when they have a form or a guide.  I found a cool website where you can input the information for your poem and it will generate it for you.  This is great for younger students because it cuts down on the amount of typing they have to do, but still lets them have ownership over the poem. Note:  The difficulty level varies depending on which form you choose, so I think that you could tweak this to fit your needs in any elementary age classroom. 

Go to the site to check it out: http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm

All of the different poetry forms are on the left hand side of the screen.  There are a lot, so you have to search to find what you would like your students to work on.  There are several good options.  I think the best ones are: All about me, biography, 5W, Cinquain (if you read Junie B., First Grader, Cheater Pants :-)), Holiday poem, I can't write a poem, list poem, name, septet (for older students), who am I, and Yes that's me. With my first graders I picked the Yes, That's Me poem.  I made a draft for students to complete before working on the computers.  Click the picture below to get the draft.

Online, the boxes you fill in look like this:

Then you just click the create my instant poem button and viola!  If your students highlight the poem and copy it, then then can paste it in Microsoft word to save, or you can just print it straight from that screen by right clicking and pressing print.

I did my own for fun.  :) Check it out:

 

Yes, that’s me
Look and you’ll see
My hair in a ponytail
My eyes with laugh lines in the corners
My arms doing the chicken dance
My hands giving a thumbs up
My heart full of love
I’m a mom, wife, daughter, and friend
I never give up
My friends are like my family
I live with my heart on my sleeve
I hope to live my life to the fullest
I dream of making a difference
It’s all clear as can be.
That’s positively, absolutely me

 

I hope you find this useful for spicing up computer lab.

 

Happy poetry writing!

Mandy L.