Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? To celebrate, IEW is hosting a fun contest through our social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To enter, post a video or a photo of your students reciting poetry, and label it with the hashtag #iewpoetrydrawing. On May 1, we will randomly select two winners to each receive a $50 IEW gift certificate.
Over the years we have written several blog posts describing the many benefits of memorizing poetry. Here are just a few of them that you can check out:
- Why Poetry?
- Memorization: Strengthening the Heart and Spirit of the Child
- Customer Service Answers: On the Potency of Poetry
- Poetry Matters
If you are working through Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization, pick a poem from it that your students enjoy, and capture them reciting it, either as a video or as a photo. Maybe your youngest will choose “Ooey Gooey,” the funny and slightly icky poem that never fails to entertain young ones. Perhaps your middle schooler will enjoy reciting the more sedate yet beautiful poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. High school students may find Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” to be their personal favorite. Or pick a poem from another source to recite. The possibilities are nearly endless.
Celebrate April’s National Poetry Month by sharing poems with each other on social media. Don’t forget to tag it with #iewpoetrydrawing too! Seeing students share their favorite verse is soul-lifting and sure to generate some smiles. We can’t wait to see what your students select!
