April is National Poetry Month, and I’ve decided to celebrate with Poetree Fridays! Every Friday from 4.3.2020 to 5.1.2020 I’ll post a new video with a quick poetry lesson and a weekly Poetree Fridays Challenge. You will find all the videos on this page. The lessons are aimed at early elementary students, but the challenges should be fun for older kids as well. Parents, teachers, or caregivers can post kids’ challenge poems on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #PoetreeFridays, or email them to me at shaunalreynolds@gmail.com. If you and your poet don’t mind me sharing, please include the child’s first name, last initial, and location. (Privacy is important — just a state or country is fine, and so is a nickname.)

Week 4: 4.24.2020

Hey, poets! This week I read challenge poems about a mop dog and a worm. We’ll peek in the Poetry Tool Box and talk about point-of-view. See if you can guess the point-of-view in my riddle poem, and then write your own riddle poem with a unique point-of-view for the #PoetreeFridays challenge. See you next week for the final video!

Week 3: 4.17.2020

TGIPF — thank goodness it’s Poetree Fridays! This week two dogs and a gecko help me introduce some figurative language concepts. The challenge is to include simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification in an animal acrostic poem. Remember: your favorite kind of animal or your pet’s name should be spelled out by the first letter in each line of the poem. This was a fun video to make — I hope you enjoy it and learn something!

Week 2: 4.10.2020

Hello, clever poets! I received some fantastic challenge poems this week, and I hope to read even more as the weeks go on. This week’s #PoetreeFridays challenge is to write an epistolary poem (that’s a poem in the form of a letter) to someone or something you miss. Use rhyme if you’d like, and use words that name or imply your emotions.

Week 1: 4.3.2020

 

Sharpen your pencils, poets! This week’s #PoetreeFridays challenge is to write an “Out My Window” haiku. Use your five senses and your emotions to write a haiku about a scene outside a window where you live. Remember, haiku contains 17 syllables in 3 lines:

Five in the first line

Seven in the second line

Five more in the third

(Hey, I think I just wrote one!)

I can’t wait to read your poems, and share some of them next week! Please have a grown-up share your haiku with me by Wednesday, 4.8.2020 for a chance to hear your brilliant poem in next week’s video.