Poetry cafe

Poetry Cafe is a fun way for students to showcase their creativity in 3rd grade here at St. James! The Poetry Café is valuable because it developes a love for poetry, of course, but it also strengthens their own writing, teaches them how to learn more deeply, and helps them develop public speaking and performance skills, all of which will serve them for the rest of their lives.

We spent the first 2 weeks studying poetry and learning literary elements.  My students were introduced to a lot of new vocabulary including: rhythmic pattern, rhyme, alliteration, imagery, and many more poetic words.  We spent each day during reading studying a certain element, and then in writing, trying it out.  Each student wrote a poem in the following formats: Cinquain, Acrostic, Shape, 5 senses, and Limerick.

We kept all of our poems in a Poetry Folder. This morning we invited our parents to join our performance in a Poetry Cafe style. The beatnik culture inspired us to transform our classroom and dress as if we were actually in an open mic night of a coffee shop! These 3rd graders read poems they have written over the past few weeks and it was such a special event!