Kids' Poems: 1st Grade: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry

I first purchased this book about ten years ago for each kindergarten teacher in the building where I was the principal. It is terrific for teachers to use in showing students examples of poems written by other young children in first draft and then final form. Routman's ideas for encouraging poetry writing with young children are very realistic and helpful,which is why I chose to purchase the book for my new position as a literacy coach in an all-kindergarten school.

This small but powerful book is a must-have for teaching poetry! As a primary teacher, I have all three volumes: K, 1st, and 2nd. These books are invaluable resources when teaching poetry to young writers. Regie Routman's books are filled with "real" students' poems that model and inspire emergent poets. Her books also includes poetry lessons that show you how to teach and highlight various poetry techniques.

Regie Routman's book is an amazingly clear and concise look at sharing and teaching poetry in a fourth grade classroom. Thanks for a book that taught me as well as my students.

This is such a cute book. It shows many differnt poems written by second graders. The poems are shown in the childs handwriting and then again typed with a picture. It gives the students you are teaching the confidence that they too can be a poet. Such a great tool for a poetry unit. Also available in other grade levels by the same author. I LOVE this book!!

Regie promised great results with this book and she delivered! The book is a quick read - concise and to the point. It is organized with an overview of the instructional sequence, then subsequent chapters are devoted to each step. Each chapter includes strategies and minilessons, often referencing the student work that is included in the second half of the book. The student work includes both first and final drafts. I used the student work faithfully in my instruction - it was very powerful. Each one of my third graders wrote incredibly descriptive verse about the water cycle. After reading my students' work, a colleague remarked that their verse gave her chills! (I took that comment in a positive way). My kids and I are totally jazzed about writing now!