Poem in Your Pocket Day – a success!

Guilty admission: I’ve never celebrated Poem In Your Pocket Day until this year. National Poetry Month: of course. Lessons on poets/types of poetry: yes. Just not this day. And I don’t know why.

Shame on me, because with a little planning (seriously, very little) and a couple of teachers on board, PIYP Day was a huge, resounding success.

What I Did:

• Taught poetry-centered lessons during April (nothing new here)
• Created PIYP stickers for students/staff to wear (made easy with Publisher)
• Found and copied a poem to carry in my “pocket” (thank you, Lee Bennett Hopkins)
• Scattered kid-friendly poetry books on all library tables
• Had paper/pencils available  (and tape, scissors, string later on)
• Made a couple of cute poster-board “pockets” for me and the office staff, my closest neighbors in the building.  No pattern needed: just some paper-cutter skills.
• Sent emails (3 total, the first 3 weeks ago) to staffaboutPIYP Day, with these links:
  • YOU CAN JOIN IN.  Need a poem?  Come by the library, or check these websites.
  • http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/409
  • http://jackprelutsky.com/jacks-poems/
  • http://www.shelsilverstein.com/books/
  • More resources and lesson ideas are here:
  • http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/participate-poem-your-pocket-20720.html
  • http://www.slj.com/resources/slj-resources-for-national-poetry-month/#_
  • Kid-friendly websites of great poets:
  • J Patrick Lewis: http://jpatricklewis.com/poems.shtml
  • Shel Silverstein: http://www.shelsilverstein.com/
  • Jack Prelutsky: http://jackprelutsky.com/

What Happened:

• Ten staff members had poems in their pockets
• Eight classrooms celebrated
• Six classes of students (the usual library classes) had an opportunity to find/write poems during class (around 10-15 minutes)
• Use of the library skyrocket, as students came in during recess to find poems, type copies of poems, and create their own “pockets”
• Trading and collecting of poems was hot-hot among 1^st – 3^rd grade students

I eventually created a quick (think 45 min) display for my library windows on Wednesday morning when there were no classes in the library. To further share the poems that staff / students loved, it grew into this by the end of Thursday:

What I’d Do Differently Next Year:

• Have colored paper/patterns of pockets for students to make during recesses
• Weather permitting, write a poem with chalk on the sidewalks leading to the building
• Create a PIYP Day Tellegami video for the school-wide Daily News, to be aired the week prior

As students left school that afternoon, the mess in the library was worth it. It was one of those great student-centered days, where a very little bit of planning went a long, long way.

More ideas on how to celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day are welcome! Share links/ideas below. 🙂