Reading Freebie

Free CVC Word Sliders

Take a visual, kinesthetic, and auditory approach to orthographic mapping with these FREE multisensory CVC word activities!

โŽฏ Reading โŽฏ

Poetry Activities for the Primary Classroom

Hi, friends!ย Can you all believe that today is the first day of spring?!ย And with spring comes rainโ€ฆ SO. MUCH. RAIN.ย I always like to teach a unit on rain during the month of April, which coincidently is Poetry Month.ย We incorporate poetry daily into our shared reading routine.ย I truly believe that poetry can be utilized to help reinforce a number of literacy skills, such as phonics and phonemic awareness, comprehension and concepts of print.ย Poetry is also a great way to help build reading fluency.ย These repeated readings help improve sight word recognition and writing skills, and of course, allow us to use our imaginations.ย Below, you will find a variety of poetry activities we complete using our โ€œRaindropsโ€ poem!

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

DAILY POETRY ACTIVITIES

On Monday, I introduce the poem and we add it to our โ€œI Can Read Poetry Binders.โ€ย The students take these binders home each night to practice reading the poem to their parents. Theyโ€™ll also complete the same poetry activities we completed in class that day at home.

A poetry binder or poetry notebook is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more!

We practice making up hand motions for each line:

  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • On the ground (point to the ground)
  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • Splash around (stretch arms above head and move them around and down)
  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • On the street (pretend to drive car)
  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • On my feet (tap feet)
  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • On the tree (stretch arms above head and sway back and forth)
  • Raindrops, raindrops (wiggle fingers as you move hands downward)
  • Not on me (use thumbs and point to self)
This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

We also use highlighter tape to highlight the word โ€œon,โ€ which is one of this weekโ€™s word wall words.

Recommended Resources:

All About Rain Activities for Kindergarten

All About Rain Activities for Kindergarten

Engage your fast finishers with these 20 early finishers activities for April! This set includes 20 file folder games including 10 literacy and 10 math early finisher activities! These file folder games will provide meaningful practice and enrichment of a variety of skills!

20 Early Finishers Activities for April: File Folder Games & Morning Work

May Fine Motor Activities for May Morning Work Tubs

May Fine Motor Activities for May Morning Work Tubs

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

On Tuesday, we reread the poem and highlight any remaining word wall words.

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

On Wednesday, we touch the words as we reread the poem.ย When we come to a period, we hold our hands out in the stop motion because a period means stop.ย When we get to an exclamation point, we fist pump in the air because an exclamation point means we have strong feelings.ย Then, we highlight all of the periods and exclamation points using a different color.

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

On Thursday, we discuss the -ai vowel team.ย This is a fairly simple conversation in kindergarten.ย  I remind them that โ€œwhen two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.โ€ย We highlight -ai, and I ask โ€œwho does the talkingโ€ฆ a.โ€

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

COPYCAT POEM

On Friday, we always use the poem to complete an extension activity.  For this particular poem, we use the structure of the poem to create a โ€œcopycat poem.โ€

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

You are probably wondering what a copycat poem is.ย  It simply means that we are copying the structure and beat of the original poem to create our own version of the poemโ€ฆ a sort of spin off of the original.ย  I have found that the students are very successful at working together as a class to help create these copycat poems.ย First, I point out the words that rhyme in the poem.ย We discuss other rhyming phrases that might work in the poem.ย  As the students are brainstorming, I jot their ideas onto our anchor chart.

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

After weโ€™ve created a fairly decent sized list, we read each rhyming phrase using the structure of the โ€œRaindropsโ€ poem:

Raindrops, raindrops,

On the pig.

Raindrops, raindrops,

On my wig.

Raindrops, raindrops,

On the goat.

Raindrops, raindrops,

On my boat.

Raindrops, raindrops,

On the mouse.

Raindrops, raindrops,

On my house.

and so onโ€ฆ.

Each student selects a pair of rhyming phrases to write for our own โ€œRaindropsโ€ poem.ย I insert these pages into sleeve protectors inside a binder.ย We now have our very own โ€œRaindropsโ€ poem and class book!

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring! By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more! Donโ€™t forget to check out the great poetry writing prompt perfect for creating a copycat poem!

POETRY ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL & HOME

If youโ€™d like to give these poetry activities a try in your classroom, you can find them in my I Can Read April Poetry Binder.ย This pack comes complete with a poem for each week, weekly lesson plans, pocket chart cards, and extension activities, as well as an at-home connectionโ€ฆ enough to keep the poem going all week long!

These spring poems are the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons! Your students can use a poetry binder or poetry notebook to practice these weekly poems. By using a poem of the week, you help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more!

DONโ€™T FORGET ITโ€ฆ PIN IT!

This rain poem is the perfect way to incorporate poetry activities into your daily lessons this spring!  Donโ€™t miss how this teacher breaks down this poem of the week to help build reading fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness skills, comprehension, concepts of print and more!

If you are looking for a fun rain experiment to complete with your little learners, check out this post all about our โ€œRain Jar Experiment!โ€

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this rain experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using common household items!

Ashley Sharp Pos Bio Image

Ashley Sharp

As a dedicated Kindergarten teacher for nearly 20 years, I believe the words “fun, play, and creativity” can sit right alongside the words “developmentally appropriate, engaging, and rigorous.” Learning is meant to be fun and messy!

More Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

37 responses to “Poetry Activities for the Primary Classroom”

  1. Elyse Rycroft Avatar
    Elyse Rycroft

    Ashley, thank you for breaking down the tasks you complete each day. That is so helpful! I love the highlighter tape idea…very cool!

  2. All About Rain and The Water Cycle – One Sharp Bunch

    […] you’re looking for a fun poem about rain, head over to my post about “Poetry Activities for the Primary […]

  3. Spring Acrostic Poetry Writing – Proud to be Primary

    […] One Sharp Bunch has a wonderful spring poetry activity for you! Check her post with poetry activities for little learners. […]

  4. Amber Backes Avatar
    Amber Backes

    I really enjoy the curriculum you created. I paid for the download. However, I wanted to let you know the slide image prints over the top of words on each page. It’s a bummer. Now I have to try to decipher what words are hiding behind the cute tree.

  5. Kristina Rodar Morris Avatar
    Kristina Rodar Morris

    Hi Ashley,
    I’m a school librarian and am planning on doing the activity in this blog post with my K-1 kids. I want to make sure I give credit for the “Raindrops” poem. Do I just give credit you you?
    Thanks!
    Kristina

  6. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Country Highlights

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  7. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Western Highlights

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  8. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Autoexposite

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  9. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Hollywooddo

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  10. 35 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  11. 35 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – TodayHeadline

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  12. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Market Kindle

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  13. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Paper Tribune

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  14. 35 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Luxuryfolks

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  15. 35 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – Karamel Mall

    […] Be taught extra: One Sharp Bunch […]

  16. 35 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – NewsTimeMedia

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  17. 35 Poetry Video games and Actions for Children – Gsensenews

    […] Be taught extra: One Sharp Bunch […]

  18. 35 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for Kids and Teens – Live News 2 Go Education

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  19. 40 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Country Highlights

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  20. 40 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – US Clock News

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  21. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom | atmhaber.com

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  22. 40 Inspiring Poetry Video games and Actions for the School room

    […] Be informed extra: One Sharp Bunch […]

  23. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom | EduClevr

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  24. 40 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – Country Highlights

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  25. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  26. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for Kids and Teens – Heroes News Network

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  27. 40 Inspiring Poetry Video games and Actions for the Classroom | Better Tomorrow

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  28. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – Consumers Advisory

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  29. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – galaxyconcerns

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  30. 40 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – HealthBooster.net

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  31. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – afeera.net

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  32. 40 Inspiring Poetry Video games and Actions for the Classroom – Best Of News

    […] Study extra: One Sharp Bunch […]

  33. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – PrepWallet

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  34. 40 Poetry Games and Activities for Kids – ReportWire

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  35. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – Everything Read

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  36. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – Monkey Viral

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]

  37. 40 Inspiring Poetry Games and Activities for the Classroom – Zen Linked

    […] Learn more: One Sharp Bunch […]