| Poetry is a topic that many teachers are hesitant to teach. They feel that either they don’t understand it well enough or their students will not enjoy it. When you mix poetry with phonics instruction, both become much easier and more relevant. After studying a word family, have your students come up with as many rhyming words from that family as possible. As a class you should begin to develop lines of poetry ending with words from the same family. Do not worry about rhythm initially, as you will find it will come naturally. After developing a few stanzas turn the students loose on their own.
As an extension, you can have students illustrate their new creations using graphics software (Paint, KidPix, etc.). Older students who have learned keyboarding can type their poems and perhaps add clipart as well.
The following web pages will provide some additional explanations and examples.
A Time for Rhyme 1
A Time for Rhyme 2
A Time for Rhyme 3 | 
