April is National Poetry Month, and it’s the perfect opportunity to infuse creativity and language arts skills into your special education classroom. Here are some adaptable and engaging ideas to celebrate poetry with your students while also incorporating instruction in adjectives and fostering language development.
Describe Pictures
- Start by describing pictures. Show students simple pictures and make a list of describing words. Students who are non-speaking can choose between two describing words as seen below.
Adjective Instruction
- Use visual strips with different categories of adjectives (size, shape, color, texture) to help students generate descriptive words.
- Encourage students to add details or adjectives to their sentences, even if they can only write simple sentences. For those not yet writing sentences, practice describing pictures by making lists. You may further differentiate this activity by giving the student two choices of describing words and have them use a bingo dauber to select the correct word.
Simple Poem Creation
- Introduce students to various types of simple poems such as Acrostic poems, List poems, and Haikus.
- Provide sentence starters and a word bank to support students in generating ideas for their poems.
- For students who may struggle with writing, offer phrases on strips of paper that they can choose from to add to their poems.
Multi-Sensory Poem Activities
- Incorporate multi-sensory experiences into poetry activities by using tactile materials like clay or textured paper for students to create poems.
- Explore sensory-rich poetry themes such as nature, emotions, or favorite objects, allowing students to express themselves through different senses.
Collaborative Poetry Projects
- Foster a sense of community and teamwork by engaging students in collaborative poetry projects. This could involve creating group poems or a class poetry anthology.
- Encourage peer support and collaboration by having students work together to brainstorm ideas and co-write poems.
Poetry Performances
- Host poetry read-aloud sessions where students can listen to various poems being read aloud, including poems written by their peers.
- Organize poetry performances or recitals where students have the opportunity to share their own poems with classmates, teachers, and parents.
By incorporating these creative ideas, you can make National Poetry Month a memorable and enriching experience for your special education students. Celebrating poetry not only enhances language and literacy skills but also encourages self-expression, creativity, and confidence. Let’s make poetry come alive in our classrooms this April!
Need these poetry ideas all in one place and easy to implement? Check out this Descriptive Writing & Poetry Unit for Special Education.