Spring into a Good Poem

Welcome to our Spring is Here Blog Hop!  My bloggy friends and I are sharing poetry resources in celebration of the arrival of Spring and because April is National Poetry Month.   National Poetry Month was established to "highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets" and "encourage the reading of poems."

I am so glad that Spring is finally arriving in my part of the world.  Winter is not my favorite season.  I love to see new life beginning to bloom and the feeling of hope for a better time after a bleak winter season.  Thinking about "a feeling of hope"  and welcoming spring made me think of the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus because she writes about the Statue of Liberty and welcoming immigrants to the United States to begin a better life.

This poem is one of the 4-5 text exemplars provided in Appendix B of the Common Core State Standards.  "The New Colossus" can be a challenging text for students to read; however, I believe it is important to challenge students in safe, structured environment with support.  Students must learn to persevere in order to lead productive lives and my goal is to teach them how through different experiences - one of them being reading.

 In honor of that poem, I created a small close reading resource that includes a writing piece as a culminating activity.  I aligned the resource to the fourth grade standards but it could also be used in fifth grade.  This is not a one and done activity.  It could take several days to complete.  I would complete one or two steps each day.  Click on the image below to be taken to the file.

Thank you for visiting.  The next stop is The W.I.S.E. Owl who will share a shared reading poetry freebie.  Make sure to check it out!

If you missed any stops on the way, you can start back at the beginning with The Comprehension Connection.