Chapter 9: Poetry

Poetry is the very first genre that children hear. Children listen to lullabies, nursery rhymes, and Mother Goose. As children grow they get accustomed to raps and riddles. Teachers use nursery rhymes with students to help them with reading and writing. A poets main purpose is to create clear images and rhymes that include metaphors and other poetic techniques. Benefits to poetry include providing opportunities for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds to develop important oral language skills though reading and performing poetry. Poetry also engages children in a new or heightened understanding of the world, themselves, and others. For these benefits of poetry to be realized children must be exposed to some sort of poetry at an early age.
Poetry is categorized by the kind of poem it is, nursery rhymes, folktales, haiku's, free verse, concrete poems or shape poems are some types of poetry. The most common type of poetry for children is poetry by a single poet, which is sometimes followed by a common theme. When writing poetry, elements should be used to create imagination, some elements poets use are crafting sound, image, and form. Poetry is often used to help young children develop phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, one to one correspondence, word parts, and rhyme through nursery rhymes.
I believe using poetry with young children is a very good way for children to learn how to read and write. Incorporating poetry into my classroom will help students stay engaged and is a good tool to get students to understand and comprehend the reading.