Literacy News

Poetry Week will be celebrated at SKiPPS the week of March 21. All classrooms will be participating in poetry in a variety of fun and engaging ways.

“Poetry can provide comfort and boost mood during periods of stress, trauma and grief. Its powerful combination of words, metaphor and meter help us better express ourselves and make sense of the world and our place in it.” Richard Sima IAM Lab Communications Specialist  

If you would like to get involved at home, here are some suggestions of things to do.

• As a family, write a haiku a day (A short poem originally from Japan). It has three lines. It has five syllables in the first and third lines. It has seven syllables in the second line. A great way to discuss vocabulary choices and synonyms.

Our super school SKiPPS                                                We love taking risks

Celebrating poetry                                                           Writing poems promotes word choice

Loving writing verse                                                        Learning together

• Send your child to school with a poem in their pocket each day. The students will be encouraged to ask their friends if they have a poem to share.
• Send in any special poetry books that you may have at home that your child may like to share with their class.
• Write some of your favourite poems on the asphalt with chalk to share with the local community.
• Select a poem of choice and practice reciting it out loud – aim to try and recite without reading it.
• Act out a poem. Sing a poem. Find different ways of enjoying poetry!

It is fabulous to see students taking ownership of their new Classroom Libraries and being involved in the ‘sorting and classifying’ of books. There are plenty of new books on the way, don’t forget to share any favourites with me so I can add them to your classroom shelves.

As always, if you enjoy contacting books, then please let me know as I always have pile in waiting!

Jac Morphy

Literacy Leader