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EACHING LITERACY
Try Poetry!
www.reading.org
Why Poetry?
Although poetry has been a mainstay in elementary classrooms
for decades, it appears to be on the decline (Gill, 2007) in favor
of informational texts and stories. We feel that poetry (and
other rhythmical texts) offers unique advantages for students
who struggle in mastering the foundational reading skills:
Poems for children are relatively short in length. This
means that they can be mastered in a short period of time,
and struggling readers who often lack confidence in their
reading ability can achieve a level of reading success that is
more difficult with information and narrative texts.
Poems are fun to read. The rhythm and rhyme (and
sometimes the silly nature) of poems often bring smiles to
faces of children.
April/May 2013
Reading Today
15
Kenn Nesbitt
Brod Bagert
Robb Pottle
Douglas Florian
Karla Kuskin
Jack Prelutsky
Bruce Lansky
Shel Silverstein
Eloise Greenfield
Nikki Grimes
Eve Merriam
Anastasia Suen
David Harrison
A.A.Milne
Jane Yolen
A Poem a Day
References
16
Reading Today
April/May 2013
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