Photo by Vlada Karpovich

The power of a single poem can help make reading fun and exciting for young kids. From making reading fun to teaching kids, various ways to think about phonemics, poetry is an invaluable aid in any young reader’s literacy journey. Certain poets obtain much praise and fanfare in children’s literature, such as Kishwar Mirza, Betsy E. Snyder, Trish Cooke, and Lin Oliver.

In retrospect, lots of individuals don’t like poetry. They say they don’t apprehend that it has no applicability to them or their lives. We tend not to overthink poetry these days unless you’re a high-school youngster who’s being pushed to study Shakespeare or Eliot. Where once parents would chant nursery rhymes with their babies, now we tend to let them watch TV or play on the computer. Poetry seems to have almost evaporated from

our busy lives altogether.

Poems withstand conventional writing rules and thus can be made accessible for our English Language Learners(ELL). 

Poetry can be easily read, and students can find ways to convey their voices, even though they may keep a limited vocabulary. Poems can teach or practice new vocabulary, language systems, and rhyming devices. Shorter poems like Haiku often allow ELLs to probe an idea while toiling with a more manageable quantity of text than a story or a novel. 

In addition, many ELLs come from cultural backgrounds that are abundant with poetry and folktales. From the epic poems of ancient societies to more modern political poems written during the 20th century, poetry opens a captivating historical and cultural window. Learners may already be well acquainted with the poets and literature important to their origin.

Poetry can serve to foster social and emotional learning in a classroom. 

A well-crafted poem can help a student see a venture in a new way, giving them the possibility to gain insight, wisdom, and power. Poetry can form a space where learners can feel relaxed discussing complex and puzzling things in life, such as death, change, the origin or future of a journey, and so much more.

Poetry helps children with voice, pitch, volume,

and more. 

While these are mainly speech functions, they’re also important for children to know how to read. Poetry can teach young readers about speech patterns, giving them cues to the words on a page.

Like any form of reading, poetry can introduce children to new words. 

Poetry is distinctive in that it typically follows a rhythm. Children reading sentences and phrases with a rhythm teaches them to new words in new contexts.

Children have excellent, active imaginations.

 Poetry can support kids to tap into their imagination by enabling them to think about the new and surprising connections between words. In addition, having young readers try to compose a single line of a poem can enhance their literacy skills.

The nice thing about poetry is that it’s personal.

 Poetry can have a narrative and nonlinear format or even be a display of your favorite words. When children understand to read, giving them the liberty to express themselves through poetry can be both an educational and fun adventure. And who knows, the originality of their writing may shock you!

Reading poetry can inspire students to write their poetry. 

Time to craft original works allows students a healthy outlet to express emotions, and reading poetry aloud can foster trust, empathy, and understanding in a classroom community. Well-chosen poems can help encourage children to become writers themselves. They usually gain a voice and carefully consider their topic, language, grammar, and style through writing a poem.

In continuation, writing poems stimulates them to reflect on their adventure, play with words, and shape it using their voice. They can also experiment with other writing devices like alliteration and onomatopoeia, creating their writing more vibrant and compelling.

Poetry can be quick, fun to read, yet firm in its message and theme. Students can practice essential comprehension skills without feeling overwhelmed by content, form, space, length, or convention.

And lastly, poetry opens the world of imagination. We must guide our youth to think “outside the box” and lengthen the boundaries of their dreams. Poetry allows them to do this while calibrating their analytical skills, equipping empathy and generosity for themselves and others, and honing their attention to detail.