VERSE! Poetry for Young Children
VERSE! is a curriculum of 38 lessons plans for four to six year-old students. It was developed to give teachers the tools they need to tap into a child’s innate love of language and to elicit the poems that naturally spring in children’s minds. The 38 core lessons were researched and written by Canadian poet Gillian Jerome and reviewed by early education specialists from the University of Arizona’s renowned Language, Reading, and Culture Program.
The curriculum supports language development through playful exercises and exposure to poems from some of our best contemporary and classic poets. Poets included in
VERSE! range from contemporaries Jack Prelutsky and John Updike to classics from Basho to Garcia Lorca to Emily Dickinson.
The lessons provide a platform for English language learners of all ages, and while this curriculum was written for four to six year-olds, the lessons have been successfully adapted for older elementary, middle school, and even adult students.
VERSE! provides additional resources, including creative movement activities, a bibliography of recommended poetry books for children’s libraries, and an appendix to cross-reference each lesson with Language Arts Standards set by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association.
VERSE! is $25. Order a copy today for your classroom, library, children, or grandchildren.
Here’s what children are writing from VERSE!
THE GHOST
Once upon a ghost
Swimming through the air like a fish
Over the old bamboo
By students at 2nd Street School, Tucson
From
VERSE! lesson “I Can Do Haiku, Can You?”
Taught by Kirsta Mosconi
SECRETS THE BIRDS TOLD THE TREES
This is what the birds say:
Happy Birthday!
Babies on the way!
I love you, we love you,
I love you.
All the birds say I love you.
Birds eat grass and worms,
Birds drink clouds.
Birds have babies in eggs and
Nests in trees.
Black birds, azul birds, pink birds, green birds,
Birds that are red and pink –
All the birds say, I love you.
By students at Prince Head Start
From
VERSE! lesson “Capturing Children’s Thoughts”
Taught by Maurynne Maxwell
CHAMPION
The wind
The power coming to me
Climbing a tree
Sky coming to me
Running on the sidewalk
Everything’s coming to me
Sparkling water
We are falling from the sky
The sun’s rising
Everything’s coming to me
By students at Hudlow Elementary
From
VERSE! lesson “Ain’t Life Sweet? (Some of the Time)”
Taught by Maurynne Maxwell
THE DESERT WHERE WE LIVE
When it’s hot, I like to go up
to the snowy mountains.
Or go swimming and splash
water all over my face.
Me gusta tomar agua
and stay inside
until the sun goes down.
In the desert, the sun
makes my skin tingle.
The sun feels like sweating,
like I’m wearing a big old blanket.
Where we live, in the desert
I talk to the birds—me cantan
una cancion.
And the snakes say they will bring
all their brothers and sisters.
By students at Homer Davis Head Start
From
VERSE! lesson “Lets Explore This Place with Poetry”
Taught by Patricia I. Escárcega
I SMELL LIKE
I smell like mint
Growing in our garden
Pushing down roots, pushing up leaves
By students at 2nd Street School, Tucson
From
VERSE! lesson “I Can Do Haiku, Can You?”
Taught by Kirsta Mosconi
Order a copy of VERSE!
