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Book Spine Poetry: Building Poems One Book at a Time

4/26/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture

​As promised, here's a look at the work our students did during our Book Spine Poetry Workshop in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Just to quickly recap, students worked in pairs to create a poem using the titles of books, or a "book spine poem," based on an historical era. The students had about fifteen minutes to comb the shelves of our very own Kilmer Middle School Library looking for titles that "sparked." Out of chaos, came creativity, as kids pulled books from the fiction shelves first and then moved onto non-fiction and biography. We arranged the poems in chronological order by historical era and did a poetry gallery walk. The students had fun, collaborated and learned from each other along the way. ​
Read our a few of our students' poems and see what you think!
Picture
Westward Expansion
Picture
Immigration
Picture
World War I
Picture
The Roaring 20s
This idea is easily adapted to any subject; you could have students create book spine poems about current events, novels, science concepts, the list goes on. We can't wait to see what ideas bubble up when you make this your own. Please be sure to report back to us,

And for inspiration take a look at the Book Spine Poetry war of words between the New York Public Library and Kansas City Public Library during last year's World Series. It's definitely worth a look!

Need more poetry ideas? Check out our previous poetry posts!

A Rhyme Until Next Time,​
Corey & Gretchen

You might also like:

  • Can't Stop. Won't Stop: More Poetry! (April 13, 2016)
  • National Poetry Month Ideas for Social Studies (April 3, 2016)
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3 Comments
COdy
4/27/2016 04:16:35 pm

This is a great idea. I really like the poem in the first picture.

Reply
Brian Herberger link
4/28/2016 11:08:58 am

I love this activity for several reasons.
1 - It helps students move beyond the notion that poetry has a certain format. It helps them see that poetry in its purest form is simply putting words together to create an image, express a feeling, or share an idea.
2 - The activity makes creating a poem tangible. Students are literally holding words in their hands, stacking them, removing and replacing.
3 - It's fun and there's no pressure. By giving students a limited set of words to work with, it's easier for them to feel like their poems don't need to be perfect. They have to work with what they're given and be creative. This doesn't need to be serious writing. Just have fun and create!
4 - Finally, students are picking up books. Regardless of what poetry they create, they will certainly come across a book that they're interested in and probably end up reading it.

Reply
Gretchen
4/29/2016 04:53:00 pm

Thanks so much, Brian! We're thrilled you see the value in this activity!

Reply



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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials