Great Links for Teachers

Great Poetry and Writing Websites

Here are a few websites and resources for teachers and parents that I find helpful and fun, including a pile of links to the web pages of poets below:

Road Trip Activities for the Car: Poetry Writing – by Carly Hallman

https://www.titlemax.com/articles/road-trip-activities-for-the-car-poetry-writing/

This amazing site was just sent to me by Jess (“Thanks, Jess!”). It’s aimed at teachers, parents and kids. Carly has great info and links with “Poetry Writing Basics” and also “Poetry Writing Resources.” (Thanks, Carly!)

Poetry at Play (PACYA)

http://poetryadvocates.wordpress.com/

What a site! This is the daily blog of Poetry Advocates for Children & Young Adults, a very cool organization that promotes poetry for kids, especially making it fun. Great teacher resources, poet interviews, books, poems, and a famous Poet of the Week with their poems! The site is the brainchild of Steven Withrow, a poet for kids in RI. (Full disclosure: I’m a member of the PACYA Advisory Board.)

Poetry on Parade

http://poetryonparade.com/index.htm

Janet Fagal’s great Poetry on Parade website. Janet has a million great ideas to get kids excited about writing and playing with words through poetry

Poetry for Children Blog

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com

This is the blog of Sylvia Vardell, Professor at Texas Woman’s University, author of POETRY ALOUD HERE, and POETRY PEOPLE. Sylvia has tons of interesting thoughts, tips and links for “finding and sharing poetry with young people.” Lots of good poet links.

Writing Lesson of the Month Network

http://writinglesson.ning.com/

Join 17,000+ elementary and middle school educators world-wide. Sign up and get a monthly email with a detailed, crafted writing lesson, supported with great ideas and texts. The lesson archive is big and searchable.

NCTE’s Poetry Site

http://www.ncte.org/poetry

Good teacher-friendly lesson plans, and lots of great links.

Poem Making

http://poem-making.blogspot.com/

An interesting blog by children’s poet Charles Ghigna, with tips on poem writing, including a marvelous list of different poetic forms that kids (and teachers) can use (with examples). Many good links too, including poet pages.

Pro Teacher Directory for Poetry

http://www.proteacher.com/070034.shtml

Several pages of great links and lesson plans to plug into.

Poetry 4 Kids

http://www.poetry4kids.com/links.html

This is my friend and children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt’s page with many great links. as well as his own fine, funny poems. I am often asked where kids can publish poems. Kenn has some resources listed here, along with loads of other cool stuff, wrapped into his own website.

Poetry Out Loud

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/

The website for this amazing high school program with lots of great audio and video performances for kids to hear and be inspired by.

Explore Poetry

http://42explore.com/poetry.htm

Lots of poetry links and lessons.

Teacher-Poet Andrew Green

http://www.potatohill.com

Teacher-Poet Andrew Green shares lessons to instantly use, and links for publishing.

ALA’s Great Web Sites For Kids Page

http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm

The American Library Association has maybe the most comprehensive site for finding anything about anything to do with libraries and books. You can find author information, good book lists, and teacher resources.

Children’s Author’s Ally

www.childrensauthorsally.com

My rep Kerri’s web site for great programs from lots of top authors.

Poetry Place

www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listpoetrymr14.html

Here’s a pretty wonderful site of links and resources, mostly for teachers, created by Elaine Magliaro. As she writes on the site, it’s a place to “celebrate poetry throughout the school year. Make poetry come alive in the library or in the classroom. Find children’s poetry online, great poetry websites, online activities for children, and curriculum resources for educators.”

Wild Rose Reader

http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/

This is Elaine Magliaro’s blog. She has great book lists, among lots of other great information about poetry and children’s literature.

Author/Poet Sites I Really Like

Poet Joyce Sidman

www.joycesidman.com

Poet Joyce Sidman has a marvelous web page, including some super poem “starters” for different ages, a place for kids to publish, and interesting thoughts for teachers. Great stuff!

Poet Charles R. Smith, Jr.

http://www.charlesrsmithjr.com/ Poet Charles R. Smith, Jr. shares a lot about himself and his work, including some audio of him reading his poems, and ways to use his poems in the classroom.

Poetry Teaching Resources