Poetry Café

Our inaugural Poetry Café was a big hit this morning in the Media Center! April is National Poetry Month and I encouraged families to celebrate it by reading poems together at bedtime (or anytime!). When read aloud, poetry is a fun and meaningful way to improve fluency and expose kids to figurative language and other literary conventions. Families attending the Poetry Café were asked to bring 1 poem to share with the group. Several talented Club students shared an original poem. In addition, there were sibling readings, family readings, and even one poem in Spanish! Shel Silverstein was the most popular poet shared but we also listened to poetry by Octavio Paz, Louis Armstrong, Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky, and many others.Below are two short clips of readings shared--one in English and one in Spanish!



As families arrived they grabbed breakfast and sat down to read poetry from our Media Center collection. This informal time also gave families a chance to interact with one another and make some new friends!

I kicked off the readings by sharing a poem titled, "Calling All Readers!" from the book Bookspeak: Poems about Books! by Laura Salas.


Next I asked for volunteers to recite the poems they brought to share with the group. This enthusiastic 3rd grader was the first to volunteer and recited an original poem about a polar bear. :)

It was neat to see families do a reading together. Some students were nervous but our kind audience made it a little easier to have the courage to share. 

I was so impressed with the poise and confidence displayed by this 2nd grader! 

At the end of the Poetry Café I invited students to choose a new poetry book to take home and read with their families. There was much excitement at the book table!

Thank you to all the families who came to our first Poetry Café. I hope you will continue to share poetry with your children at home and enjoy reading together!