Poetry Notebooks Using IEW

Poetry notebooks are really fun for kids to create.  It gives children such a sense of accomplishment when they can flip through their notebook and see all of the poems they have memorized. This year I decided to use  IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization.  I LOVE this curriculum.  It has been very easy for us to use.  The product comes with a teachers book which is where all the poems you will be memorizing are located.  The poems are broken up into different levels depending on how old your kids are.  The book suggests starting at the beginning no matter what the grade level.

The product also comes with audio cd’s which contain the recording of each poem.  The point is to introduce the poem and read it together.  Then work on memorizing one stanza at a time.  The audio cd’s can be listened to daily to help with memorization.  I have had wonderful results with using a voice recorder to help my kids remember EVERYTHING! From the state capitols to multiplication tables…it WORKS! When starting out we made a poetry notebook with a cover sheet and a table of contents.  I then typed out the first poem and printed it out and the kids placed it in their notebooks.  We read the poem out loud together, then I read it to them by myself so they could hear how the poem should be read.  We worked on memorizing the poem for a week, until they could both recite it perfect without looking at it. Then they illustrated a picture to go along with the poem and placed it in their notebooks along side the poem.

Our two page spread

Short poem "Celery"

"Celery" illustration by Juliet

"Ooey Gooey" Illustration by Evan

We have added 7 poems to our notebooks so far, and will continue until we have finished the list.