Color Me Poetic

I have done color poetry with my students for many, many years. I have to say that these poems are always some of the best that my students write during the year. They are filled with sensory description and are just so much fun to read.

I always begin with the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. I read a poem or two from the book to start the creative juices flowing. I read more after we are done writing our poems, but I just want to give my students a small taste of color poetry before they begin their own poems.

I start by having my students choose a color from a list provided by me. I give them a list because sometimes they only think of the most obvious colors, but with the list, they may choose more unusual colors such as gold, turquoise, or lime green.

We then make sense charts. We list all five senses with space to write under each sense. Each student thinks about his/her chosen color and writes things that come to mind under each sense. What does green taste like? What does gold sound like? It takes them a little while to get the hang of it, but when they do, their thoughts flood the paper. They have so much fun with it!

Students write rough drafts in which we break the color down into stanzas representing the five senses. 

When they finish, we have a magazine hunt for the color in order to make a collage as decoration on our good copies. You may remember I am a collage addict! They then write or type their good copies with the collage decoration around the border. The result is always a work of art!

Happy teaching, friends!