A Lesson Plan for the Inaugural Poem

Most people I know were stunned — in a good way — by the inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman. Her poise was astonishing for someone so young, and her words were stirring in just the way we needed in that moment.

Her poem is a great way to talk with kids about poetry, since she’s not much older than they are. PBS has released a lesson plan for kids from sixth to 12th grades using “The Hill We Climb” as a launching point for freewriting, connecting to other Black female inaugural poets, hunting for allusions in her work and writing memorials for people lost of covid, among other options.

This poem ties into English, history and social studies and is a great way to bring current events into the classroom.Or if your kids are at home you can watch the video together (if you didn’t see it live or want to watch it again it’s embedded in the PBS post) and talk about what it says to you as they share their reactions as well.

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Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day

Whether you have snow where you live or are on the wrong side of the world for that, these snow glob crafts for kids are a lot of fun to put together at home or in the classroom.

If you want to keep it super basic, you can download some snow globe coloring pages from Monday Mandala and have kids drawn in their own images (or color in what is there for the ones that are already filled). This could be a fun way to play with different media, having kids paint in one, draw in another, or use crayons in one, colored pencils in another, etc.

Or you can add your kid (or a classroom full of kids) to snowglobes with this craft from Twitchetts. It’s easy to make and fun for kids to help with, too.

You can also make snow globes with paper plates pretty easily, and there are lots of different options out there that should give you some ideas. This one from In the Playroom uses blue glittery pompoms as the snow and has a snowman in the background (though you can use whatever you want).

Mas and Pas uses a clear plate on top of a regular plate to make its snow globe, and Daydream into Reality just uses a paper plate to make the snow globe shape but there’s no snow involved. Their template includes different images you can put in the snow globe, or draw your own.

If you want to make a snow globe without the watery (so potentially less mess) you can make a waterless snow globe out of a plastic cup with this tutorial from The Pragmatic Parent. It uses tiny foam balls as the snow. Tidy Mom’s version uses a real glass jar and fake snow to flurry around.

And if you’re OK with using liquids in your snow globe, which will allow the snow to flutter like in a real snow globe, check out this version from 123 Homeschool 4 Me, which uses water and baby oil.

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