Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day

Poem in Your Pocket Day is April 18 (in 2024), and it’s a great time to bring some poetry into the classroom. I learned from the American Academy of Poets that the celebration began in New York City in 2002 and was expanded nationwide by the academy in 2008. It’s also been celebrated in Canada since 2016.

You might not literally carry a poem around in your pocket, but it’s a great day for kids of any age (and adults, too!) to read, write and explore poetry.

The American Academy of Poets has a PDF linked on the page above that has poems you can print out and carry, or there’s white space enough on the page to draw something related to the poem after you read it. These are probably better for older kids; check out their Poems for Kids for options for younger readers.

Happy Strong Home also has a printable booklet (that fits in a pocket!) of a few public domain poems you can use in your celebrations. Or get the bigger printable poems from Humility and Doxology.

Write Shop has some printable poetry bookmarks, and Classroom Freebies has a free pocket template printable you can use to add your poem, whether the kids choose their own or write one to go in their pocket as a classroom display.

Kids of any age can listen to poetry being read. The excellent Poetry Speaks to Children is a book and CD so you or the kids can read the poems, or you can listen to the readings (many by the poets themselves). Have kids act out a poem, draw a reaction to a poem, or write a letter to the poet about why they like (or don’t like!) that poem.

Of course it’s a great day for kids to write poetry, too. The classic forms we teach kids are acrostics, haiku, limericks and free verse, but you can change it up and pick a particular form you like or just let them write what they want. Pick a theme like nature or school, have the kids recite or write out their poems. You could even make a classroom book of poetry!

[Image by Dmitriy Gutarev from Pixabay]

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Celebrating Arab American Heritage Month

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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