Poetry Month

By Michelle Reid

Thanks to Michelle, Library Assistant at Tahoma Junior High School for sharing this great idea and display encouraging student participation. Here are her comments:

'This April we did a month-long promotion for National Poetry Month at our junior high library. I took my inspiration from this year’s national poster (featuring an excerpt from Leaves of Grass) and from poetry.org’s Poem in Your Pocket Day. We decided to give out “poems for your pocket” every school day in April. Teachers, staff, and students were asked to contribute favorite or original poems; then encouraged to stop by the library to pick up a new poem to read & share each day. We featured a different poem each day, and noted who had submitted it. Size-wise, I tried to fit 3 copies per page, so I could cut the poems into narrow strips. The most popular by far were the original poems written by students. We printed those on colored paper so they were easily spotted. A copy of each day’s poem was also posted in our window gallery – by the end of the month, we had a great collection that ranged from silly to serious, short to long, penned by well-known to obscure poets. It was fun to see and share what others considered their favorite poems, and to share original student works. This promotion was very successful, and we’ve even had some students say they miss the daily poems now that it’s ended.