All posts in Poems

Strong as a Raging Fire

For our third week at Jordan, 6th graders delved into the wonderful world of similes! First, we talked about what a simile is and students heard their classmates give examples (for instance, this soup […]

Finding Our People

During our second week of poetry at Jordan, we did some thinking about what it means to belong. To start, I had students work at their tables and come up with a list of […]

Till the End & Other Letter Poems

This week, we read Kobe Bryant’s poem called “Dear Basketball” and learned all about epistolary poems, or letter poems. We talked about tone, learned that it meant the mood conveyed by the poet with […]

“My voice, which tries to help people like air”

This week, we focused on our voices, and students were introduced to poetry slams and spoken word. We watched a recording of “We Day Poem” by the teenagers who were part of the 2016 […]

Colorful Awareness

For our 4th meeting, Shoesmith 4th graders had a second look at the ideas and drafts they had written about colors and using sensory details. We talked about metaphors, and brainstormed the smell of […]

Dubois Dreamers

This week at Dubois, students read aloud from dream poems written by a third grader, Louise Driscoll, and Langston Hughes. Students considered the importance of having dreams: hopes and goals for themselves and others. […]

Spell Casting Poets

The 7th week of poetry was magical for Twain 6th graders. I asked students, if you could create a magical potion, what would you use it for and why? Most students wanted, unlimited riches […]

Read It and See It

Grissom’s poets never cease to impress me with their cleverness, and this week was no exception. After reading my poem wide-toothed and discussing what we noticed in the poem, students got to brainstorm about […]

Nature’s Calling

For their 4th week at Shoesmith students explored ideas about nature. Students were asked, Does nature have a voice? How does it communicate with us? Students came up with wonderful responses. We discussed the […]

We Imagine Our World…

If you had the power to change the world, what would you change? That’s the question we started off with this week with our Perez 4th graders, before reading Leslie Reese’s poem “Life Is […]

Donate

Support our student poets today!

CONNECT WITH US!

Twitter Facebook-f Instagram

STUDENT POETRY

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from current school partners.

POETRY ARCHIVE

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from our archive.

RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS

TESTIMONIALS

“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.

Search

CONTACT US

General Inquiries
info@poetrycenter.org

Programs (School & Organizational)
programs@poetrycenter.org

Reading Series and Events:
curator@poetrycenter.org

The Chicago Poetry Center is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
FEIN: 23-7400515

SEND US A POSTCARD

Chicago Poetry Center
1448 E. 52nd St, #256
Chicago, IL 60615

I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET