National poetry day lesson plan

One teacher has said that she would like to do something in part of a lesson for NPD and so I thought I would prepare something for her and hopefully others to use. The theme for this year's event is Home and as I needed something that would be quick and easy but also give good results I decided to adapt some of the ideas from The List Poem. I hope the students respond, fingers crossed.
Using list poems


These are an easy way to get students to produce a poem quickly. They also begin to show students how to write poetic lines. Everyone knows about list so they are quick to introduce.

As the theme for poetry day is Home I thought you could start with a brainstorm list of things in the home

Mum, beds, doorbell, chairs, stairs, cups, books, lights etc

Then you could give the students a format to follow. They could present their poems in a shape relating to the house or just draw the outline of a house and write the poem inside the shape

1. I hear Mum singing
I hear Mum singing

I hear the doorbell ringing

I hear the clock ticking

I hear the dog licking

I hear the stairs creaking

I hear my sister peeking

2. Thankful

My Dad is thankful for his home

My Mum is thankful for her comb

My sister’s thankful for the colour pink

My Gran is thankful for the sink

My dog is thankful for his bone

Or


The kitchen’s thankful for the sink

The marshmallow is thankful for being pink

The pie is thankful for the custard

The sausage is thankful for the mustard

3. Colours

Brown is the dining table

Brown is my Dad’s shoe

Brown is the sugar just for coffee

Brown is the truly scrumptious toffee

Brown is my brother’s curly hair

Brown is my mood when nothing’s fair

Brown is the ginger cake

Brown is the muddy rake

4. When I am alone at home

When I am alone at home I get scared because I think the bogey man will come and take me

When I am alone at home I get happy because I can go anything I want

When I am alone at home I put music on and dance and pretend I’m a star

When I am alone at home I feel like going into my sister’s room and messing it up

When I am alone at home I play Scrabble with Teddy

When I am alone at home it’s a mission to survive

Till they all come home