Random Acts of Poetry Day
The second Wednesday of October has been celebrated as Random Acts of Poetry Day for almost ten years now. It’s a bit of a mystery who came up with the idea for this fun mini-holiday, but it’s a great way to build and share a love of poetry and participate in a shared appreciation throughout your community. Check out this Homeschool Living for some fun ways to participate in and celebrate Random Acts of Poetry Day in your homeschool, and some great resources and ideas for creative ways to teach and learn poetry.
Creative Random Acts of Poetry
These eight ways to share random acts of poetry include a creative use of sidewalk chalk, ways to exercise your poetic muscle, distributing tid-bits from your favorite poems, and staging your own outdoor poetry reading. Writing (or illustrating) a poem on your sidewalk or driveway is a great way to include your littles in the fun, and writing snippets of their favorite poems on some fancy paper gives elementary school-aged kids the perfect opportunity to practice handwriting and makes a great memorization aid as well. Take advantage of some beautiful fall weather to take your literature studies outside for the day. Learn a poem to recite together at a public park, or let everyone pick a favorite to read or recite to the group. This is a great activity for a co-op or neighborhood group to organize together.
Celebrate poetry in your homeschool in written form, art, and voice. This blog post from Simple Homeschool shares some great ways to incorporate poetry studies into your homeschool, and–even better!–how to really enjoy it. You can use poetry to explore other cultures, learn more about your own background, and enjoy art and language in a unique and irreplaceable way.
Part of the fun of random acts of poetry is in having random bits of poetry accessible in your brain already. This blog post from Art of Memory offers some great tips and fascinating strategies for memorizing poems, including the “beats” method, the loci method, and the line-repeat method.
Building Book Love shares some really fun and engaging poetry activities geared toward older students. These activities are great for students in middle and high school, and offer them some excellent, creative ways to engage with, learn, and grow from their poetry studies. Explore activities like blackout poetry, paint chip poetry, Golden Shovel poems, and more. (Note that some resources may require you to provide an email address to sign up for free access.)
Add more to your homeschool poetry studies with this poetry unit study. Learn how to use the rhythm and imagery of dramatic poems, nonsense poems, and multilingual poems to instill an appreciation and love for language in your homeschool.
Megan Mora Fuentes
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