Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Common Core Connections: The Power of Poetry

Poetry Connection 2: Craft and Structure

Share with students the idea that poems capture “big feelings in small packages.”  The Craft and Structure standards help students to deepen their understanding of how the “packaging” happens. Challenge them to look closely at the choices made by the poet—choices for words and their arrangement on the page. First graders will tune in to sensory words and words that trigger feelings and emotions, forging a connection with the reader. Third graders will look at literal and non-literal language and how words can have different levels of meaning. Older students will look for devices such as alliteration and repetition of lines, and at stanzas, line breaks, and white space—and how they fit together and provide structure for the whole poem. They can explore the musical quality of poems and how poets make deliberate choices about rhythm and meter, and work with figurative language.