We love celebrating Poem In Your Pocket Day every year during Poetry Month. This year it is on April 29th and we can't wait to celebrate at Van Meter with all of our students and teachers.
Poem in Your Pocket Day was initiated in April 2002 by the Office of the Mayor in New York City, in partnership with the city's Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education. In 2008, the Academy of American Poets took the initiative to all fifty United States, encouraging individuals around the country to participate. In 2016, the League of Canadian Poets extended Poem in Your Pocket Day to Canada.
Poem in Your Pocket Day takes place every year on a day in National Poetry Month. Poem in Your Pocket Day 2021 will take place on April 29th. Over the next couple of days, as we prepare for this wonderful day, we will make sure that all students have a poem in their pocket to share with their classmates, friends, teachers, family and others at school and home.
The poem can be one they create and write down on a piece of paper or card for their pocket, or one they find in a poetry book or in our basket of poems in the library.
In this little basket, we have put lots of poems on slips of papers. If someone needs a poem, they can just pick one out of the basket.
I created this poster in Buncee. You can
find it here to make copies for a basket and your library or classroom too.
On Poem In Your Pocket Day, we will give every one a sticker that reads...
...Ask me about the poem in my pocket. The kids are always so excited! They love sharing their poems with everyone.
If they would like to create and write their poem virtually, Buncee has this amazing template for kids to use. You will
find it here.
And this is another Buncee that can be printed off so anyone can write down their poem for their pocket. You can find this template
here.
We have a bunch of these little Buncee slips ready to go in the library and classrooms this week.
We have also used Flipgrid in the past for students and teachers to share their poems. In fact, that is one of the first ways we used Flipgrid back in 2014.
This year, they can once again share their poems on the
Let's Share The Poems In Our Pocket Flipgird.
Our students, teachers and even families will be able read the poem in their pocket in this Flipgrid. It will be so much fun for students to listen to everyone read their poem within the Flipgrid.
We will also kick off the day with a virtual pop-in story time with Mrs. Hockenberry, our library associate, as she reads A Poem In Your Pocket by Margaret McNamara. We love doing virtual pop-in story times on Zoom because all of our classroom and even our kids learning at home can join these special events.
As you plan for Poem In Your Pocket Day, here are a few resources to help.
Poets.org always share such great ideas for participating in Poem In Your Pocket Day. This year they shared these ideas on their site and in this Poem In Your Pocket Day packet
found here.
It's easy to participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day together at school and from a safe distance. Here are some ideas of how you might get involved:
In Your School:
• If you’re a school principal or administrator, organize a schoolwide Poem in Your Pocket Day giveaway using the following curated collection of poems.
• Encourage students to choose a poem from our collection, print
it out, and post it in a designated area, such as the school cafeteria, hallways, or the student lounge.
• Hold a virtual student reading of the poems they’ve selected.
In Your Classroom:
• Have your students choose a poem from our collection. Ask
them to write a letter to a far-away friend or relative detailing
what they like about the poem and why they think the recipient
would enjoy it. Send the letters and poems so they arrive on
Poem in Your Pocket Day.
• Ask your students to select their favorite poem from our collection, choose their favorite lines, and add those lines to a bookmark they can decorate with drawings. Collect the bookmarks
and redistribute them, letting each student pick one that’s not
their own for ongoing use in class.
• Ask your students to memorize a poem and share it with the
class.
• Have your students choose a poem to give away. Ask them to
print out 20 copies of the poem and come up with a creative
way to distribute it, such as in the form of a folded-paper animal
or object (see the Appendix for instructions on how to create a
folded swan), a decorated scroll, a poem tree, or a bookmark.
• Devote a class lesson to teaching your students about the haiku, a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5
syllable count. (See the Appendix for more about the haiku.) Ask
your students to write their own haikus and share them with the
class by reading them aloud. Have your students decorate a copy
of their haikus with drawings and stickers, then encourage them
to give their poems to a family member or friend.
• Organize a class trip for students to visit a nursing home or
community center and to read and share their favorite poems.
If you are virtual here are ways to celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day...
- Select a poem and share it on social media using the hashtag #PocketPoem.
- Print a poem from the Poem in Your Pocket Day PDF and draw an image from the poem in the white space, or use the instructions on pages 59-60 of the PDF to make an origami swan.
- Record a video of yourself reading a poem, then share it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or another social media platform you use.
- Email a poem to your friends, family, neighbors, or local government leaders.
- Schedule a video chat and read a poem to your loved ones.
- Add a poem to your email footer.
- Read a poem out loud from your porch, window, backyard or outdoor space.
And you will find the packet with 30 Ways To Celebrate National Poetry Month In The Virtual Classroom here.
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