On National "Poem in Your Pocket" Day, you don't have to give up teaching your novel for poetry. Instead, incorporate it into the lesson. This prompt (shown above) stemmed from an activity I created on my Hunger Games Lessons page to connect poetry to the characters:
Choose a character from the novel then find a poem that represents her/him.
Explain why that poem fits your character, using evidence from the text for support.
Not only does it challenge the students' critical-thinking skills, it reinforces character traits and themes from the novel.
Read more on this blog post: Which poems would Katniss and Peeta carry for "Poem in Your Pocket Day"?
It's also a great way to practice Common Core skills. This activity practices the following skills from the grades 6-12 anchor standards for reading literature:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3 Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9 Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
Standards from: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R
If you need a collection of poems for students to browse, feel free to share my Poem in Your Pocket collection of poems (free download). You may share the packet electronically or post on your website.
Tomorrow, tweet your activities on Twitter using the hashtag #pocketpoem. I hope you have a GREAT day of sharing poetry with your students!
