One Of The Many Ways To Use A Pocket Chart

Every month I select two or three poems that are seasonal and help celebrate the season we are experiencing.  First, I teach the poem and we practice for a few days until the children can recite the poem from memory. Then they practice putting the poem, word by word, into the pocket chart. Some children look at a copy of the poem to scaffold this activity while other children are able to identify the words by recognizing sight words or beginning sounds.

Pocket chart with our May poem about spring.

After a student has completed the pocket chart activity they cut out the words from the poem and mix 'em up. Then, she puts the words in the correct order, glues them down, and illustrates the poem. This is a wonderful activity that promotes the concept of putting words together so that they make sense; and experiencing that word have a place in a certain context.

Practicing reading the words with one-to-one correspondence.

Here's an example of a March poem.