Bring Poetry Writing Fun Into Your Classroom for Valentine's Day

Poetry is a wonderful tool and is especially helpful for “hooking” reluctant readers and motivating them to practice their literacy skills. Through repeated reading, students can develop confidence and improve their fluency. As an added bonus, most poetry lends itself to practicing additional literacy skills, as well.

If you work with students in grades 3-5 and are looking for a fun Valentine’s Day poetry lesson for February, then you’re going to love this poetry writing activity. It’s perfect for fluency and writing practice, as well as visualizing!

I Made My Dog a Valentine

Every year, my 4th and 5th reading groups read poetry by Jack Prelutsky as part of our weekly fluency practice. His poems are “laugh out loud” silly and the students love his sense of humor. His Valentine’s Day poem, “I Made My Dog a Valentine,” is always a huge hit, and I try my best to incorporate it into my February plans each year. Check out the poem below, or grab the entire collection of silly poems in his book It’s Valentine’s Day (affiliate).

Poetry Writing Activity

After modeling the poem and having your students read it with the Fluency Five steps for repeated reading, ask your students to create their own stanza! Have them to pick an animal, and guide them in brainstorming what would happen if that specific animal were to receive a valentine. I’m always impressed with what the ideas students come up!

For students who have a hard time getting started, you may need to provide a sentence frame for a little extra support and scaffolding. This may include a fill-in-the-blank template for them to fill in, or a word bank of words/sentences they can choose from. Once the students get started though, they usually have some great ideas to run with. Below are a few samples from some of my fourth grade students!

Perform • Illustrate • Display

Once your students finish writing their poems, ask for volunteers to read their poems aloud. This adds a little extra sprinkle of fluency into the lesson, and allows them to show off their hard work. If you have a little extra time, you can even have your students type up their poems or record their poems onto nice paper. Display the poems in the hallway or on a bulletin board for everyone to enjoy!