Interactive Poetry Experience

Although it may be exiting to us, poetry (unless it involves bathroom humor) is usually not exciting to second graders.  When I first read Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", even though I was all a twitter, it was kind of  a yawn fest for the students.  I was so sad!  I remember my mother reciting the poem from memory and listening as her voice would trail off as she repeated "and miles to go before I sleep...and miles to go before I sleep."  I wanted them to have that same awestruck feeling that I had as a child at the pictures Frost had created in my mind.  But how?  I decided to reread the poem as a dramatic reading.  They loved it!  They loved it so much that they said everyone should experience the poem the way they did.  That, of course, got me thinking.  I can't leave something like THAT alone.  So we brainstormed together and decided to create an interactive poetry experience.  I paired the students and gave them each a stanza or two from the poem.  Then they had to create how to make it come alive.  They were so engaged and excited.  The first thing they did was rewrite their stanzas in their own handwriting on sentence strips.  Then they started brainstorming how to make it come to life.  They came up the best ideas.  They glued cellophane onto blue paper so when you walked on it it crinkled like ice and snow.  The had jingle bells hanging for students to jingle at the right moment. They painted a grass skirt white so when you ran a twig through it it sounded like wind.  They took batting and glued glitter all over it.  It truly was amazing.  When we finally finished putting our display together and it was ready to be experienced by others, we included a blurb in the morning announcements that we were open and ready for business.  The students were so excited they were clapping and bouncing up and down in their seats.  I have included pictures even though the pictures really do not do it justice.  The school community had so many compliments for the students and what they had accomplished. Talk about adhering to Common Core!  They asked if we could do it again, so I am certain we will!