ELA5, CSS, Sferrazza

Reading poetry is a skill. Poems are often read more than one time.

• First reading:
  • Try to get the "gist" of the poem - a sense of what the poem is about and a sense of how it may be read.

• Second reading:
  • This is usually a slower read, where you try to understand the rhthym or rhyme (if any) and where you may underline, mark, or sticky note things you understand and things you do not yet understand. Then, you may look up words, talk about the poem to another person, or find another way to help you to understand words or lines that did not make sense at the beginning.

• Third + reading:
  • This reading may be to answer specific questions about the setting, mood, characters, or meaning in the poem. It might be to read it with deeper understanding, to read it more fluently and expressively, or to answer specific questions about the poem. This is an important step in "Close Reading" of text.

This lesson will focus on the first and second reading of a poem. You will learn to identify stanzas, read and write rhyming couplets, and to read a poem with rhythm and rhyme.