Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 5: Poetry Mugs, Shirts, etc.

Students can create many items with their poetry and artwork:

• mugs


• coasters


• plates


• greeting cards


• t-shirts


• tote bags


• posters

Here are a few companies where kits can be purchased or where items can be designed online:

• Makit - http://www.makhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifitonline.com/


• Zazzle - http://www.zazzle.com/


• Cafepress - http://www.cafepress.com/

Office supply, photography, and department stores often offer similar services.

Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 4: "Publishing"

Give your students options. Have them publish their best work by:

• submitting it to a newspaper or magazine


• reading it at a coffee house or in another public forum


• displaying it in a public place


• giving it as a gift to another person


• printing it on a shirt or a mug


• putting it on a website

Show students there are many forms of "publishing."

Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 3: Class Poetry Compilation

Create a compilation book of your students' best poems. Put a copy in the library for the entire school to check out.

This could also be used as a resource to give next year's students (or another class) ideas for poems they might want to write themselves.

Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 2: Literary Magazine

Publish a class literary magazine. Make a copy for each student.

If you are feeling adventurous and have a small budget, layout the magazine professionally and make copies available for sale to parents, peers, and members of the community.

Students could be involved in editing, layout, printing, and sales.

Sharing a Poetry Notebook

Here are a few ideas for ways that students can share their poetry notebooks:

1. Pass notebooks to the person to the left of them to read silently for 5 minutes. Then the books can be passed again for as many times as the teacher would like.


2. Visit a school or class of younger students and read poetry notebooks to the kids there.


3. Read their favorite poems out loud to the class. This could be done as a coffee house or poetry slam.


4. Place poetry notebooks in the classroom and/or school library.