The NYC Department of Education has created poetry curriculums which can be used by teachers or after-school coordinators to introduce poetry to students. The Poetry Resources page is intended to support the celebration of poetry in schools with suggested lesson plans, school-wide poetry events, bibliographies, professional development books for teachers, ideas for encouraging parent involvement and other online resources.

Visit the Poetry Resources page. We are also proud to be partnering with the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Society of America. Be sure to check out their website, which offers many ways to incorporate poetry into your students' lives this Poem in Your Pocket day: poets.org/pocket and poetrysociety.org, respectively.

As an educator and as a student, there are plenty of ways to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket day. Take a look at some of our suggestions below and make poetry a part of your education this April.

STAFF MEMBERS

• Invite a business leader or your local council member to read your class a poem 
• Start the day with a read aloud of a poem on the school PA system 
• Each class can begin their reading/writing workshop with a poem 
• Encourage all school staff to have a poem in their pockets; find opportunities to show students their poems 
• Share favorite poems with your classes 
• Invite classes to read poems to each other throughout the day 
• Each class can create a collection of books of poetry and place it in a prominent place in the classroom 
• Have students send poems like people send valentines 
• Visit Pro Teacher Archive for a lesson entitled Poet-tree by Susan S. Students write their poems on teacher-prepared leaves and attach them to a teacher-made tree 
• Have students choose a metaphor or simile to describe their feelings about poetry. Have them write a poem using these feelings 
• Visit the READ WRITE THINK website for detailed lessons and activities supporting Poem in Your Pocket day 
• Visit Poets.org to find your favorite poem to share
• Organize a poetry contest and select students as judges. Include teachers and administrators as contestants

STUDENTS
Try writing a different kind of poem - one that the students have never written before:

• Object Poem - become an object and write about your life as a raindrop, blade of grass, tooth, or mp3 player 
• Found Poem - using your favorite book, identify particular words and write a poem 
• List Poem - Using an object, experience or feeling as inspiration to brainstorm a list 
• Sensory Poem - Using an object or experience, think of all the sensory feelings associated with it and write a poem 
• Write poems with specific literary devices in mind, such as alliteration 
• Write a group poem. Each person in the group writes a line and passes it on to the next person. The entire poem is not read aloud until all lines have been added 
• Give instructions for something to do in poetic form 
• For older students, visit Fooling with Words
• Write a poem about your favorite song 
• Find a song that speaks to your favorite poem 
• Text a poem to family, friends, or classmates 
• Make a bookmark of your favorite poem and exchange it with your classmates