Poetry provides a wonderful way to express feelings and enjoy the world around us.  I feel it is a very important part of education from birth and on through adulthood.  It develops literacy, abstract thinking and imagination for starters.  To begin, we just read poetry together (parent and child).  We have a suggested list of collections or individual poets to study each year.  There is so much poetry out there, that you can really follow your individual tastes... but hopefully my list will give you a starting point. 

Poetry is also excellent for memorization work.  I highly recommend beginning to memorize poems as soon as a child is able.  Memorize and recite poems yourself to encourage your child to follow.  The more we develop our brain power the healthier our brains will be through life.  And being able to recall beloved poems to memory can help us through trials in life.  Thoughts are influential.

Poems are great to use for copywork and dictation.  Children can begin copying poems around age 5 or 6.

After reading, memorizing and copying poems... it is time to write original poems.  By age 9 or 10 a child will be ready to learn.  But younger children who are interested and captivated by poems, can also begin to write.  There are so many different styles of poems, that at least one style should inspire each child to try. 

General Resources to use every year:

• Favorite Poems Old and New selected by Helen Ferris (Ages 0 - adult)
• The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura M. Berquist (K - 12)
• Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa (K - 12)

Nursery Age 0: 

• Poems Every Child Should Know by Mary E. Burt

• When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne

• Animals, Animals by Eric Carle

• Sing-Song by Christina Rossetti

• A Child's Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll

• A Child's Own Book of Verse, Book One by Ada Skinner

• A Child's Own Book of Verse, Book Two by Ada Skinner

• A Child's Own Book of Verse, Book Three by Ada Skinner

• Edward Lear
• A Book of Nonsense

• Robert Louis Stevenson
• A Child's Garden of Verses

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• Poetry For Young People Series

• Maya Angelou
• Poetry For Young People Series

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Emily Dickinson

• Robert Frost

• Eliza R. Snow

• Carl Sandburg or Edgar Allan Poe

• Shakespeare Sonnets

Resources for learning to write poetry:

Primary Grades 1 - 3:

• Poetry Prompts: Grades 1 - 3 by Ruth Solski from S&S Learning Materials

• Poetry Prompts: Grades 4 - 6 by Ruth Solski from S&S Learning Materials
• How to Read, Recite, and Delight in All Kinds of Poetry by Joy N. Hulme & Donna W. Guthrie
• Imitation in Writing: The Grammar of Poetry Primer by Matt Whitling

• Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry by Paul B. Janeczko
• Imitation in Writing: The Grammar of Poetry by Matt Whitling

• How to Write a Poem by Margaret Ryan