It’s a lot enjoyable to see college students exploring new methods to make use of phrases and study vocabulary. That’s why poetry is so thrilling. We’ve put collectively this listing of candy poems for 1st graders to make use of in your classroom or at dwelling. Learn them aloud and work by means of the which means of every line, assign them for fluency follow, or host a poetry slam.
FREE PRINTABLE
Poetry Worksheet Bundle
Click on the button under to obtain our bundle of free poetry worksheets for grades Okay-2.
1. First Grade Rocks by Lusine Gharibyan
Themes: Enjoyable, College
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
Use this poem to introduce the style and present college students how a repeated phrase and rhyming helps make poetry enjoyable to take heed to and browse aloud.
2. The Car Trip by Ruth Donnelly
We’re occurring a visit/Not on a airplane! Not on a ship!
Themes: Transportation, Enjoyable
Literary Units: Simile, Rhyme
This poem has rhythm and is an effective option to present college students how being attentive to how we learn phrases can really feel as vital because the phrases themselves.
3. My Lunch by Kenn Nesbitt
A sweet bar/A bit of cake/A lollipop/A chocolate shake.
Themes: Meals
Literary Units: Enjambment, Rhyme
This poem reads as an inventory of issues that children would possibly need of their lunch field. Learn it and discuss how the poet creates pictures with fast, punchy strains that wrap round from line to line (enjambment).
4. Play by Lill Pluta
I soar. I shake./I dance. I hop.
Themes: Motion, Enjoyable
Literary Units: Rhyme, Repetition
Rhyming phrases and brief sentences make this poem learn shortly, identical to the actions that it describes. Use this poem to jump-start college students’ personal poems about what they do on the playground.
Apples, apples/Rising on a tree
Themes: Apples
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
Poets usually use a repeated phrase or phrase to drive a message dwelling or create rhythm by means of repetition. “Apples, Apples” is a straightforward instance of this system.
6. High Diddle Diddle by Unknown
Hey diddle diddle/The cat and the fiddle/The cow jumped over the moon
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Rhyme
This nursery rhyme is one which college students could also be aware of from their preschool days. As 1st graders, they’ll analyze it, speaking about rhyme, rhythm, and imagery.
7. Happy Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson
Themes: Happiness
Literary Units: Rhyme, Simile
This brief poem is ideal for a primary evaluation. Ask college students:
- What does the poet imply that the world is full?
- What would make us blissful?
- What ought to readers change to be happier?
8. There Was an Old Man With a Beard by Edward Lear
There was an previous man with a beard/Who mentioned, “It’s simply as I feared!”
Themes: Humor, Absurdity
Literary Units: Rhyme
Edward Lear is at all times a enjoyable poet to learn, and his poems have a humorousness that 1st graders can relate to. This one is traditional Lear, creating an amusing picture in a easy limerick.
9. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep by Rudyard Kipling
Baa, baa, black sheep/Have you ever any wool?
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Repetition, Onomaetopeia
One other nursery rhyme that college students can analyze now that they’re older and might discuss what is going on on this small scene.
10. Buzz, Buzz Bumblebee by Ruth Donnelly
Buzz, buzz bumblebee/Within the grass/Fly away/Let me go!
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Onomaetopeia
Poets use sounds, or onomatopoeia, to create power in poems. This poem is an effective introduction to onomatopoeia, with the buzz buzz of a bumblebee.
11. Opposite Day by Kenn Nesbitt
The day to do issues/The other method.
Themes: Humor
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
This poem has a particular construction with I-statements and repetition. Work with college students to research how the writer units up smaller sentences to create the general poem.
12. There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe by Mom Goose
She had so many kids she didn’t know what to do
Themes: Nursery rhyme
Literary Units: Rhyme
Use this poem to speak about how authors, on this case Mom Goose, create a sing-song high quality to poetry.
13. Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne
Themes: Childhood, Rising up
Literary Units: Repetition, Development
A fantastic counting poem to speak about rhyming. After college students learn this poem, they’ll write their very own counting poems. What can they rhyme with every quantity?
14. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by Jane Taylor
How I ponder what you might be/Up above the world so excessive
Themes: Nursery rhyme, Stars
Literary Units: Simile, Rhyme
A poem is usually a tune, like this acquainted lullaby. Discuss how the phrases create music, and what different poems you possibly can’t assist however sing.
15. The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess
I by no means noticed a purple cow/I by no means hope to see one
Themes: Humor, Absurdity
Literary Units: Rhyme
This poem is enjoyable to memorize and recite. Discuss why authors write foolish poems. Why would possibly a grown-up poet write a poem a few purple cow?
16. Colors by Rebecca T. Besser
Crimson, blue, yellow, and inexperienced/4 vibrant colours to be seen
Themes: Colours
Literary Units: Rhyme
Poems are written about all types of subjects, together with colours. Use this poem to encourage college students to put in writing their very own poems about one thing they see round them day-after-day.
17. Scarecrow by Lauren Shirk
Themes: Fall
Literary Units: Rhyme
Poems are about creating and exploring marvel. Use this poem to speak about how the poet wonders a few scarecrow that she sees. Then, have college students write their very own poems about what they marvel about.
18. Deep Sea Dance by Kenn Nesbitt
Down on the ocean flooring/Deep within the sea/All people’s dancing
Themes: Ocean, Foolish
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
When you’re searching for a poem that offers college students an opportunity to learn and transfer, this one is ideal! College students will shimmy and shake with the sharks and shrimp. What energetic poems can college students write?
19. Jelly Beans by Valerie Danoff
Jelly, jelly, jelly beans/Stomach, stomach, stomach beans
Themes: Colours, Foolish
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
A fantastic instance of utilizing repetition (“Stomach, stomach, stomach beans”) and discovering inspiration within the small issues in life. Use this poem to kick off a poem task that asks college students to put in writing about one thing small they love.
20. Bow Wow Wow, Meow, Meow by Kenn Nesbitt
Bow wow wow. Meow meow./My canine and cat are buddies someway.
Themes: Pets
Literary Units: Rhyme
One other poem that’s nice for instructing college students what onomatopoeia is, with animal sounds woven into this poem about animals.
21. How Not To Have To Dry the Dishes by Shel Silverstein
If you must dry the dishes (Such an terrible, boring chore)
Themes: Accountability
Literary Units: Punctuation, Rhyme
Are you able to train 1st grade poetry with out Shel Silverstein? We hope not! This poem is an ideal one to introduce how poets can use punctuation to maneuver a poem alongside and alter the which means of what we learn. On this case, Silverstein makes use of parentheses to insert an apart to the reader and allow them to in on a joke.
22. The Lion by Hilaire Belloc
The lion, the lion, he dwells within the waste/He has a giant head and a really small waist
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
A brief poem with a cautionary story. This poem is sweet for introducing homophones, on this case “waste” and “waist.”
23. The Crocodile by Lewis Carroll
How doth the little crocodile/Enhance his shining tail
Themes: Animals, Humor
Literary Units: Rhyme
This poem is a superb introduction to Lewis Carroll, and it’s one to follow tone whereas studying aloud. Can college students learn or recite this poem in a scary tone? What a few foolish tone?
24. The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Rhyme, Repetition
This contemporary fairy story is useful for instructing college students to visualise what’s taking place in a poem, because it’s a state of affairs that they’ll simply think about—a turtle attempting to eat the whole lot in sight.
25. I Heard a Bird Sing by Oliver Herford
I heard a chicken sing/At the hours of darkness of December
Themes: Animals, Seasons
Literary Units: Rhyme
Weave this poem into your morning assembly to speak about months in September or December. Or use it to spark a poem-writing task involving months and the way college students really feel about their favourite month.
26. Pizza, Pizza, I Love You by Kenn Nesbitt
Pizza, pizza I like you and I hope you’re keen on me too.
Theme: Meals, Enjoyable
Literary Units: Construction and form, Rhyme
This poem, an ode to pizza, is written within the form of a coronary heart. Nice for instructing how “concrete” poetry communicates which means.
27. The Owl and Raccoon by Debra L. Brown
There as soon as was a foolish raccoon/He slept in a tree till midday.
Themes: Animals, Enjoyable
Literary Units: Rhyme
Poems can inform tales, and “The Owl and Raccoon” is a superb one to showcase a brief story inside a number of stanzas. You may speak in regards to the characters, setting, and plot all inside a number of strains.
28. Guess What I Am by Group TEFL
I’m yellow/I’m black/I’m small/I’m furry
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Repetition
This foolish poem combines poetry and a riddle. College students can guess what’s talked about within the poem, then create their very own riddles.
29. Four Seasons by Andrew Frinkle
Dan likes the spring/Spring is inexperienced/Spring is recent.
Themes: Seasons
Literary Units: Repetition
This poem, describing what 4 college students like in regards to the 4 seasons, is a superb one to point out college students how a poem may very well be collaborative. Then, create a collaborative class poem of your personal.
30. The Duck and the Kangaroo by Edward Lear
Themes: Humor, Animals
Literary Units: Rhyme
It is a longer poem, with a number of advanced stanzas. Use it to rely the variety of stanzas and features, after which learn it like an extended story. It’s OK to place a poem down and are available again to it, identical to a e book.
31. Magic by Shel Silverstein
Sandra’s seen a leprechan/Eddie touched a troll
Themes: Magic, Humor
Literary Units: Rhyme
This poem has fantastic vocabulary, from the phrases for varied magical creatures to verbs like “spied.” Discuss whether or not the narrator ought to imagine all of the magic his buddies have seen. Or did they make that magic up too?
32. The Pasture by Robert Frost
I’m going out to wash the pasture spring/I’ll solely cease to rake the leaves away
Themes: Nature, Animals
Literary Units: Punctuation, Rhyme
You could affiliate Robert Frost with poems for older college students, however “The Pasture” is a straightforward scene created utilizing Frost’s sparse type and matter-of-fact tone. Talk about with children what Frost means by repeating “You come too.”
33. The Quangle Wangle’s Hat by Edward Lear
On prime of the Crumpetty tree/The Quangle Wangle sat
Themes: Foolish
Literary Units: Rhyme, Made up workds
It is a extra advanced poem, in all probability greatest saved for the top of a poetry unit when college students are used to listening to verse, or with a gaggle that’s prepared for foolish language and a extra advanced story.
34. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Whose woods are these I feel I do know/His home is within the village although
Themes: Nature, Persistence
Literary Units: Rhyme, Repetition
One other Robert Frost poem that has a quiet tempo and rhythm. Learn it in order that it ends in a whispering voice if you get to the repeated strains “and miles to go earlier than I sleep.”
35. The Tyger by William Blake
Tyger tyger, burning vibrant/Within the forests of the evening
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Questions, Rhyme
Use this poem to show alliteration in phrases like “burning vibrant” and “distant deeps.” You don’t have to show the entire poem—you possibly can concentrate on the primary stanza, which can be essentially the most well-known.
36. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Area
Wynken, Blynken and Nod one evening/Sailed off in a wood shoe
College students could also be aware of the primary a part of this poem, the place Wynken, Blynken, and Nod sail off in a wood shoe. Learn them the remainder of the poem and take time to visualise what’s taking place in every stanza.
37. Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson
Themes: Seasons
Literary Units: Rhyme
This foolish poem turns day and evening on their heads. Learn it and draw what’s taking place in every stanza so college students can see how the poet strikes the poem ahead utilizing imagery and motion.
38. The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson
Once I was sick and lay a-bed/I had two pillows at my head
Themes: Being sick, Taking part in
Literary Units: Rhyme
This poem describes a day when somebody is dwelling sick in mattress. It’s price taking time to speak in regards to the historic references, like toys the poet is enjoying with, to create the scene.
39. A Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson
It is extremely good to assume/The world is filled with meat and drink
Themes: Gratitude
Literary Units: Rhyme
Use this brief poem to encourage college students to put in writing a poem based mostly on a easy thought they’ve, exhibiting them that even little acts and concepts are price writing down.
40. The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Simile, Rhyme
College students will want some help with vocabulary, phrases like “azure,” “crag,” and “ring’d.” This may be the primary shut studying of a poem first graders do, studying it and unpacking it line by line.
41. The Raggedy Man by James Whitcomb Riley
O the raggedy man; he works fer Pa/An’ he’s the goodest man you ever noticed
Themes: Work
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
Select one stanza on this poem to learn with college students to speak about how poets use repetition and punctuation to assist the reader hear the poem a sure method.
42. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves/Did gyre and gimble within the wabe
Themes: Absurdity, Humor
Literary Units: Made-up phrases, Rhyme
“Jabberwocky,” with the vocabulary made up by Lewis Carroll, is a poem that may be learn aloud so college students can concentrate on how the phrases roll off the tongue and the way poets create ambiance. Even when they don’t know what a Jabberwock or Jubjub chicken is, what sort of power does this poem have? What does it make them consider?
43. At the Zoo by William Makepeace Thackeray
First I noticed the white bear, then I noticed the black
Themes: Animals
Literary Units: Repetition, Rhyme
This poem, created utilizing an inventory format, reveals college students one option to write a poem utilizing a subject they possible have skilled, a visit to the zoo.
44. Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
The moon has a face just like the clock within the corridor/She shines on thieves on the backyard wall
Themes: Nature
Literary Units: Personification
Use one stanza of this poem to speak about how the writer describes the moon. You may as well introduce personification with the moon’s face shining down on the world.
45. Farewell First Grade by Donna
Themes: College, Commencement
Literary Units: Rhyme
After a yr of studying poetry, wrap up with this poem that has rhyming, rhythm, and an exquisite message for younger poets.
Get my free poetry worksheet bundle!
Click on the button under to obtain our printable poetry worksheets and actions to share along with your class. It’s excellent for grades Okay-2.
When you loved these poems for 1st graders, be sure you subscribe to our newsletters so you will get our newest poetry and different suggestions.
Trending Merchandise
