Poetry can help children tell their stories - Press-Enterprise

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By José Chávez

Contributing Columnist

In the spring of this year, parents became teachers, sharing some of the teaching duties previously done in the classroom.

Parents can use poetry to help their children write, read and learn language skills by writing a list poem. Poetry writing is educational, involves creative thinking and should also be fun. Poetry can be a valuable tool to help children express themselves during these difficult times when they miss their friends and the regular routines of their lives.

José Chávez is an award-winning bilingual poetry author for children who teaches poetry writing for students, teachers and memoir writing for adults. (Photo courtesy of José Chavez)

Each of us has a story to tell, a unique way of describing it, and language is the vehicle that we use. Adults tend to have many opportunities to tell their stories, person to person, by phone, text, email, social media, writing memoirs and publishing books. Often this is not true with children.

How can we provide a way for them to tell their stories?

Poetry is natural for children because it incorporates rhythm, rhyme, and cadence needed to learn oral and written language. After some modeling by the teacher or adult, they are eager to write down their thoughts and share their voice with others. No one has yet told them that poetry is too hard to learn, too difficult to write, too abstract to understand or something they’re not going to do well.

Lists of people, toys, numbers, household items, clothing, pets and animals are quite useful. Parents can help children create word lists that help them write a poem. A list of people could include boy, girl, man, woman, and baby, while toys could be a ball, block, doll, game, and car, and pets could be dog, cat, rabbit, bird, fish, etc. Children in the primary age group, ages 4 to 8, will benefit from picture books or picture words that create a useful reading and writing vocabulary.

Poetry writing may seem hard but writing a list poem is an easy way to begin. A list poem tells a story in just a few words. I wrote this list poem in the shape of a shoe. It can be used for kindergarten to second grades to increase vocabulary development.

Favorite Animals

My dog

My cat

My bird

My frog

My turtle

My rabbit

I like my bird

best because it wakes

me up in the morning.

While punctuation is important for young children to learn, the writing experience connecting animals to their daily lives is the most important idea.

Students in third to sixth grades might appreciate a list poem I wrote about new school shoes. In part, it reads:

New School Shoes

I’ve got black ones,

I’ve got pink ones,

I’ve got striped ones.

I’ve got red ones,

I’ve got blue ones,

I’ve got white ones.

I’ve got pink and purple

battery-powered sequined

show stoppers from the mall.

You’ve got style.

Lists can also include things we like or dislike, foods we enjoy or dislike, things that smell good or terrible, and items we’ve found or lost. Using some or all of the five senses adds detail and a personal touch. In a template I use to teach poetry writing to fourth- to sixth-grade students, we begin with:

Things I like

I like fast cars,

monster trucks

moving trains,

loud salsa music,

red enchiladas,

and spicy guacamole.

Maybe I’m fast, loud,

and a little spicy.

Note that we’re adding adjectives to each item listed in the middle grades. In each of these poems, the last line or two explains how the writer feels about what they like. This addition adds feeling to the list written by the author and completes the story.

Award-winning author, Natalie Diaz, self-described as Indigenous and Latinx, says …  we are all storytellers. As a former elementary school teacher, I listened to many stories written by my students over the years. I discovered that some families didn’t recognize the natural ability children have to tell their own story. They need to share their fresh perspective about the world around them and how they feel about it.

Reading their work aloud in the home gives valuable practice and confidence they will also need at school. Parents, teachers, and poets can help children tell their story with imagination, home culture, and simplicity through poetry. Whether the list poems rhyme or not, the experience should be creative, exciting and fun!

José Chávez is an award-winning bilingual poetry author for children. His new book is “Dancing Fruit, Singing Rivers” (WPR Books, 2020). He teaches poetry writing for students, teachers, and memoir writing for adults. His poetry is in numerous journals. 

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