Halloween Pumpkins Poem Chart

The newest addition to our poem chart collection features simple text with strong picture/text match. The text is easy for my three year old to follow as she practices following text from left to right and top to bottom. This poem can also be used to emphasize descriptive words and opposites.

Download a copy of this poem here.

Poem Charts

We have fun reading our poem charts together. The poems on the charts are easy to memorize so the girls can successfully read along with me and even little Lauren feels perfectly confident that she can read them on her own. We read the same charts multiple times over the course of a few weeks and sometimes revisit old charts. As we read the charts, I am able to address different learning goals for each of my girls.



I use the poems to help two year old Lauren:

1) develop a love of language and reading

2) understand that print carries meaning

3) understand that we read the print from left to right and top to bottom

4) recognize known letters when embedded in print

5) begin to recognize rhyming words



I use the poems to help five year old Julia:

1) continue to develop a love of language and reading

2) recognize high frequency words

3) practice phonics skills within the context of meaningful text

4) practice reading fluently


How many other activities can you do with children of such diverse needs and be sure that you are meeting each of their needs? I feel so strongly about the power of reading poem charts with children that I am excited to share them with other parents and teachers. I would also love to see any poem charts that you have made!

Here are two charts that I have not published on this blog before:

Sheep poem
Horse Poem

To see previously published poems click here.

I bought my chart stand from Lakeshore but you can use the poems without a chart stand. They can be clipped to an art easel, attached to a wall with sticky tack, or attached to a refrigerator with a magnet.

Five Little Pig Puppets

The girls made these cute little pig finger puppets to go with our Five Little Pigs poem. To make the puppets we cut rectangle strips, folded them in half and glued along the sides. We cut circles for the faces and triangles for the ears. After gluing the pieces together the girls used a pen to draw the faces.

With a Moo Moo Here...

As part of our farm theme we learned about cows. We started by reading The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons.

We sang the Making Butter Boogie while making our own butter. Download the poem here.

We each took turns shaking the whipping creme in a baby food jar.

When the butter was ready we ate it on bread while I read Click, Clack, Moo to the girls.

Then we read our cow poem chart and Julia illustrated her own copy of the poem. Feel free to download the cow poem and the child's copy of the poem.

Five Little Pigs

Materials:

• Five Little Pigs poem. Print the second page (the numbers) on card stock.


• Pigs printed on card stock


• 12x18 green construction paper


• 9x12 brown construction paper


• lamination film (if you do not laminate, then place a piece of clear packing tape under the velcro)


• Velcro

To make the chart:

• Glue the poem to the top of the 12x18 green construction paper. Cut the brown paper into the shape of a mud puddle and glue to the bottom of the green construction paper.


• Laminate the poem, number cards, and pig pictures. Cut the pieces apart.


• Attach a small strip of velcro above the word 'five' on the poem and to the back of the number cards. Attach five pieces of velcro to the mud puddle and to the back of the pigs.

To use the chart:

• Place the pigs on the puddle.


• Read the poem with your child using your finger or a pointer to track the print.


• After you read "The farmer took one piggy out." your child removes a pig.


• Count the number of pigs left in the puddle. Cover the word 'five' with the word 'four' and read the poem again. Continue until all the pigs are removed.

Who Was In the Barn

Children practice animal names and sounds with this easy to memorize poem. The changeable pictures and word pieces add extra appeal.





Materials:

• Who Was in the Barn printed on printer paper

• Word cards and animal pictures printed on card stock. The animal pictures are from prekinders.com.

• one piece of 12x18 construction paper

• a small piece of yellow construction paper

• lamination film (if you do not laminate, then place a piece of clear packing tape under the velcro)
• velcro

To make the cart:

• Glue the poem to the top of a 12x18 piece of construction paper. Glue a yellow construction paper haystack to the bottom of the paper.


• Laminate the poem, word cards, and animal pictures. Cut the pieces apart.


• Attach velcro to the end of the last two lines of the poem, on top of the haystack, and to the back of the word cards and animal pictures.

To use the chart:

• Lay out the animal pictures, name cards, and sound cards as shown in the picture above.

• Place an animal on top of the haystack. Attach the animal name and sound cards to the poem.

• Read the poem with your child. Track the print with your finger or a pointer as you read.

• Change the pieces and read the poem again. Continue as long as your child is interested.

I Went Swimming Chart

The girls and I enjoy reading our song and poem charts together so I created a new ocean themed poem. I cut this poem into strips and placed them in a mini pocket chart. The ocean animal word cards are also cut apart. We read the poem several times, changing the animal word card each time.

I Went Swimming Chart
Ocean animal word cards

After reading the poem several times, Julia reconstructed cut up sentences.

I gave Lauren a magnetic letter s. She traced it with her finger while saying "s". Then she searched for the letter s in the poem.

Lauren also used a card with a cut out window to frame the letter s.

Fish Song Chart

We've added I'm a Little Fishy to our song and poem charts. For an explanation of the charts please visit this post. We sang the song a few times while tracking the print with a pointer and then we did a few follow up activities.
The big girls played fishing for sight words. I cut several construction paper fish and on each fish I wrote a high frequency word from the song. I clipped a paper clip to each fish and made a fishing rod by taping a magnet to a string that I tied to a pencil. The girls took turns fishing for words.
After catching a fish, the child read the word and found it on the chart. We then read that line of text together. This game could also be played with letters written on the fish. The child would catch a fish, identify the letter, and find the letter on the song chart.
I also used the chart to practice the /sh/ sound. We read the word 'fishy' and noticed that the letters sh made the /sh/ sound. The girls have already been introduced to sh so this was a review. We used these cards from My Montessori Journey to practice reading sh words.
Finally, the girls enjoyed Jello fish bowls while I read Into the A,B, Sea by Deborah Lee Rose to them.

Easter Song Charts

The girls and I have been reading Easter songs on charts. I introduce each song and sing it to the children while using a pointer to follow the print. We reread the chart several times over the course of several days or weeks. As we read and reread the songs, the girls gain valuable insights into how print works. They learn that printed words match spoken words, that print is read left to right and top to bottom, and they gain knowledge of letters and sounds. Most importantly, we have fun reading together!

Lauren is completely confident that she can read our "Bunny" song all by herself. She is using our bunny pointer- an unsharpened pencil with a bunny eraser on the end.

Here she is reading Did Jesus Really Live Again?. This chart has much more print than I would usually use with young children but I used it because I want to emphasize the message of the song.

Here are the songs we are currently reading:

B-U-N-N-Y (author unknown)

I know a rabbit with long pink ears

And bunny is his name-o!

B-U-N-N-Y

B-U-N-N-Y

B-U-N-N-Y

And bunny is his name-o!

Did Jesus Really Live Again

by Mabel Jones Gabbot

Did Jesus really live again?

Yes, when the third day came

He wakened and he left the tomb

He called Mary's name.

Did Jesus come to those he loved?

Yes, people touched his feet

And of the fish and honeycomb

He did truly eat.

And there were nail prints in his hands

And a spear wound in his side.

Did Jesus really live again

After he had died!

Oh yes! And so shall I!