Poetry Everywhere!

It’s National Poetry Month, the perfect time to fill the world with beautiful ideas and poetic power!

For a little inspiration, we’re showcasing twelve terrific poetry projects from our incredibly creative community of educators. You’ll find projects for first graders and high schoolers, and everything from sensory poems to color explorations to poems about polliwogs. (We also think any of these would be just as fun for adults to try — a little creative expression is always good for the soul!)

Educators, share your poetry project ideas here for a chance to win fun Haiku Deck prizes.

And if any of these ideas inspire you to create poetry-themed Haiku Decks (and we certainly hope they will), be sure to send us a link to gallery@haikudeck.com, or tweet them with the hashtag #poeticpower!

1. Illustrate Figurative Language

In San Antonio, Texas, Terri Eichholz uses Haiku Deck with her 4th graders to explore and illustrate figurative language:


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Terri’s take: “In 5 minutes, I was able to show the students how to create a slide, add text, select an image, and share the product.  Once all of the products were in, we played a quick game to identify the type of figurative language as I showed each example on the big screen. While they were working with their partners, I heard one student say, “I love doing this!”

While they were working with their partners, I heard one student say, “I love doing this!”

“I love that they were engaged and learning, and all it cost me was about 10 minutes more than the previous times I’ve taught that lesson. Now, they have a new digital tool in their belt that they can choose from when they write their own examples of figurative language.”

Read more about Terri’s project (inspired by Natalie Babbitt’s “Tuck Everlasting”) and see examples of her students’ work on Engage Their Minds.

2. Create, Illustrate, and Share Original Poetry

Christy Novack and Julie Janc’s 3rd grade class at Roosevelt Elementary School used Haiku Deck and QR codes to spread poetry throughout their community.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Christy’s take: “The kids are super engaged. The kids are motivated with the use of technology in the classroom. It’s about the idea of learning that you can do things, connecting to the community and that kids can teach adults.”

It’s about the idea of learning that you can do things, connecting to the community and that kids can teach adults.

Read the whole story: Writing and Tech Come Together at Burlingame School.

3. Simile and Metaphor Haiku Deck Books

In Angela Stallbaumer’s 2nd grade class, each student created a Haiku Deck book of similes and metaphors, illustrating each one with either their own artwork or the Creative Commons Image Search.


My PE teacher Is… By LJ – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

See all 22 examples on AStaullbaumer’s Super 2nd Graders.

4. Paint Chip Poetry

In Pulaski, Wisconsin, 9th grade English teacher Amy Tubbs had students grab a paint chip and write a poem.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

See examples of the stunning results on iPadAddiction.

5. Haiku Deck Color Poems

In a similar vein, Mrs. Marino’s 4th graders, who share a single classroom iPad, collaborated on these beautiful color poems.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

In Mrs. Marino’s words: “Like always, I read the students Hailstones and Halibut Bones, my favorite book about color poems. We then took out our dry erase boards and brainstormed how certain colors made us feel.

Next, utilizing my iPad, Reflector, and the SMART board I projected Google images for everyone to see. We collaboratively picked out our favorite images. We opened up Haiku Deck and inserted the images in. Our next step was to write a caption on the picture.

Haiku Deck is an amazing tool. It’s easy. It’s simple. But, boy, does it look amazing when you are finished with it!”

Haiku Deck is…easy. It’s simple. But, boy, does it look amazing when you are finished!

Read more details and see more examples on StaarTechers.

6. Color Similes

Ms. Hamelin combines similes and colors in this fun project for 4th and 5th graders, based on the picture book “My Blue is Happy.”


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

In Ms. Hamelin’s words: “After reading the book I challenged the students to write some colour similes of their own, in a similar style, and then created a Haiku Deck of what they had written. Using figurative language is not an easy thing to do. It’s moving from thinking about the concrete to the abstract. Haiku Deck provided an opportunity to create great visuals for each simile, as the range of pictures to choose from is vast.”

Haiku Deck provided an opportunity to create great visuals for each simile, as the range of pictures to choose from is vast.

Read all about the project and see more examples of student work on Ms. Hamelin’s Grade 4/5 Class.

7. Animal Poems

Meghan Zigmond had her 1st graders create adorable Haiku Deck poems based on their animal research!


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Meghan’s take: “Even my first graders are super independent with this app, with just a few simple instructions. The thing I found myself helping them with the most was spelling – just to find the pictures they wanted to include.”

Even my first graders are super independent with this app, with just a few simple instructions.

Read more and see examples at Zig Zagging through Education & Technology.

8. Sensory Poems

Annie LaFont of Fullerton Elementary used Haiku Deck to practice descriptive language with her 4th graders, who created sensory poems to explore all five senses.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Annie says, “Their goal was to paint a picture in the reader’s mind of what it was that was important or special to them. Haiku Deck was the perfect tool to bring their poems to life.”

Haiku Deck was the perfect tool to bring their poems to life.

Read the full case study and see more examples in Sensory Poems and Character Studies.

9. Pin a Poem

TeachThought suggests the creative pairing of words and images, increasingly popular on Pinterest, by having students choose a memorable line from a poem, and then use Haiku Deck to add a visual element (taking care to properly cite title and author). These powerful, single slides can then be printed as small posters, saved as a JPG, or shared directly to Pinterest.

Read more (and see even more creative poetry project ideas) in 6 Technology-Based Poetry Ideas For Students That Think They Hate Poetry.

10. Digital Poetry App Smashing

Texas educator Miguel Guhlin incorporates Haiku Deck into his Digital Poetry app-smashing activity, which creatively melds Haiku Deck output with Explain Everything.

Screen Shot 2014-04-02 at 4.15.33 PM

Find out more about app smashing in this Haiku Deck by Miguel, and read the activity details on Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org.

11. Poetry Remix

In this project, students used their iPads and iPhones to take photos from around their own community, and then uploaded them to create very personal poetry remixes.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

In Jillian Walkus‘s words, “Scaffolding writing by using the repetition from Lenore Keeshing-Tobias’ poem I Grew Up made writing a poem less intimidating.”

12. Perform a Poem

At Davyhulme Primary School, Mrs. Mitchell’s Year 4 students used Haiku Deck to help them prepare for a class performance of Michael Rosen’s “Hand on the Bridge” at the school’s annual poetry competition.


Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

In Mrs. Mitchell’s words, “The children used Haiku Deck to create some powerful and beautiful presentations of the poem. This simple yet very effective app allows you to create presentations by adding text and images but purposefully focuses on the images. It searches its database of pictures using keywords from the text you have typed. There are different themes and layouts and thousands of pictures to choose from.

This was what I really wanted the children to focus on, using the pictures to really demonstrate their understanding of the poem, and the results were amazing. The children were really proud of their finished efforts. It helped them learn their poem for Thursday but also reflect on the message of the poem.”

The children were really proud of their finished efforts. It helped them learn their poem for Thursday but also reflect on the message of the poem.

Read more about this project and see more examples on the Davyhulme Primary School blog.

More Poetry Resources

Which project is your favorite? Let us know, or share your ideas and tips, in the comments!