Since Robert Frost encouraged our founder Marie Bullock to “get poetry into the high schools” in the 1960s, we’ve been assisting teachers in bringing poetry into the classroom. Here, you’ll find poetry lesson plans, poems for kids and for teens, essays about teaching, a calendar of teaching resources for the school year, a glossary of poetry terms, and more. Our lesson plans, most of which are aligned with the Common Core, have been reviewed by our Educator in Residence with an eye toward developing skills of perception and imagination. 

Read more about Teach This Poem’s impact. 

Lesson Plans for Winter and the Holidays

Celebrate winter and the holiday season in the classroom with this selection of lesson plans feat

Lesson Plans for the New Year

Browse these lesson plans featuring poems about New Year's and beginnings.

Poetry Lesson Plans about Music

Browse poetry lesson plans about music or to incorporate into music class. 

Lesson Plans about Family

The following lesson plans feature poems poems exploring many different kinds of family relations

Lesson Plans about Sonnets

Browse this selection of lesson plans featuring classic and contemporary sonnets.

Lesson Plans by Theme

Find poetry lesson plans organized by theme, occasion, and class subject, including lesson plans featuring poems about social justice, the environment, and many other topics.

Lesson Plans

404 Lesson Plans

Teach This Poem: “This Morning, This First Poem” by Afaa Michael Weaver

Teach This Poem, though developed with a classroom in mind, can be easily adapted for remote learning, hybrid learning models, or in-pe

Elementary School

Teach This Poem: “blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton

Teach This Poem, though developed with a classroom in mind, can be easily adapted for remote learning, hybrid learning models, or in-pe

Elementary School

Teach This Poem: “December Morning In The Desert” By Alberto Ríos

Teach This Poem, though developed with a classroom in mind, can be easily adapted for remote learning, hybrid learning models, or in-pe

Elementary School

Teach This Poem: “December Moon” By Brenda Hillman

Teach This Poem, though developed with a classroom in mind, can be easily adapted for remote learning, hybrid learning models, or in-pe

Elementary School