Poetry and the Common Core
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide a framework that informs instruction and include a component focused on teaching children about poetry. That provides a central focus for our open-themed books of poetry, which are first and foremost quality anthologies of original poetry for children written by more than 70 of today’s most popular poets. Young readers in any state or country can enjoy, explore, and respond to these poems. However, we have also come to realize that educators, librarians, and parents are looking for guidance on how to share poetry with children and teens and teach the skills within the curriculum as well. The Poetry Friday Anthology (K-5) and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School offer both: quality poetry plus curriculum-based suggestions for helping young readers enjoy and understand poetry more deeply.
The third book in our series, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, can be used to teach the CCSS but was designed to dovetail with a different set of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)—and the science standards of individual states. Like the Common Core State Standards, the NGSS guide us in moving from the familiar to the scientific, overlapping in their emphasis on rich discussion and critical thinking.
What are the expectations outlined in the Common Core?
Our books outline the expectations of the Common Core (or, in the case of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, the NGSS) for each grade covered by that particular title—K-5 or Middle School. Here is a summary of the CCSS for English Language Arts (Poetry) for 5th Grade—as well as an example of a poem for 5th Grade with its accompanying sidebar of “Take 5!” teaching tips; each “Take 5!” Mini-Lesson provides a connection to the standards in item #4.