Students of all ages might enjoy creating poems from some kind of a starter. I started a poem the other day, using some cool word dice given to me by a dear friend. I wrote a line, using words I plucked from the smooth cubes and then asked for people to finish it – without rhyming, this time. Here are the results:

It’s simple shelter

that calls . . .

the heart

when days and weeks

are cold. With each

and every frosty breath,

I crave the hearth

still more.

Kylie Castellaw

It’s simple shelter

that calls . . .

my soul

to bunker down

and heal.

The wars may

rage outside,

but inside the

sentiment is peace.

Suzanne Johnson-Rodgers

I think that it would be interesting to start a bulletin board (or center activity) where students would contribute interesting words that they encounter in their reading, movies conversations, etc. These words could be selected and combined by the teacher to create a starter. After the routine catches on, students would likely enjoy creating starters for their classmates.

If you end up using this idea, I would love to post the resulting poems on my site!