40 Poems for 40 Weeks

With this anthology of hand-chosen poems written by well-known, beloved poets, you can introduce poetry to your students in the classroom and beyond. Poetry is a powerful tool for teaching phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and a love of reading. Curated specifically for students in Grades 3–5, this book contains 40 poems for 40 weeks in the school year, making it easy for teachers and librarians to read the poems sequentially throughout the year, choose them at random, or match a theme with current needs or events. The book eliminates the need to track down poems to read each week, and it provides a reading list of 120 books of poetry, making it one of the richest sources for poetry titles specifically for young students. Along with the poems are word ladders to aid in lessons on word decoding and encoding, vocabulary, and interest in word study. With poetry from award-winning authors and poets laureate, this is an essential resource for teachers and librarians hoping to inspire their students with poetry.

David L. Harrison is currently Missouri Poet Laureate. His 108 published titles include 90 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers and 18 educational books for teachers. His work has been anthologized in more than 200 books, translated into 12 languages, sandblasted into the Burton Barr Children’s Garden sidewalk in Phoenix, Arizona, and painted on a bookmobile in Pueblo, Colorado.

Timothy V. Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University, USA, and director of its award-winning reading clinic. He has written over 200 articles and has authored, co-authored, or edited over 50 books or curriculum programs on reading education. His scholarly interests include reading fluency and word study, reading in the elementary and middle grades, and readers who struggle.