Welcome
to Teaching the Poetry of Rivers
Teaching the Poetry of Rivers is a literacy venture supporting the nationally
renowned River of Words poetry contest, an annual environmental poetry contest
for children ages 5 through 19, sponsored by the Library of Congress and locally
by the Colorado Center for the Book. This online resource integrates poetry, water
resource science, and the humanities in an effort to support the endeavors of
teachers who promote literacy and environmental stewardship in their classrooms.
For students, it aims to provide them with the means for exploring the natural
and cultural history of the places they live in, and to express their discoveries
of place and self through poetry. The River of Words poetry contest,
coordinated by the Colorado Center for the Book through the Colorado Endowment
for the Humanities, offers students the opportunity to submit their work to a
public showcase. Teaching the Poetry of Rivers online resource is provided
for free by the Colorado Foundation for Water Education.
Teaching the Poetry of Rivers provides:
• Five self-paced lesson plans, integrating culture, history, poetry and watershed
science.
• Step-by-step instruction for teaching your students the process of writing
poetry.
• Readings, activities, photographs and Internet links related to each lesson.
• Suggestions to modify the lessons for different grade levels.
Teaching the Poetry of Rivers has been developed by
poet and teacher, Dr. Kathryn Winograd, the 2002 Colorado Book Award Winner for
Poetry. This project has been funded in part by a Colorado Endowment for the Humanities
grant.
Click the links on the top of the page to begin. You can start
with Lesson One: From Journal to Poetry--Writing the List Poem.
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