Poetry Coffeehouse

I wanted to share an event that was a success in my ELA classroom - Poetry Coffeehouse! We just finished up a poetry unit, so this was a fun way to celebrate poetry and practice speaking skills. And drink hot chocolate, of course :)

The set up was quite simple. All students had a poem to read. This was a poem we had been working on for a little while, so I knew they would be ready. A few volunteers brought in treats. I bought a few large tubs of hot cocoa powder and made hot chocolate for students to enjoy.

Students went up one by one in rows (I re-arranged my classroom for that day). The runner up sat in the "support chair" so that the student reading was not the only one up there :)

Students got to sit in my chair and read in front of a coffeehouse-themed background. We snapped our fingers when they were done, in true "coffeehouse style". After each row went, I played a song on the "coffeehouse" Pandora station to keep the mood light and enjoyable.

I'd say it was a success because some students asked if we could do it again! I loved hearing their poems read, and it was so fun to do something a little more out of the ordinary. I know that there are way more involved ways to do this, but for my classroom this worked quite well!

Next up for practicing speaking skills - reading their "How To Explanatory" essays to the class. And what a pleasant coincidence that some students are writing about how-to make baked goods and are planning to bring some in to share ;) teaching is sweet!

Have you ever done a poetry reading in your class?