Poetry is the gateway to getting even your most word-resistant students to fall in love with words. There is something for everyone when it comes to poetry. Bring on your rule breakers, your structure lovers, and your aspiring rappers! Starting poetry in the elementary classroom should be a no-brainer, but it can be tough to find poems for elementary school. We pulled together these poems to get every student saying “Hey, I like that!”
Our Favorite Poems for Elementary School
1. Rock ’n’ Roll Band by Shel Silverstein
“We’d play and we’d sing and wear spangly things,
If we were a rock ’n’ roll band.
2. On Turning Ten by Billy Collins
“The whole idea of it makes me feel
Like I’m coming down with something …”
3. First Girls in Little League Baseball by J. Patrick Lewis
“The year was 1974
When Little Leaguers learned the score.”
4. Dreams by Langston Hughes
“Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.”
5. Falling Asleep in Class by Kenn Nesbitt
“I fell asleep in class today,
as I was awfully bored.
I laid my head upon my desk
and closed my eyes and snored.”
6. Nine Mice by Jack Prelutsky
“The signs were right, the ice was thin,
in half a trice, the mice fell in …”
7. Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee
“If I don’t get some, I think I’m gonna die.”
8. Dear Basketball by Kobe Bryant
“I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.”
9. The King’s Breakfast by A.A. Milne
“Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?”
10. Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni
“once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed …”
11. Brown Girl, Brown Girl by Leslé Honoré
“i wish you abundance
that you will always have
more than enough …”
12. Mrs Moon by Robert McGough
“sitting up in the sky
little old lady …”
13. About the Teeth of Sharks by John Ciardi
“The thing about a shark is—teeth,
One row above, one row beneath.”
14. Fish by Mary Ann Hoberman
“Look at them flit
Lickety-split
Wiggling
Swiggling …”
15. The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
“Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?”
16. Risk by Anais Nin
“And then the day came …”
17. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
“I am born on a Tuesday at the University Hospital …”
18. April Rain Song by Langston Hughes
“Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops …”
19. Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield
“I like the way he whistles and I like the way he walks
But honey, let me tell you that I LOVE the way he talks …”
20. Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
“Please Mrs Butler
This boy Derek Drew
Keeps copying my work, Miss.
What shall I do?”
21. Snail by Langston Hughes
“Little snail
Dreaming you go.”
22. Laundry Hugging by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
“I always hug my underwear as soon as it is dry.”
23. The Corn-Stalk Fiddle by Paul Laurence Dunbar
“When the corn’s all cut and the bright stalks shine …”
24. Since Hanna Moved Away by Judith Viorst
“The tires on my bike are flat.
The sky is grouchy gray.
At least it sure feels like that
Since Hanna moved away.”
25. Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle
“On an island of music
in a city of drumbeats
the drum dream girl
dreamed …”
26. Friends by Abbie Farwell Brown
“How good to lie a little while
And look up through the tree!”
27. The Tyger by William Blake
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night …”
28. Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni
“I always like summer
best
you can eat fresh corn
from daddy’s garden
and okra
and greens …”
29. maggie and milly and molly and may by e.e. cummings
“went down to the beach (to play one day)”
30. How To Paint a Donkey by Naomi Shahib Nye
“She said the head was too large,
the hooves too small.”
31. The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess
“I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one …”
32. The Dream of Shoji by Kimiko Hahn
“How to say milk? How to say sand, snow, sow …”
33. Poor Old Lady by Anonymous
“Poor old lady, she swallowed a fly.”
34. After the Winter by Claude McKay
“The shivering birds beneath the eaves …”
35. Rathers by Mary Hunter Austin
“I know very well what I’d rather be
If I didn’t always have to be me!”
36. Homework! Oh, Homework! by Jack Prelutsky
“I wish I could wash you away in the sink …”
37. Notes on the Peanut by June Jordan
“Hi there. My name is George Washington Carver.”
38. Sick by Shel Silverstein
“My mouth is wet, my throat is dry …”
39. The Quarrel by Maxine Kumin
“Said a lightning bug to a firefly,
‘Look at the lightning bugs fly by!’”
40. Jaguar by Francisco X. Alarcón
“some say
I’m now almost
extinct in this park”
41. The Parakeets by Alberto Blanco
“They talk all day
and when it starts to get dark
they lower their voices …”
42. Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere …”
43. The Rainbow by Christina Rossetti
“Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas …”
44. Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne
“When I was One,
I had just begun.”
45. To Catch a Fish by Eloise Greenfield
“It takes more than a wish
to catch a fish …”
46. The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt
“‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the Spider to the Fly …”
47. Dino Thought by Jane Yolen
“No more velociraptor gnashes,
No more allosaurus crashes.”
48. Wallet Size by Nikki Grimes
“Yes! I am rounder than most …”
49. The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee by N. Scott Momaday
“I am a feather on the bright sky
I am the blue horse that runs in the plain …”
50. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe …”
51. The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
“How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?”
52. Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog by Judith Viorst
“Mother says they smell …”
53. Trees by Joyce Kilmer
“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.”
54. Autumn by Alexander Posey
“In the dreamy silence
Of the afternoon, a
Cloth of gold is woven …”
55. Invictus by William Ernest Henley
“Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole …”
56. Marshlands by Emily Pauline Johnson
“A thin wet sky, that yellows at the rim,
And meets with sun-lost lip the marsh’s brim.”
57. Amelia’s First Ski Run by Nora Marks Dauenhauer
“Raven girl, balancing on space,
gliding on air
in Tlingit colors …”
58. I, Too by Langston Hughes
“I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen …”
59. This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams
“I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox …”
60. Coquí by Carmen Bernier-Grand
“One tiny tree frog …”
61. The Dentist and the Crocodile by Roald Dahl
“The crocodile, with cunning smile, sat in the dentist’s chair.”
62. A Riddle by Christina Rossetti
“There is one that has a head without an eye …”
63. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
“Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all …”
64. Cat by Marilyn Singer
“I prefer
warm fur …”
65. Recess! Oh Recess! by Darren Sardelli
“We love you! You rule!”
66. The Pasture by Robert Frost
“I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away …”
67. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
“There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white …”
68. A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky
“I’m making a pizza the size of the sun,
a pizza that’s sure to weigh more than a ton …”
69. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field
“Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe …”
70. The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson
“When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay …”
71. Mice by Rose Fyleman
“I think mice
Are rather nice.”
72. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
“Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though …”
73. Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day …”
74. The Duck and the Kangaroo by Edward Lear
“Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
‘Good gracious! how you hop!’”
75. Magic by Shel Silverstein
“Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once …”
