Mood Clues for Primary

This is my first year as our school's K-5 Literacy Coach. At first, I found it difficult to switch gears. I had only been an intermediate coach. But, I have to admit, I am REALLY enjoying the primary grades. This week, in the first grade, we planned our 2nd poetry unit. For the first one, we concentrated on rhyming words. For this unit, we will focus on mood. I never thought first graders could handle mood. But, thanks to the Common Core Standards, I learned differently. The standard states that a student will, "Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses." We decided to focus on feelings. For our introduction, we will use the "How Are You Feeling?" chart you can find in a counselor's office. Here is a copy:

The poetry included with our pacing guide really didn't convey any type of feeling. They were the typical poems you see for younger kids. So, I pulled about 10 poetry books for young children and began looking for poems that expressed different types of moods and that our first graders could actually read or read with some assistance. I chose 6. We are going to have the kids put each of the poems in their own poetry books. Here is one:

Then, I created a checklist for the students to use to help them identify the mood of the poem. The rubric includes simple drawings to help them remember what each word means. I also created the rubric so that the easiest clue was at the top, to build confidence. And finally, I added two questions to to the checklist.

I can't wait to see our teachers in action using the checklist with our students! I also can't wait to watch our kids go to town identifying the various moods of the poems. You may find the checklist in my TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mood-Clues-for-Primary-Students What strategies do you use to help your primary students understand poetry better?