During the first two weeks of May, the Poetry in America team hit the road, filming classrooms at Greenwich Country Day School and Success Academy Charter Schools. The project? A new educational series on the Poetry of Art, Sport, and Play designed to help teachers and their students explore the intersections of poetry and other kinds of creativity– whether artistic or athletic– and to read with an eye toward fostering play and fun.

Great time making #art and reading #poetry today w/ 1st graders GCDS. Can you guess the poem based on the art? pic.twitter.com/UzcAzfUvV7

— Poetry In America (@PoetryInAmerica) May 13, 2016

We kicked things off with a teacher training workshop, looking at three poems:

• “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams
• “My Mother Enters the Workforce” by Rita Dove
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

For the next two weeks, we crisscrossed Connecticut and New York City, filming these stellar teachers– all new to teaching these poems– in action in the classroom.

Check out the video that Greenwich Country Day School released today for a sneak peak at some of the work we captured:

Poetry in America Workshop at GCDS from Greenwich Country Day School on Vimeo.

Featured Partners

Greenwich Country Day School

GCDS is the largest independent elementary and middle school in the country, and all of its expertise and resources are focused on the critical years of a child’s early education.

Success Academy Charter Schools

Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools is the largest and highest-performing free, public charter school network in New York City.