The Wilder Poetry Café is a fun, casual environment where kids can recite a piece of poetry that they wrote themselves, or one written by a classmate or a published poet. This is a fun way to practice oral presentation skills, build self confidence, and gain exposure to different types of poetry.

The club is open to all Wilder students. Everyone is welcome! We meet about once a month, but monthly attendance is not required to be a poetry club member. Come every month or just come when you can. We encourage parents to join us at the meetings for their own enjoyment.

Each Poetry Café meeting has a theme. If it helps you to narrow down your choices, bring a poem that fits in with the theme for the month. Or, if you have a favorite poem you’d like to read that doesn’t fit with the theme, bring that instead!

At the end of each meeting, we’ll introduce a Try It Yourself activity to be done at home. The activities will give students a chance to play with various poetic elements and try out different forms of poetry. These “assignments” are optional. We hope that they encourage students to write their own poems. If students complete the Try It Yourself, they can bring it to the next meeting to share with the group.

Poetry Café meets about once a month from 3:30 until 4:30 in the school library. To get current poetry club meeting dates, you can check the school calendar, email Amy Hamilton (amy@mousetrap.com) to receive email updates, or watch for announcements in Parent Organizer.

Parents or guardians need to submit a permission slip in order for their child to participate (just one slip is good for the whole year).