APPS FOR CREATING POETRY ON THE IPAD

Creating poetry on the iPad is the perfect way to celebrate National Poetry Month and there are many engaging and useful apps for creating poetry available!  Slip some technology integration into your poetry activities this month with these 10 iPad apps for creating and sharing poems.

10 apps for creating poetry on the iPad plus free poetry paper and a way to share digital poems!

I’ve rounded up mostly free iPad apps to help with writing various types of poems as well as creating stand-out digital poetry images to print or share via QR codes.  Scroll all the way to the bottom for a free download that will help students display their poems too!


1. Use Poetreat to write haiku and rhyming poems.

We use Poetreat mostly for drafting since the appearance is very basic.  However the syllable counting feature and the suggested rhymes are very helpful for any type of poetry that requires syllable counting and/or rhyming.  The app even has a rhyme scheme selector so students can select a scheme and the suggested rhymes for that line will pop on when appropriate.

After we draft with Poetreat, we recopy our poems onto iCan Write Poetry paper to display in the hall

2. Set up a poetry recording and listening station with Kids Recorder.

Poetry is meant to be read aloud and heard.  Students can use this very kid friendly recording app in a listening center to read aloud and record poems as well as listen to poems read by their classmates.

I set up the center with one iPad, a bunch of poetry books, headphones and a print out of my center activity directions available  {here}

3. Use Draw Free on the iPad (or Doodle Buddy) to create paperless blackout poems.

Blackout poetry was making the rounds on Pinterest – there are some truly incredible examples using pages from a book or newspaper and a sharpie.  Which is all well and good – but so permanent!  My students needed to be able to erase to try new things with their poems (or would accidentally color a word they needed) and we were not able to accomplish that when using Sharpie.

So I created an activity packet {here} for making the same kind of poems but on the iPad – no paper needed! Students take a picture of text, upload it to Draw Free on the iPad or Doodle Buddy, circle words from the text to make a poem, then color the rest black so that only the words they chose remain.  They can also add a picture by drawing over the blacked-out part.

4. Make one-line concrete poems on Bend Pic Editor.  

This photo app allows students to create custom shapes for their text – as long as the text is short (typically a sentence).  Have students take pictures of something in the classroom, upload it to the app, then trace around the object and type their descriptive poem about the object.  The app will insert their words into the shape that they traced!

Be warned, if your students like add pieces of flair to their projects as much as mine do – there are free stickers and frames that can be added as well…including “sunglasses.”  I guarantee their objects will be wearing sunglasses in the finished picture.

5. Create acrostic poems on Pic Collage.

 

We used {this packet} to make autobiography acrostic poems at the beginning of the year using Pic Collage.  The neat thing about Pic Collage is students can select different fonts for the letters and the rest of the sentence to make their acrostic poem stand out.  Plus they can add pictures of things mentioned in the poem along with selfies.

I would also think about using Pic Collage to create acrostic poems of the planets in the solar system, holidays, characters in books, mini anchor charts using acronyms, or any topic that you are currently studying.

6. Find rhyming words with Prime Rhyme – a free rhyming dictionary app.

 

I use this on-the-go all the time for quickly grabbing a rhyming word, whether in word study, titling activities (I’m a dork like that) or poetry writing.  I like that the app does not overwhelm with words.  Instead it selects a sample of words that rhyme to pull from.

It also includes near rhymes and slant rhymes so be sure to introduce these terms before using the app.

7.  Link pictures to poetry with the Visual Poet app.

 

Use this app when introducing free verse or descriptive poetry.  Students can use the in-app picture search or take pictures around the classroom or from stories.  Students write lines about each photo, which are then combined into a photobooth style chain.

Since the app searches Google Images, I would make sure to check the terms students plan to type in first just in case.  I usually have students write their key words on a post-it and I check them as I circulate around.  I also have a “no scrolling” rule since the sketchier images tend to be furthest down.

8.  Mimic magnetic poetry or found poetry with Word Mover.

 

This app by Read Write Think allows students to arrange words from famous text, word banks, or their own selections into a poem.  I remember when Magnetic Poetry was the thing – so much so that they had all of these spin-off sets.  My students still enjoy using the kids version in the classroom.

This app does pretty much the same thing although they can select a different background and add in their own words (perfect for kids who get frustrated when there is only one “the” magnet and they want another).  I also liked the option of using famous text – on Martin Luther King Jr. day, students can rearrange his words to create a poem with a similar theme or message.

My students follow {this guide} when making their found poems in a center.

9.  Hook reluctant poets with Instant Poetry.

This app shoots out words and your poets-in-training arrange them however.  Even your writers who struggle for ideas will be able to create a poem!  I like to introduce poetry with this…”Oh you can’t write poetry…here…BOOM poem!”

There are a variety of backgrounds too.  The end result is a “found” poem with more limitations on words – which is a good for some students who need the scaffolding.

10.  Arrange poems into beautiful shapes and collages with Visual Poetry.

I try to only share free apps, but this app is so well done I have to include it.  Visual Poetry basically allows students to make a collage or shape out of their words.  They have preset shapes or students can use their own.  Students can adjust sizes, fonts, and colors too.

We use this after drafting a poem in Poetreat.  Similar to Tagxedo on the PC, but WAY more user friendly with more options too.

I’ve used this with any poetry form, but I think it most naturally lends itself to concrete poems and descriptive poetry.

Looking for a way to display all of those poems your students have saved on the iPad camera roll?

Pick up my FREE  iCan Write Poetry paper {here} for students to either recopy their poems or glue QR codes that link to their digital files for display.

I had my students upload their poems to their blogs, grab the image URLs for each poem, make QR codes out of them, and glue them on their iCan Write Poetry iPad paper.  You could also use Google Drive, Drop Box, Flickr, or Photobucket -any site that will allow you to grab a URL of the image.

10 apps for creating poetry on the iPad plus free poetry paper and a way to share digital poems!


Any great apps for creating poetry on the iPad that I missed?  What activities do you do on your classroom iPads for National Poetry Month? We had so much fun, we play to create poems on the iPad all year long!

 

 

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