This website is designed to give teachers alternatives to worksheets.

I could have handed my students a poetry worksheet and instructed them to practice reading the nursery rhymes (poetry).  This would have, at best, given them fluency practice.  Most students would have been found doodling, daydreaming, or disrupting others instead of reading.  
Instead, we created a book of nursery rhymes and collaboratively recited, retold in our own words, illustrated, compared and contrasted, imagined ourselves as the characters, and convinced make believe characters to help Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill.  

Students who typically are very shy and refuse to read aloud were the ones who shared the most.  They are extremely proud to walk past our room and tell others that they worked together to create "Our Poet-Tree."  I was most impressed by a student with a severe speech impairment who stood his ground and justified reasons to keep trying to put Humpty together again.

Some of the strands we covered are listed below.  This, by no means, is an exhaustive list.
RL.1.2. Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
RL.1.4. Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
RL.1.10. With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
SL.1.1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

• Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
• Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
• Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.