Expose your child to literature early in life. Singing songs and reciting nursery rhymes when your child is just an infant can be a helpful way to introduce elements of poetry to your child, including rhyme, meter and content. Read poems in illustrated books and point at the illustrations that match with the words that you are reading to help your child make connections between words and ideas. When your child is old enough, have him draw pictures as they relate to the meaning of the poem.
Set realistic expectations and goals with your child. As your child becomes more confident in her reading skills, make sure to choose poetry that is challenging for her, but not over her head. According to an article from Oprah.com, it is important to challenge the abilities of your child, but pushing her beyond her limits beyond her capability might negatively affect her. Gauge her progress as she reads and ask her questions about the content in the poetry as she understands it. Make sure the poetry selections are age-friendly; if she has difficult comprehending a piece by Shel Silverstein, for example, don't rush her into reading Shakespeare before she is ready.
Children often learn by example. In a class setting, make sure each student has a copy of a selected poem. Instruct them to follow along as you read aloud. As you read, change the style or accent of your voice, perform gestures that will dramatize your meaning as you read, change your volume and speed as you speak. Ask the students to write down three things that they noticed you do to convey your meaning. Take turns discussing how voice and performance can help to express and create meaning in poetry.
Help them recognize how rhythm and meter, like a song, can help create fluidity throughout the piece. Also point out that as you read the poem, you should not stop at the end of each line, as this creates a choppy effect; instead, you should pause only at punctuations, to allow time for thought and contemplation of the content.
If you are teaching a group of students, have students take turns reading a simple four-line poem out loud. As the students take turns, have them emphasize a different word in the poem and then discuss how the emphasis changes the meaning. For example, in the phrase “the cat is fluffy,” placing stronger inflection on the word “cat” emphasizes the subject of the phrase, while emphasizing “fluffy” places more focus on the descriptive part of the phrase. This exercise can help students understand how emphasis can change the meaning of a poem.
As children become more fluid in reading poetry, add a new dynamic to their reading comprehension. Have your child ponder the characteristics of the main character or situation. Ask him to consider what the main character is feeling, what the character looks like, what the character is trying to say, how the character would move or what the character sounds like. Suggest he act out the poem as he reads it, or suggest reading it out loud for him as he acts it out. Have him read the poem emphasizing different lines, and changing the speed and volume as he recites it.