Tapping into Learners’ Creativity through Poetry

 Tapping into Learners’ Creativity through Poetry

When learners are given the chance to play with words, poetry becomes a doorway to creativity itself.

Poetry is not just about rhyme—it’s about voice, imagination, and seeing the world through fresh eyes. When learners are invited to create simple yet powerful poetry forms—like cinquains, list poems, 5W poems, or two-voice poetry, to mention but a few—something wonderful happens: their creativity awakens. Suddenly, words become paint, and the classroom turns into a canvas where ideas and feelings take shape.

By connecting these poetry activities to themes from the curriculum, students discover that poetry isn’t something extra or separate: It’s a way of living their learning! They also realize that such kind of poetry writing isn’t something unfeasible.  A description of the characteristic parts of their neighbourhood or city can transform into a flowing cinquain; Romeo and Juliet’s story might inspire a two-voice poem between the legendary figures; even a list poem about items in their wardrobe can bring out the wonders of new vocabulary in a foreign language.

The benefits are countless:

·         Creative Expression: Students find personal, imaginative ways to engage with classroom topics.

·         Language Development: Playing with words enriches vocabulary, structure, and fluency.

·         Critical Thinking: Condensing big ideas into short forms promotes clarity and focus.

·         Confidence: Even hesitant writers manage to  contribute as they see that poetry can be short, simple, and still deeply meaningful.

·         Joy in Learning: Poetry taps into emotion and playfulness, making the curriculum come alive.

At its heart, poetry empowers learners to see that knowledge is not only something to be studied—it is something they can shape, reimagine, and express in their own words. And when that happens, learning stops being a task and becomes an adventure.

Below you can have a look at a presentation of various types of poems that have been implemented in my classes from 3^rd to 6^th grade. They are followed by the worksheets that the students were provided with and a couple of samples in each category regarding learner output. The majority were carried out over the school year 2024-25 with the exception of some, which were carried out one or two years earlier.

Take a look and let the ideas spark new adventures in your classroom!

Prompting young EFL learners to write poetry από Theofani Iatropoulou

Distinction for Our School at the Bravo Schools Awards

 

We are proud to share that our school has been distinguished in the Nationwide School Competition Bravo Schools for its active participation and contribution to the promotion of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)!.

Our project was one of the 60 that stood out among approximately 800 entries from schools across the country for showcasing the values of acceptance, empathy and peaceful coexistence through the collaborative efforts of students and educators.

Our project has been recognised as  the best educational approach for the promotion of the 3rd goal, namely Good Health and Well-Being, and this award is not only a great recognition of the creativity, collaboration and passion of our whole school community but also a powerful incentive to continue towards building a better and more sustainable future.

Congratulations to all those who contributed to this achievement!

eTwinning “ S.O.S.: Save Our Sea” - Part 7

 

May was a month of intense activity, as we worked on our final products.

We began by compiling a poetic anthology featuring various types of short poems, either celebrating the beauty of the Mediterranean or highlighting some of its problems. To achieve this, we worked in transnational teams, with each school tasked with illustrating poems from the other countries according to the students’ interpretations.

Look at our worksheet, which we shared among all partners:

Poems about the Mediterranean - Worksheet από Theofani Iatropoulou

Read the complete anthology below:

Read this book made on StoryJumper

We also created a virtual exhibition of students’ artworks, created under the guidance of our art teacher, using “treasures” from the beaches, such as shells, pebbles, sticks, and even plastic bottle caps, as a form of upcycling. The goal was to showcase the beauty of our sea.

Visit the complete exhibition below.

Browse the exhibition catalogue below.

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/d8345705d9.html

In addition, we co-authored a transnational story-fairytale about the Mediterranean, aiming to highlight its issues and inspire people to take action. This story was illustrated with the help of Artificial Intelligence tools, with learners providing appropriate prompts.

Eventually it was turned into a video, narrated by AI.

You can watch it by clicking on the link below:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGqgMq3X7M/XaXQe5GMFNcQ7uyqB-XQpw/watch

We also held our final online meeting. After the usual greetings, each school sang two songs about the sea or its islands in their mother tongue, offering students a rich experience of cultural exchange and multilingualism. The excitement was palpable, and we said goodbye in an atmosphere full of joy. 

The songs were recorded, and videos were made with English subtitles so that everyone could understand and enjoy them. You can have access to them below:

The eTwinning project showed us what we can achieve when we collaborate, share, and dream together. Even though it has ended, it has left a deep impression on all of us. After all, every ending is simply the beginning of a new creative adventure!

Flip through the memory book of the eTwinning program “S.O.S.: Save Our Sea” by clicking the link below:

SOS Save Our Sea

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

read.bookcreator.com

eTwinning “Do you need me? Because I need you” – Part 7

 

May was a month bursting with creativity, filled with a wide range of collaborative activities that brought learning and imagination together reflected in our final products!

Forming transnational teams with our partner schools, we created a collaborative storybook about pets: one school would generate an image using Artificial Intelligence, and a school from another country would write a story inspired by it.

We also wrote acrostic poems about pets - in transnational teams again - in another shared book, with each school starting an acrostic, which was in turn completed by another, demonstrating true teamwork across borders! 

 

A further activity involved participation in Code Week, during which we took part in pixel art activities that encouraged computational thinking. Students had to crack the code in order to reveal the pet hidden in each design.

Another highlight, which was the culminating product, was the creation of transnational “TV interview with a pet.” Students from one country posed the questions, while their peers from another provided the answers according to a set schedule that specified the transnational groups. At the same time, AI-generated images were created by the learners through provision of proper prompts in order to illustrate the interview. Finally, we recorded the voices of students from the participating schools and turned the whole project into a video. You can watch the video of the interview below:

To wrap things up, we reflected on our experiences i and everything we had achieved during this project and carried out an evaluation through online questionnaires.

Although our eTwinning journey has now come to an end, the experiences, friendships, and bridges of collaboration we have built will stay with us for a long time. We will carry with us the smiles, the knowledge we have gained, the creativity we have shared, and above all, the belief that learning knows no borders.

eTwinning “ S.O.S.: Save Our Sea” - Part 6

 

The month of April was marked by an online meeting between all partners to play the Kahoot quiz game simultaneously. This quiz had already been created with contributions from students of all schools, based on the environmental videos each school had studied and then shared with the other partners through their collaborative presentations.

Before the meeting, all students had reviewed the presentation material in order to answer the questions correctly and quickly, aiming for high scores. Our students were divided into six mixed teams, including learners from both participating classes, and each team received one tablet.

At the start of the session, following the customary greetings and a brief discussion of recent news, the winning project logo was announced. It had been chosen through voting by students, parents, and teachers from all participating schools. The announcement was met with sustained applause, as this logo had received exceptionally high preference compared to the other ones.

The signal to start the game was then given, and the students, after entering the special game code, began answering the questions displayed on the screen simultaneously, consulting with their team mates for each answer. They showed great interest and focus, competing to climb as high as possible in the ranking. The winning team came from a school in Spain, and their victory was celebrated enthusiastically by all schools, demonstrating how passionately everyone had engaged in the game.

The conclusion is simple: a playful approach stimulates students’ natural curiosity, ignites excitement, and gives real meaning to learning!

eTwinning “Do you need me? Because I need you” – Part 6

 

April was the month in which we focused on “special” activities. Each school had the opportunity to present a pet-related action, initiative or project, which reflected the values and philosophy they wanted to share.

Guided by the principles of inclusion and respect for all living beings - and in connection with the Panhellenic School Day for Animal Welfare in Greece on April 4th - our students participated in an online interview with the unique veterinarian in Greece who builds special wheelchairs for pets with mobility issues. 

They learnt about the process of designing such wheelchairs, the factors that influence their construction, and even watched videos of real cases, including the surprising story of a turtle that received its own tiny wheelchair.

The children then interviewed the veterinarian, asking insightful questions that he answered with enthusiasm, sometimes even pleasantly surprised by their curiosity. To conclude, he gave them a virtual tour of his workshop, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the innovative work being done.

Using the notes they had taken during the presentation and the answers from the plethora of questions they had asked the veterinarian, our students created an infographic highlighting the Q&A points that impressed them the most. By adding suitable visuals, they were able to share their findings with the partner schools and spread important information about pets with mobility challenges.

In the end, our students had a unique experience: they gained knowledge, developed sensitivity, awareness and an expanded perspective on how creativity and compassion can change animals’ lives. Through sharing what they had learned with our partners, our learners became voices advocating for pets with special needs. 

 

International Children’s Book Day - School library activities

 International Children’s Book Day is the perfect spark for creativity. Celebrated every April 2^nd , —the birthday of the beloved storyteller Hans Christian Andersen—,  it invites children to step into stories, imagine without limits, and transform reading into a playful, hands-on adventure.

Established in 1966 by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), the day shines a spotlight on the magic of books and their power to inspire young readers. Each year, a different country takes on the honour of sending a special message to children everywhere, accompanied by an illustrated poster.

This year, the Netherlands was entrusted with this role, represented by the award-winning author and poet Rian Visser, who shared her beautiful poem “The Language of Images.”

At our school, we marked the day with creative library activities for 4^th- and 5^th-graders.

In the 4th grade, the poem was read aloud while the students kept their eyes closed—free to picture the images painted by the poet’s words through the lens of their own imagination. This exercise reminded us that literature comes alive only when the reader actively participates in shaping its meaning. This was followed by a discussion, and the students were asked to transform their inner visions into drawings, with each one being a unique interpretation of the verses.

As the poet herself concludes in her final lines:

“…These words belong to you

even though they came from me”.

In the 5th grade, the activity took on a different twist. After reading the poem, the students explored the variety of ways in which books enrich our lives—sparking off imagination, enhancing our creative thinking and opening new worlds. The learners were invited to create visual metaphors for books such as a lighthouse showing the way, a match igniting creativity or a window to the outside world. Through their illustrations, they captured the symbolic light books bring, the values they nurture, the horizons they broaden, and the inspiration they offer , making us see the world with new eyes.

Because, after all, books are like the magical fairy dust of stories: they can lift us up and make us fly!

 

eTwinning “ S.O.S.: Save Our Sea” - Part 5

 

eTwinning  “ S.O.S.: Save Our Sea”  - Part 5

March was a month of creativity and awareness.

We first worked together in transnational teams, each named after a sea of the Mediterranean, to collaboratively design the project logo. In this way, five different logos were created, each reflecting the contribution of all the participating schools. Afterwards a voting procedure took place in the classroom, with the participation of every student and teacher. The link was also shared with parents, so that the parental community could be involved in the final selection, as well.

In addition, we carried out activities aimed at informing and training students on environmental issues related to our project. Each participating country undertook the study of two videos presenting scientific data on important topics such as climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect, water pollution, plastic pollution, endangered species in the Mediterranean, invasive alien species, sustainability, and upcycling.

Following that the students collaborated on the creation of a joint presentation, highlighting the key findings from the videos assigned to them. This ensured that important information was effectively shared with all participants. The final goal was to use the knowledge exchanged among schools to collectively design an online quiz game (Kahoot) based on the content of the learner-designed presentation. Each school contributed by writing multiple-choice questions on the issues they had explored. Our students focused on water pollution and single-use plastics. At a later stage, an online meeting was scheduled so that all students could play the game together in real time.

Finally, in order to emphasize the alarming dimension of the  problems afflicting the Mediterranean through the power of images, the learners were invited to visit a website that allowed them to create a mock television screen by uploading a relevant copyright free image, filling in the news headlines and the ticker. All these “screens” were collected on a collaborative online board, showcasing the magnitude of the challenges our sea is facing through a cascade of striking images.

These activities sparked students’ interest and contributed to strengthening their environmental awareness in general but especially towards our shared sea, the Mediterranean.

Because the Mediterranean is not just a sea; it is a bridge that unites cultures and at the same time a heritage we must protect for the generations to come!

eTwinning “Do you need me? Because I need you” – Part 5

 

March was dedicated to exploring pets that surround us and play special roles in society, such as guide dogs, police and search-and-rescue dogs, or therapy dogs trained to support people in healthcare settings. The goal was for students to develop empathy, understand the importance of helping individuals with disabilities, and appreciate the ways animals contribute to human support and community safety.

Each school had to choose a focus and encourage students to reflect on the experience. Our students drew on the hands-on encounter they had earlier in the school year with the guide dog which had visited our school as a companion to a person with visual impairment.

Through this experience, they learned about the training and vital assistance these dogs provide, asked thoughtful questions, and showed strong interest in the topic. Because sometimes it actually takes a person with a visual impairment to open your eyes to a whole new world!

 They then recorded the most memorable facts and what they had enjoyed the most to share with students from other countries -and in turn, learned from their partners’ insights.

Knowledge like this doesn’t just enrich the mind -it touches the heart, helping to shape citizens with emotional intelligence, empathy and respect!

eTwinning School Label 2025-2026

 

Our learners’ creative and collaborative efforts and work have paid off!

We are really proud that our school has been awarded the eTwinning School Label for the biennium 2025-2026 in recognition of our zealous commitment to promoting the values of eTwinning, which have been embedded in our school policy and are shown below.