Designed to help teachers provide high-interest independent work for their first grade students, this manual contains plans to increase students' reading, spelling, and speaking vocabularies by using original poetry. After a short introduction, the first section describes bulletin board plans that can be adapted for use throughout the year and suggests ways poems for the teacher and poems for the students can be used. The second section contains the teacher poems identified by topic, while the third is composed of vocabulary lists and student poems (also identified by topic). The remaining short sections of the manual contain sample spelling and creative writing plans, procedures for using vocabulary words as spelling words, and ideas on how to solicit poetry from children. Line illustrations intended for use with an overhead projector are also placed throughout the manual. (JL)