Spoken Word For Kids

With Project LEAD’s Spoken Word For Kids curriculum, children have the unique opportunity to enhance their academic skills while developing leadership skills through the self-expression and performance of spoken word poetry. In today’s classrooms, self-expression is often minimally integrated into curriculum as standardized testing and college preparation take center stage. Spoken Word For Kids empowers children with Language Arts, public speaking, and creative tools that transcend the walls of the classroom, providing them with a platform to share their perspectives and experiences as they become the LEADers of tomorrow.

Project LEAD’s Spoken Word For Kids takes children on a journey of self-discovery through the medium of poetry as performance. Within each lesson, students spend time practicing foundational warm up exercises for performing, including diction, enunciation, projection, and breathing games. Students explore age-appropriate spoken word performances for inspiration and skill development, focusing on utilizing powerful literary elements including rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeias, similes, metaphors, repetition, personification, hyperboles, symbolism, tone, and mood. Students learn to use these literary skills to articulate their thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and experiences in a series of written poems. From here, students bring their written words to life by participating in workshops to develop a performance style with intentional body language, meaningful tone and diction, and personal stylistic touches to enhance their performances.

Students who participate in Project LEAD’s Spoken Word For Kids are not only improving their writing, language and speaking skills, but they are also finding their voice, learning to express their perspectives on issues that affect them, and building a sense of identity. For children, seeing themselves as having something important to say and having the tools and outlet to say it go hand in hand when developing the skills to take on leadership roles and create change in the future.

Current Phase Of Spoken Word For Kids Curriculum Development

Spoken Word For Kids Curriculum Package Options

Weekly Curriculum

Day Camp Curriculum

Common Core State Standards