Celebrate Black Poetry Day with Amanda Gorman Picture Books
Black Poetry Day, observed on October 17, is an opportunity to introduce students to the voices and contributions of Black poets – past and present. For elementary classrooms, Amanda Gorman’s picture books provide an engaging and accessible way to explore poetry while opening conversations about hope, community, courage, and the power of using our voices.
Three of Gorman’s picture books, Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem, Something, Someday, and Girls on the Rise – offer meaningful connections for young learners. Change Sings celebrates the power of joining our voices and actions together. Something, Someday reminds children that even when a problem feels too big, change can begin with one small step. Girls on the Rise celebrates girls – their strength, potential, individuality, and ability to shape the future.
Together, these books invite students to experience poetry not only as something to read, but also as a powerful way to express ideas, imagine possibilities, and share their own voices.
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Meet Amanda Gorman
Introduce Amanda Gorman as an American poet and author who became the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. Explain that she often writes about hope, community, belonging, and people’s ability to create positive change.
This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the incredible young poet and activist’s life so far. –Amazon
Something, Someday
Something, Someday, written by Amanda Gorman and illustrated by Christian Robinson, offers a hopeful message about noticing problems, persevering when change feels difficult, and believing that small actions matter.
Through poetic language and expressive illustrations, Gorman shows young readers that they don’t have to solve an entire problem at once – they can simply begin. The story provides a meaningful starting point for conversations about hope, persistence, community, and the power of taking that first small step.
Extend the Learning
1. Notice, Wonder & Imagine
After reading, create a three-column chart: Notice – Wonder – Imagine. Ask students what problems the character notices, what questions the story makes them wonder about, and what possibilities they can imagine for making things better. Discuss how noticing something that needs to change can be the first step toward taking action.
2. Something I Can Do
Invite students to think about something they would like to make better in their classroom, school, neighborhood, community, or world. Have them create a short free-verse poem using some or all of these prompts:
I notice…
I wish…
Maybe I can…
Something small can…
Together, we can…
Someday…
Encourage students to move beyond simply completing the sentences by adding their own lines and experimenting with repetition, descriptive words, and strong verbs.
3. Small Steps, Big Possibilities
Ask each student to identify one small, realistic action they could take to help improve something they care about. Write each action on a footprint, stepping stone, leaf, or other paper shape. Combine them into a classroom display titled “Small Steps, Big Possibilities.”
Extend the discussion by asking: What might happen if many people took small steps toward the same goal? Connect students’ ideas back to the book’s message that meaningful change often begins with someone deciding to do something.
🎧 Listen to Amanda Gorman read Something, Someday:
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem, written by Amanda Gorman and illustrated by Loren Long, is a lyrical celebration of the ways children can use their voices and actions to make a difference. As the story unfolds, one child’s efforts grow into a shared experience, showing how kindness, cooperation, and individual contributions can become something bigger.
The book’s rhythm, repetition, and message of positive change make it an engaging way to explore poetry while helping students consider their own role in their classroom, community, and world.
Extend the Learning
1. What Does It Mean for Change to “Sing”?
Explore the title Change Sings. Ask students what they think it means for change to “sing.” Why might Gorman connect change with music? Look for ways music and instruments are represented throughout the story. Introduce or review metaphor and discuss how compaing change to music helps communicate the book’s message.
2. Change Begins With Me
Brainstorm positive changes students would like to see in their classroom, school, community, or world. These might include welcoming others, protecting nature, helping people in need, orcaring for animals. Have students create a short free-verse poem beginning with prompts such as:
Change begins when…
I can…
My voice can…
Together we can…
I imagine a world where…
Encourage students to experiment with repetition, rhythm, descriptive language, and strong verbs.
3. Create a Classroom Change Song
Give each student a paper music note and ask them to write one realistic action they can take to make a positive difference. Arrance the notes together on a musical staff to create a collaborative “Change Sings When We All Play a Part” display. Discuss how each individual action is important and how many small actions can work together to create something larger.
🖨️ Change Sings Educator Guide
Girls on the Rise
Girls on the Rise, written by Amanda Gorman and illustrated by Loveis Wise, is a joyful celebration of girls and their potential to dream, lead, create, and make a difference. Its lyrical language and uplifting message make it a natural addition to a Black Poetry Day exploration of Gorman’s work.
The book also provides an opportunity to talk about individuality and empowerment while encouraging all students to consider how they can support and celebrate the girls in their lives and communities.
Extend the Learning
1. What Does It Mean to “Rise”?
Discuss the word rise. What might it mean beyond physically moving upward? Ask students to identify ways the girls in the book “rise” through their ideas, actions, dreams, or strengths. Create a class chart of different meanings and examples.
2. Powerful Words Poetry Hunt
Read the book again and have students listen for words and phrases that communicate strength, possibility, courage, or hope. Discuss how Gorman’s word choices make the reader feel. Then invite students to choose several powerful words and use them as inspiration for a short poem of their own.
3. Celebrate a Girl Who Inspires You
Invite students to choose a girl or woman – someone they know, a historical figure, or a contemporary changemaker – who inspires them. Students can write a short poem, paragraph, or “She Rises Because…” tribute explaining what makes that person inspiring. Extend the activity by locating the person’s country or place of origin on a world map.
Black Poetry Day can be more than an introduction to a poet – it can be an invitation for students to discover the power of poetry and their own voices. Through Change Sings, and Something, Someday, and Girls on the Rise, students can explore how Amanda Gorman uses lyrical language to communicate hope, imagine possibilities, and encourage positive action.
Each book offers a slightly different message, but together they remind young readers that their ideas, words, dreams, and actions matter. Whether students are imagining a better future, taking a small step toward change, or recoginizing the strengths in themselves and others, these stories can help them see themselves as active members of their classrooms, communities, and our interconnected world.
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