Insights from research on young children's concepts and attitudes about poetry can assist teachers as they develop appropriate instructional poetry programs. Research reveals that teachers' choices of poems often do not correlate well with children's choices. Characteristics preferred by children include: themes important to children, humorous content, rhymed verse, sharp sensory images, limericks, and narratives. Characteristics least preferred include: poems with mature or serious themes, unrhymed verse, abstract and symbolic images, haiku, and lyric poetry. Trained evaluators rated poems and chose 26 poems as being the most suited to children's tastes--21 of these poems became the basis for the Daily Oral Reading of Poetry program. Recall activities, sequencing activities, and brainstorming new verses are some of the 12 activities that link poems to reading and writing. Any known verse can form the basis of an 11-step top-down reading lesson. From a review of descriptive literature related to poetry instruction six recommendations emerge, including daily exposure of students to poetry, and oral reading of poetry by teachers at appropriate times. The Daily Oral Reading of Poetry program was structured so that teachers introduced one new poem on a daily basis for four weeks, producing significant gains in children's concepts and attitudes about poetry. The descriptive literature on the teachers's role in poetry instruction reveals one critical fact--a single teacher may leave a longterm impression (positive or negative) on how a child feels about poetry. (An article entitled "Reading, 'Riting, and Rhyme--Give Your Classroom Poetry Time!" is attached.) (RS)