Poetry has often been described as the neglected genre despite its potential to engage and motivate students of all abilities in reading and writing. Indeed, poetry provides an excellent forum for the development of literacy skills and strategies in a meaningful context. The author describes how a teacher implemented a poetry genre study in a first-grade classroom. The author begins by delineating the need for poetry instruction in elementary classrooms and then outlines the structure of the genre study and the variety of teaching approaches used in both reading and writing contexts. The author also shares classroom resources and examples of the literature used to illustrate how the genre study was enacted in her particular context so readers might be enabled to adapt it to suit the needs of other learners.