When I was in school, we always were read poetry. Children naturally like rhyme and rhythm and learning poetry is fun. Good for memory and brain training.
I wonder if schools still teach poetry.
As a public school teacher, I can affirm that many of my pre-k through 8th-grade colleagues utilize rhyme, rhythm, chants, song, poetry, and reading to students in our teaching. At the school where I teach, the 7th/8th-grade English teachers devote an entire unit to poetry, during which time students are “asked” - due to we cannot force them nor do some parents require/assist them - to memorize one poem for recitation to the class. In our 7th-grade Social Studies classes, the teachers “ask” students to memorize and recite the Preamble to our U.S. Constitution.
Although I teach 7th-grade Math, I frequently read stories to my students. Some of the stories relate to Math, e.g. “How Much Is a Million?”. A few years ago I realized that many of my students had never heard the phrase, “I think I can. I think I can.” As I had given our well-used copy to our grandson, I purchased another copy. I sat in the glider in the corner of my classroom, with a student on each side and the others on the rug or blanket or throw pillows gathered around me on the floor, and I read aloud to them “The Little Engine that Could.”
It never ceases to amaze me how so many people - adults and children - do not understand/appreciate the gift of learning/reading/story-telling. In the classroom, this is a daily struggle that occurs not only in my room, my school, or even my school system. This phenomenon correlates directly with (or is it “to”?) socio-economic status, as suggested by numerous studies I have read over the years and IMHO.