Taken from: Poetry Memorization: Methods and Resources, by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer

Children’s minds work differently in the three stages of classical education. Elementary students have retentive minds; in grades 1-4, a student can memorize a piece of poetry in a week simply by reading it, out loud, three times, every morning. When the piece is memorized, require the grammar-stage student to recite it from memory in front of something inanimate — a stuffed animal, a picture, or a favorite toy. When he can do this, ask him to recite it in front of a mirror. When he’s able to do this (without giggling), ask him to recite it in front of you. When he can do this, ask him to recite it in front of several relatives at once — father, mother, siblings, grandparents, cousins.

Judge Me Not, by Audry Coatesworth