LEWISTON — Paul Janeczko, a prolific Maine author who specializes in teaching poetry to young people, will lead a workshop as part of a Bates College Museum of Art children’s program.

The program will explore poetry in relation to the visual arts.

 Part of the museum’s “Thousand Words Project,” an educational outreach program, the two-part series for fourth- through sixth-graders will begin at 10 a.m. Museum staff will offer the two-hour session, “An Introduction to Writing Poetry from the Visual Arts through the Thousand Words Project.”

 Janeczko, of Hebron, will lead the second session, “Writing Poems From Art,” starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12.

 Both sessions will take place at the museum at 75 Russell St. A session postponed by severe weather will take place at 10 a.m. the following day. Cost is $10. Space is limited and preregistration is required. To register, contact Anne Odom at [email protected] or 786-8212.

 Janeczko’s books include poetry, fiction and nonfiction. An experienced educator, he visits schools around the country to introduce children to poetry. His nonfiction works include “The Dark Game: True Spy Stories” and “Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing.”

The Bates program is offered as a ramp-up to the “Poetry Out Loud” state finals at the Franco-American Heritage Center on March 11 Created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, in partnership with state arts agencies, “Poetry Out Loud” encourages young people to discover great poetry through memorization and recitation.

 The program builds on the recent resurgence of spoken poetry by bringing the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word and theater into English classes. Registration is open to all public, private, parochial and home-school high schools in Maine.