Zoom Poetry Club!
Poetry for Children ~ at home
Many moons ago, I used to hold a Poetry Club in the bookshop for children aged 7 – 10 years old. While pondering how best I could help with ‘home-schooling’ my four grand-children, I realised that the obvious thing for me to do was to establish a way of reading and enjoying poetry in the virtual world – hence the Zoom Poetry Club! The first one was such fun to do that I thought I could offer it not just to my grand-children but to any who might like it – so jump in, and enjoy yourselves!
Just a tip, I encourage the children to have blank paper and crayons/felt tips etc on the table while we are ‘zooming’, and I invite them to doodle during any of the longer poems ~ this seems to help them to listen! Short poems I often read more than once. I don’t ask the children to analyse the poems in any way at all – these sessions are all about the fun and pleasure of listening to the rhymes and rhythms, the musicality of the poems.
POEMS WE READ
Monday
Wednesday
Daddy fell into the Pond by Alfred Noyes from I Like this Poem: A Classic Anthology to Treasure, edited by Kaye Webb, published by Puffin
The Door by Miroslav Holub from Tools of the Trade – poems for new doctors, published by the Scottish Poetry Library and Polygon, this edition published in 2019
My Half by Florence Parry Heide and Roxanne Heide Pierce from Haven’t You Grown, poems about families selected by Belinda Hollyer, published by Kingfisher
The House of Air by Philip Gross
Grandad’s Shed by Margaret Mayo from Haven’t You Grown, poems about families selected by Belinda Hollyer, published by Kingfisher
Colonel Fazackerley Butterworth-Toast by Charles Causley
Moving In by Mike Gower from Orange, Silver, Sausage edited by James Carter & Graham Denton, published by Walker Books.
Half Way Down by A A Milne from When We Were Very Young, published by Methuen
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by Roald Dahl
The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash from Shout, Whisper & Sing, 101 Poems to Read Aloud, complied by Beverley Matthias, published by The Bodley Head.
Some One was There by Walter de la Mare
The People Upstairs by Ogden Nash
The Secret Place (1991) by Dennis Lee
The Secret Place by Tomie de Paola from Orange, Silver, Sausage edited by James Carter & Graham Denton, published by Walker Books.
Time Transfixed by Carol Ann Duffy
Dear Mum by Brian Patten from Haven’t You Grown, poems about families selected by Belinda Hollyer, published by Kingfisher
I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood from Best-Loved Poems edited by Neil Philip, published by Little, Brown
Disobedience by A A Milne from When We Were Very Young, published by Methuen
The Wrong House by A A Milne from When We Were Very Young, published by Methuen
IDEAS FOR ACTIVITIES
We love our wordsearches – this one is based on Roald Dahl’s poem about Red Riding Hood and can be downloaded to print it off.
Younger children might enjoy the Nosy Crow version of this favourite tale.
Eleanor Farjeon imagines TWELVE things she would like in her imaginary Cottage
Can you create a fabulous fantasy home: in a poem, or a picture? You might find the links below useful, they are all from the NOSY CROW website.
Here are some of my ideas:
- kittens that never grow up
- flowers that never die
- all my grand-children to play with whenever I (they!) want to
- clean sheets every day
- delicious food that I don’t have to cook
- a pile of books that never runs out
- a room just for dancing in
You can see Abbie’s ideas below!
YOU ARE A POET!
We are loving Custard the Dragon too, and I especially love the words realio, trulio! Can you write a poem including these words? I had a go, and so did Abbie. Here’s mine:
Realio, Trulio
One day I had to jump the stream,
It seemed so big and wide!
I had to be realio, trulio brave,
But when I fell in, I cried!
Anna
I had to be Realio,Trulio brave when I was cycling in the rain,
Mum was behind me but I wanted her beside me,
Cars were zooming past really very fast,
AND THE WORST PART IS THAT I WAS GOING DOWN A HILL A REALLY STEEEP HILL!!!!
Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash
https://soundcloud.com/user-53968868/the-tale-of-custard-the-dragon-ogden-nash-2020-04-27-16-51-58
The House of Air by Philip Gross tells a spooky story of a house that disappeared. Can you write a poem about a house that disappears? Perhaps the one that you can see from your bedroom window?
Colonel Fazackerley Butterworth-Toast by Charles Causley
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sSG6-LhWYOqdlufXrrk7UebgNF59t0YX/viewAll the words in the wordsearch are from the poem about Colonel Fazackerly Butterworth-Toast. Find the words, then listen out for them when you listen to Martine reading the poem (above) – and shout out!
Have fun, see you next time!
6 Comments
Submit a Comment
Keep in touch!
For all the latest news about forthcoming events and to see the latest blog posts, sign up below.
I have 2 favourites from today My half and halfway down.
Thank you Abbie!
My favourite poem from Wednesday was The wrong house!
ooh – I like that one, too! Thank you Abbie! xxx
Word search – tick! Finn loves the word searches – even if there are no mentions of pangolins in them. Thanks.
That’s great Karen – will try to get pangolins included again at some point!