2nd November
As we've started Channel 5 News twice a week, I thought a poem about the news would be appropriate.
The News
I don’t like news
that explodes
leaves refugees
crying, homeless
that orders tanks
into cities
blasting down
schools and houses.
News that blows up
hospitals
news that kills
and fills deep graves.
I don’t like news
that screams abuse
kicks the legs
from under wingers.
taps their ankles
argues back
news that won’t learn
how to lose.
I like news
that’s just been born
news that puts
food in stomachs.
news that rescues
news that cures
that celebrates
its hundredth birthday
news that will make today
happier than the day before.
David
Harmer
19th October
Name-Calling
They called me frog-face with ears like a bat.
I said ‘I’m not – I’m worse than that.’
They called me rat nose with a tongue like a shoe.
I said ‘Is that the best you can do?’
They called me mouse eyes, skunk breath. dog-head.
I said, ‘I’m worse than all that you’ve said.’
They said, ‘It’s no fun calling you a name.’
I called, ‘That’s a pity – I’m enjoying this game.’
Charles Thompson
21st September
This week is all about tongue twisters and alliteration. Enjoy!
Camilla
Caterpillar
Camilla
Caterpillar kept a caterpillar killer-cat.
A
caterpillar killer categorically she kept.
But
alas the caterpillar killer-cat attached Camilla
As
Camilla caterpillar catastrophically slept.
Mike Jubb
She
Sells Seashells
She sells
seashells on the seashore;
The
shells she sells are seashells I’m sure.
So if
she sells seashells on the sea shore,
I’m
sure that the shells are sea-shore shells.
Anon
14th September
This week's poem combines two areas of learning that we've looked at in the last few weeks:
the idioms that we studied with Mrs Mason and using commas to punctuate lists.
My Dad is Amazing!
My dad’s amazing
for he can:
make mountains out of molehills,
teach Granny to suck eggs,
make Mum’s blood boil
and then drive her up the wall.
May dad’s amazing
for he also:
walks around with his head in the clouds,
has my sister eating out of the palm of his hand,
says he’s got eyes in the back of his head
and can read me like a book.
But,
the most amazing
thing of all is:
when he’s caught someone red-handed,
first he jumps down their throats
and then he bites their head off!
7th September
We have been looking at the use of commas to separate items in a list this week, so what better reminder is there than a list poem?
The Teacher’s Day in Bed
Our teacher’s having a day in bed –
He’s sent his pets to school instead!
There’s . . .
A parrot to read the register,
A crocodile to sharpen the pencils,
A canary to teach singing,
An adder to teach maths,
An octopus to make the ink,
An elephant to vacuum the floor,
An electric eel to make the computers work,
A giraffe to look for trouble at the back,
A tiger to keep order at the front,
A reed bunting (can’t you guess?
to help with reading of course!),
A secretary bird to run the office,
A piranha fish to give swimming lessons
(Glad I’m off swimming today!),
A zebra to help with crossing the road,
Oh, and a dragon to cook the sausages.
David Orme
31st August
We had some fun this week, first we looked at two limericks. One which explained the rules of limerick writing and an example of a well known limerick.
Limerick
A limerick’s cleverly versed –
The second line rhymes with the first;
The third one is short,
The fourth’s the same sort,
and the last line is often the worst.
John Irwin
There Was an Old Man
There was an old man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared! –
Two Owls and a Hen,
four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
Edward Lear
Then we tried writing limericks about about ourselves, here is a selection.
There was a young man called Josh
who was not very posh.
He was not very short,
he wanted to work at the port,
but people said he had too much dosh.
There was a girl called Jakira,
who went to see her friend Kira.
Jakira said "Hi!"
Kira said "Bye!"
and slammed the door behind her.
There was once a boy called Sam,
who loved to eat ham.
He shot a pig
while wearing a wig,
but the pig had rabies. - Oh man!
Friday 10th August
We have been looking closely at what makes a sentence a sentence for the past few weeks. This poem uses the same two simple sentences and swaps the word order in many different ways. A surprising amount make sense, but you might have to really think about them.
The
Uncertainty of the Poet
I am a poet.
I am very fond of bananas.
I am bananas.
I am very fond of a poet.
I am a poet of bananas.
I am very fond.
A fond poet of ‘I am, I am’ –
Very bananas.
Fond of ‘Am I bananas?
Am I?’ – a very poet.
Bananas of a poet!
Am I fond? Am I very?
Poet bananas! I am.
I am fond of a ‘very’.
I am of very fond bananas.
Am I a poet?
Wendy Cope
Friday 3rd August
Olympic Race
Standing and waiting for the race to begin
I'm getting quite nervous
Am I going to win?
Crouching down low, I wait for the gun
Bang! There it goes
We're starting to run.
My heart is pounding; I'm going to burst
Come on legs keep going!
I want to come first.
Just one last effort, I pass the line
Am I first, last, where am I?
What's my time?
I stand on the podium, proud and bold
I'm wearing my medal
Am Olympic gold!
Victoria Scale-Constantinou
Friday 27th July
The Hills
Sometimes I think the hills
That loom across the harbour
Lie there like sleeping dragons,
Crouched one above another,
With trees for tufts of fur
Growing all up and down
The ridges and humps of their backs,
And orange cliffs for claws
Dipped in the sea below.
Sometimes a wisp of smoke
Rises out of the hollows,
As if in their dragon sleep
They dreamed of strange old battles.
What if the hills should stir
Some day and stretch themselves,
Shake of the clinging trees
And all the clustered houses?
Rachel Field
Friday 20th July
The Three Little Pigs
The
first little pig in a house of straw
heard
a tap tap tap on her little green door.
‘Little
pig, little pig, let me come in,’
said
the big bag wolf with a big bad grin.
Then
he huffed and he puffed and he huffed some more
and
down went the little pig’s house of straw.
The
next little pig was taking a nap
in
her house of sticks when she heard a tap
and
the big bad wolf with a big bad grin
gave
a huff and a puff and blew her house in.
Then
the big bad wolf, still up to his tricks
went
off to the third little house of bricks.
And
he huffed and he puffed till his face turned red.
‘My
house is too tough,’ the little pig said.
‘I’ll
come down the chimney,’ the wolf yelled, ‘Now!’
But
the fire was lit and the wolf yelled ‘Ow!’
and
shot straight out in a cloud of smoke
as
the third little pig gave the fire a poke.
Then
the wolf blew on his paws with a huff and a puff
and
he hobbled off home.
Marian Swinger
Friday 29th June
Aliens stole my underpants
To understand the ways
of alien beings is hard,
and I’ve never worked it out
why they landed in my backyard.
And I’ve always wondered why
on their journey back from the stars,
these aliens stole my underpants
and took them back to Mars.
They came on a Monday night
when the weekend wash had been done,
pegged out on the line
to be dried by the morning sun.
Mrs Driver from next door
was a witness at the scene
when aliens snatched my underpants -
I’m glad that they were clean.
It seems they were quite choosy
as nothing else was taken.
Do aliens wear underpants
or were they just mistaken?
I think I have a theory
as to what they needed them for,
they needed to block of a draught
blowing in through the spacecraft door.
Or maybe some Mars museum
wanted items brought back from space.
Just think, my pair of Y-fronts
displayed in their own glass case.
And on the label beneath
would be written where they got ‘em
and how such funny underwear
once covered an Earthling’s bottom!
Brian Moses
Friday 15th June
The weather we've been having lately makes me feel like this poem.
Can’t Be Bothered to Think of a Title
When they make slouching in the chair
an Olympic sport
I’ll be there.
When they give out a cup
for refusing to get up
I’ll win it every year.
When they hand out the gold
for sitting by the fire
I’ll leave others in the cold,
And when I’m asked to sign my name
in the Apathetic Hall of Fame
I won’t go.
Ian McMillan
Friday 8th June
This week we are looking at clerihews, the first one explains what they are all about.
Edmund
Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Invented the type of poem you are reading presently.
Two comic rhyming couplets about a person where the
length isn’t fixed
Then he died in nineteen fifty-six.
Paul Cookson
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Wasn’t on the moon for long.
But in that time he left behind
A giant footprint for mankind.
John Foster
Count Dracula
Count Dracula
At blood-sports is quite spectacular.
He hunts for prey in dead of night
And always gets in the first bite.
John Foster
Friday 1st June
Betty Botter
Betty Botter bough some butter,
But, she said, this butter’s bitter;
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter
Will make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter
And she put it in her batter
And it made her batter better,
So ‘twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
Anon
Friday 25th May
This week's poem is also a bonus homework question, can you work out the answer?
Teacher’s Torture
Add two times twenty-two,
To twelve and twenty more,
Take forty-five from fifty-five,
Add four by forty-four.
Add six and six to sixteen,
To eighteen by eleven,
To nine and nine and ninety-nine,
Add nine from ninety-seven.
Add thirty three and thirteen,
Take seven from twenty-four,
Add seventy-seven to sixty-six,
And total up your score.
You can count them on your fingers,
You can count them on your toes,
You can count them out with counters,
You can count them out in rows.
And when you’ve got the answer,
When you’re sure, and only then –
You can add another hundred
And count them all again!
Mary Green
Friday 18th May 2012
Today we looked at haikus; a Japanese poem written in three lines with five syllables, seven syllables, then five syllables. After looking at some examples, we used the dismal autumnal weather as our inspiration and wrote our own. Here are some samples.
The grotty weather
Walking in the rain is bad
Feeling horrible
Nicholas
The birds stop singing
Wind starts to blow in the air
Rain drops on the ground
Jalena
Weather today is bad
I am very unhappy
I want to go home
Josh
Horrible today
Foul weather on the big roof
Raindrops on my coat
Nice and warm in bed
Then walking out in the rain
An unpleasant thing
The birds stop singing
The leaves are falling off trees
Winter is coming
Dunedin rains down
Snow and rain come down in rows
Down our draining pipes
Friday 11th May 2012
Job description
A very special person
For a very special post.
Someone who knows how to cook.
(Especially beans on toast.)
Someone who can clean the house
And drive children to school,
And buy the food and clothes and shoes
And use most household tools.
A teacher of all subjects,
A referee of fights,
Who, as relief from boredom,
Is an ‘on call’ nurse at night.
A hairdresser and a swimming coach,
At ease with dogs and cats,
(and hamsters, rabbits, fish and snakes,
Stick insects, birds and rats!)
Has laundry skills, a taxi cab,
Makes costumes for school plays.
Who never goes off duty
And whom no one ever
pays.
Daphne Kitching
Friday 4th May 2012
Information for Travellers
As you read this poem you are on a spacecraft
travelling at sixty-six thousand miles an hour.
It spins as it flies: since you began to read
it has already turned nine miles to the east.
Be honest, you didn’t feel a thing.
You are orbiting a star, not a very big one
compared to many of the ten thousand million others
that go round on the same galactic wheel,
and are flying at a height above its surface
of some ninety-three million miles.
We hope to cruise at this distance for another
eight thousand million years. What happens then
is anybody’s guess. Despite its speed and size
this planet is a space station, a satellite, not designed
for interstellar flight. Its passengers
rely on the comfort of a pressurized cabin
to enjoy the voyage. We must advise you that,
in the event of collision, loss of atmosphere,
or any alteration in course which may result
in overheating or extreme cold, this craft is not
equipped with parachutes or emergency exits.
On a brighter note, the spaceship contains
an enormous variety of in-flight magazines,
meals to suit every taste, and enough
games, puzzles and adventures
to last a lifetime.
We hope you enjoy your voyage.
Thank you for flying Planet Earth.
Dave Calder
Friday 27th April 2012
For
the Fallen – excerpt
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond the foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are
known
As the stars are known to the night.
Laurence Binyon
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