National Poetry Day at Ecclesall Jr School

Without doubt one of my BEST and FAVOURITE schools in the whole world. I really do love this place. I've been coming to Ecclesall Juniors for National Poetry Day for the last four years, and I realised on Thursday that, until that afternoon, I'd never been inside any of the classrooms! That's because I spend my time in the hall, seeing each year group one at a time...or rather, all 100 at a time, because it's a three form entry. This year I was focusing on writing poetry with the children based on their topics. So...here's what they came up with. Their performances were stellar! Including their traditional morning welcome to me where they each performed a poem or song. Lots of fun!

CAVE MAN STEW (By Year 3)


Girls and boys please listen to me
To make a caveman you will need...
An ear-splitting Cave Man moan
Add a cup of Cave Man groan
A 100 grammes of Hyena blood
Mixed with squelchy, sloppy mud

Stone Age Man
Stone Age Man
Stronger than a Fireman

A Woolly Mammoth's hairy toes
Big as Mr Griffin's nose
A filthy, smelly, Cave Bear's claw
Lay it on the kitchen floor

Stone Age Man
Stone Age Man
Stronger than a Fireman

A nighttime full of deathly fear
Time to go and get your spear
Here's our lovely Cave Man Stew
Made by us it's ALL FOR YOU!


QUEEN BOUDICCA

I'm Queen Boudicca
I'm nasty and I'm strong
I like to fight the Romans
Even though they pong!

I'm Queen Boudicca
I'm awesome and I'm ace
I sent the smelly Romans
Into Outer Space

I'm awesome I'm mega
I'm groovy I'm mean
The greatest ever fighter
The world has ever seen

I'm Queen Boudicca
I have a lovely dress
I'm really good at fighting
But my bedroom is a mess

I'm Queen Boudicca
I drank a poisoned drink
I turned a funny purple
And then what do you think?

I'm awesome I'm mega
I'm groovy I'm mean
The greatest ever fighter
The world has ever seen 



EVACUEE RECIPE

 (Each line is said by one person, and then repeated by the group like in army training camp)
(The chorus is said together)

ATTENTION!

How to make evacuees
Here's our finest recipe
Take a slice of countryside
Mix it with a long train ride
Pour in 57 nights of Blitz
Hope that you're not blown to bits

Evacuee Evacuee
Could have been you and could have been me

Whisk in Adolf Hitler's pride
With the Nazis on his side
Oven turned to 1939
Add in fear down your spine
Ice it with a tiny town
Snuggle in your dressing gown

Evacuee Evacuee
Could have been you and could have been me 

Fold in your best teddy bear
And a dozen daily prayers
Hang a label round your neck
Serve with lots of 'what the heck?!'
Winston Churchill won this war
Let's just hope there is no more

Evacuee Evacuee
Could have been you and could have been me 




Brilliant or what? Year 5s poem about George Yardley, the Victorian wood collier and charcoal burner, will be up soon. Just need Mrs Routh to find it on the laptop - it kind of disappeared!

Thanks again to ALL my friends at Ecclesall, staff and pupils alike. I do like being your pet poet!

See you next year!!!

Redhill's Remarkable Roald Dahl Day

And it really was remarkable! From the moment I saw an oompa loompa crossing the road, which is not an everyday sight.

The whole of junior school got into the Roald Dahl Day with gusto, oompfh, and Gadzook-oids of enthusiasm. Classes were inventing new rooms for Wonka's chocolate factory, making up brand new types of chocolate (and from the sounds of it, tasting a fair bit too...), writing news reports about naughty new characters, painting, writing, drawing, colouring...

PLUS...

Making up a brand new poem about the man himself. Many thanks to Grandpa Jo (otherwise known as Mr Padgett) and Year 4P, who were amazing, awesome, and flabbertastic, to say the least.

Here it is...

The Amazing Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl is epic

Roald Dahl is ace

Roald Dahl’s books are

Better than Space!

Roald D! Roald D!

Best author in history

            Roald D! Roald D!

          Best author in history

                        Roald D! Roald D!

                Best author in history!

Roald Dahl is awesome

Roald Dahl is cool

We read his books

Every day in school

Roald D! Roald D!

Best author in history

            Roald D! Roald D!

          Best author in history

                        Roald D! Roald D!

                Best author in history!

BUT...

That was not all...

They decided to be even more brilltastic after break, and make up a totally new Oompa Loompa song about Mike TeaVee. Here it is (hum along to the Oompa Loompa songs from the film (the ORIGINAL, not the ghastly Johnny Depp one))...

Don’t Turn Out Like Mike Teavee

Oompa Loompa Doopedy Doo

We’ve got another puzzle for you

Oompa Loompa Doopedy Dee

Don’t spend your life in front of TV

What do you get watching too much TV?

A brain that’s the size of a bumble bee

Sitting in front of the TV all day

You’ll find you start to waste away

You’ll end up with a sweaty bum

No good crying for your mum

Oompa Loompa Doopedy Doo

We’ve got something better for you

Oompa Loompa Doopedy Dee

Come and read a book with me

Books give you lots of imagination

Chock full of awesome information

Read a good book and get a good job

Too much TV turns you into a slob

Listen carefully to me

Don’t turn out like Mike Teavee

Oompa Loompa Doopedy Doo

That’s all we have got for you

Doopedy Do!

Thanks to everyone at Redhill for a great day full of fun. Thanks also for the last minute Mike Teavee costume for me (phew!) and for the AMAZING homemade cheesecake. I was channelling my inner Augustus Gloop around mid morning break...!!!

See you all in January.

Je m'appelle Safa

What a great day I've just had at St Stephen's C of E Primary school in Bradford. I was invited in to work with them as part of the Arts Partnership scheme at Tong High School. I worked with lower KS2 in the morning, and then upper KS2 in the afternoon, teaching them how to perform poetry. What I hadn't bargained for, was that they would end up writing a poem each and performing that at the end of the day! As they barged in to the library after break, they were all chatting away saying 'Je m'appelle...'. I explained that it would be helpful to say their name after that, seeing as how it's the French for 'My name is...'. One girl piped up 'Je m'appelle Safa.' It wasn't long before that had turned into...

Je m’appelle…

Je m’appelle Safa

Je m’appelle Safa

Je m’appelle Safa

And I like to have a laugha

With a smile on my face

In such a cool place

It’s called School

Cool School

School’s cool

It’s called School!

Je m’appelle Imama

Je m’appelle Imama

Je m’appelle Imama

And I like to read with mama

With a smile on my face

In such a cool place

It’s called School

Cool School

School’s cool!

It’s called School!

Je m’appelle Keith

Je m’appelle Keith

Je m’appelle Keith

With a set of gleaming teeth

With a smile on my face

In such a cool place

It’s called School

Cool School

School’s cool

It’s called School!

Je m’appelle Con

Je m’appelle Con

Je m’appelle Con

And I like to sing this song

With a smile on my face

In such a cool place

It’s called School

Cool School

School’s cool

It’s called School!

What a great poem, and, as is often the case with poems, even better when you see it performed. The chorus with the Cool School bit was directly influenced by the wonderful Mrs Borscherd (try and pronounce that - I couldn't!), who is a bit of a poetry genius, it turns out. 

The older group wanted to make up their own poem, using a spoonerism. As we'd spoonerised Mr Timms that morning, turning him into Tister Mimms, we used that as a starting point. I wasn't sure we were going to manage to get a poem out of it, but the children made sure we did. Here it is...

Poor Old Tister Mimms

Tister Mimms, Tister Mimms

Eating food from all the bins

Sandwich crusts and mouldy cakes

Goodness how his tummy aches

Tister Mimms, Tister Mimms

Eating food from all the bins

Rotten grapefruit, teacher’s socks

Dried up bits of chicken pox

Tister Mimms, Tister Mimms

Eating food from all the bins

Mouldy old banana peel

How’d you think that made him feel?

SERY VICK!

Blaaaarrrgghhhh!!!

 

Fantastic! And the children's enthusiasm for pretending to be violently ill at the end of the poem drew a large round of applause from their peers who were watching all this. 

Well done to everyone who took part today - you certainly put a smile on MY face!