A Crazy Week!

Wow! That was a very very very busy week! It seems like a hundred years ago since I was at St Mary's, but yet it was only seven days ago. And what a great time we all had (we always do at St Mary's) - even the men on top of the room DIRECTLY ABOVE THE CLASSROOM seemed to be having a good time - scraping and hammering and bashing and fixing. I nearly jumped out of my skin the first time that they bashed on the roof, but slowly I became used to the dull thuds that punctuated my storytelling. Kind of gave it some atmosphere, especially when we got to the part of the story where there was booming thunder! The Year 4 children in Miss Stott's class were absolutely fantastic and by the end of the day they presented a brilliant re-enactment of Erik Bloodlust and the Revenge of the Monks. Wow, they were great!

By Wednesday I found myself heading down to Walsall and Lower Farm Primary. Anyone watching through the office window would have thought Mr Bean was coming to visit - the way that I reversed up, and down (and up, and down...) the car park, looking for a space in the tiny area reserved for all the teachers' cars was, I'm sure, amusing. When I eventually found a space, I was rather relieved...only to be told by the caretaker that I'd parked in the head's space! I'm surprised I made it through the doors on time, but I sure did, and thus began a really fast paced, bouncing round classrooms kind of day. I worked on brand new stories with every year group in school, and they came up with amazing stuff. My favourites included Sausage, the Sausage Shaped Bird, Beardy Beard the Bird, and Rainbow, the Naked Bird. There were others, too, and they were great. But, teachers, if you're reading, please forgive me for Bottom Face the Bird - I have no idea how that happened!

And so, the week continued apace, leaving me gasping for breath (and my bed!) after a great day at Greystones Primary in Sheffield. I always have a lovely time here, and I'm always very well looked after, and Friday was no different. My goodness, those children are full of life, energy, chattiness, and ideas. They sure know how to keep me on my toes.

So thank you everyone, for a busy, fun week. And here we go again...Sheffield in an hour or two!

Middlestown School and Disabled Rabbits

Crazy title, I know. But I do get to be involved in MANY strange conversations in the staffrooms of schools, and Tuesday was no different. One of the teachers was telling me about Ralph, a rabbbit that she used to have, who, due to a problem with his back, could not walk very well. I was unaware that wheelchairs existed for such eventualities, but, I was assured, they do. They are also, apparently, extremely expensive, so Ralph's 'mum' and her partner took the decision to make one! That's right, they made a wheelchair for a disabled rabbit - out of plumbing pipes, Kinex, and various other bits and pieces. Apparently Ralph managed very well in his wheelchair for ages, and I simply cannot get the idea out of my head of a rabbit whizzing about the house in a wheelchair. I think it's one of the best things I've heard for ages, and certainly extremely bizarre. More bizarre even than headteachers falling out of trees...which they don't EVER do, of course...do they?!

Middlestown is a lovely school, and I'm always very well looked after there, and my visit on Monday and Tuesday was no different. My first ever trip there saw me vying for attention with a (very loud) lawnmower whilst I tried to read poems to a hall full of children. Happily there were no such issues this time! The children wrote some fab poetry, and special congrats to Lottie in Year 2 who beat off competition from every other child in school to claim the coveted prize of LOTS of sweets! I was down the corridor from her classroom when she unwrapped the prize, and there was a rather loud gasp of awe from her classmates. I hope you shared your winnings Lottie...and WELL DONE on a great poem. She wrote about a bubble, and her line...

My bubble dances like Michael Jackson

was, I think, the tipping point for the judges. They were really impressed!

So thanks, once again, Middlestown, and here, for posterity's sake, is a poem that was written yesterday by Year 1. Lottie, if you're reading this (or anyone else from school), if you send me your poem I'll make sure that it gets on to my blog too...

ANTARCTICA

Antarctica is freezing
Antarctica has whales
Antarctica has seals
With teeth like nails - OUCH!

Antarctica has snow
Antarctica is ace
A roly-poly penguin
Landed on his face!


Cheerio for now to all my friends at Middlestown...I'll see you in September.

P.S. I nearly forgot! Thanks to a BRILLIANT (and increasingly hungry) King Poetry (Aaron) and fantastic Queen Poetry (Charlotte). You two were great fun and had the rest of the school in fits of giggles. I think you should team up as a double act!

Hallam's Heroes!

Whenever I have an extended break, re-entering the school environment is a bit like spacemen must feel when re-entering the earth's atmosphere - a bit hairy, but pretty exciting. So I was pretty lucky that my re-entry path took me first to Hallam Primary School in Sheffield, after I'd had a fab Christmas break. The Year 1 children that I worked with were awesome - we zoomed off to space to find Rotten Sprout, the worst villain in the entire Universe. Once located, we managed to overcome him to free Sweet Pete, the innocent victim who'd been held against his wishes in Rotten Sprout's disgusting dungeon. I'm always amazed at how willing Year 1 children are to suspend disbelief and really go with whatever I tell them. In fact for one poor boy it was a bit much. He burst into tears declaring that he didn't want to go to space - he appeared to think that I was suggesting we REALLY fly there in a REAL space ship! (as opposed to the one that I actually had with me made from cardboard and tinfoil!). Several other Year 1 children cried too, which is a bit of an unwanted record for me, but it turned out that that was because in the great sweety hunt that began each session, they'd not managed to find any.

I also had a fun hour with Year 2. 2 B were delighted to discover that Sweet Pete had visited their classroom whilst they were in assembly and left them some chocolate biscuits! After a few poems from me, they quickly wrote some letters and poems that were given to me before the end of the day. They did them in about ten minutes, which was pretty impressive. Here they are...

Dere Sweet Pete

Thank you for the biscits and sorry you hat to go in to the smelly dungin.
I fort yor sweets was verry teystee.
I wish I was you with all them sweets.
I layct your body with all them sweets but thank you for the mesig on the bord.

Anon

My silly sister eats sweets at bedtime
It makes a big crunch crunch.
When I pick her up from school and oh no
She picked her nose then she wipes it on me
She laphes ah ah you have bowgey and tells on me

Maia G

The Treats

Oh the treats
A delicious feast.
Nothing better to eat than muffins
At least.
Yummy scrummy
I love sweets.
Muffins, chocolate, sweets
All will make a scrummy feast
At least.

George

Dear Sweet Peet

Thank you for bringing burbon biscuits for 2B it was really kind of you. We et them on 10.1.14.

From Ethan

These were brilliant guys. I'll pass on your messages and poems to Sweet Pete - he's currently living in his house in Sweety Land and having a great time. And the best news of all is that there are NO rotten sprouts there - which he's very happy about.

See you again soon!

Conrad

THE SEVEN HILLS RAPPERS

How could I forget them! Billy and his cohorts were UNBELIEVABLY good with their performance of one of my poems, 'New Terms, New Germs.' This is one of my harder poems to perform as it has quite a lot of tricky words in it, and is also pretty long. Most children shy away from it, but these boys didn't. They put it to a rap, added some beat boxing, and overall busted their way through to a wonderful ending. Thanks for being the celebrity guests at the poetry competition, and here's hoping that we can get you onto my website with your video recording of the poem.

Who knows...one day you lot could be famous!

SEVEN HILLS PRIMARY - MORLEY

And so, at eight minutes to midnight, a fantastic week at Seven Hills Primary in Morley has finally finished. Well, actually, it finished at round about four o'clock, but two films and a Nando's later, and now it's nearly tomorrow!

This has been one of my best weeks in a school ever. It really has. And made all the more memorable because, mid week, school got the dreaded call...yup, Ofsted were on their way in! And did I run away? Did I hide in the staffroom? Perhaps I felt like that, but I didn't...I got involved. In fact, I even got GRADED!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't expecting that. But going through an inspection with the staff has really made me feel part of the team there, and so any of you Seven Hillers reading this - thank you! Thank you for making me feel so welcome. And Sue, THANK YOU times two for the beer! I might not have looked VERY professional carrying around an oversized bottle of Becks all morning, but I was SUPER chuffed that you gave it to me.

And the children? They were AMAZING! Really, capital letters AMAZING. The poetry contest at the end of today was fab. Choosing a winner was pretty hard work, but eventually Mason was crowned champion, and he was delighted. A year 2 child beating off competition from much older children. He took it all in his stride and made sure to remind his class that they should all thank him, seeing as how all his sweets are going to be divided up into party bags for them next week.

A mention also to Bethany from Year 4 and Malachi from Year 3 who came second equal in the competition. And to everyone else in the final - WELL DONE! - and maybe you'll win next time.

And I couldn't write this whole blog entry without a special thanks to all the office staff - thank you ladies, for buying my lunch every day (!), opening doors with your magic fobs, and being generally lovely and smiley. I'll see you on Friday for the Christmas fayre (thanks for sorting THAT out too...it seems that I have you to thank for most things that have happened this week!).

Thank you all at Seven Hill - it's been really fab. I'll leave you with my Ofsted poem, inspired by the real-life inspectors. Just remember...she's gonna getcha!!!

Ofsted Inspector

Ofsted Inspector

She’s gonna getcha

You just betcha

She’s gonna getcha

Enters the room

Like a cloud of doom

Eyebrows raised

Finds it hard to praise

Looks through books

Giving filthy looks

She’s got a stare

That’ll curl your hair

School Inspector

Misery collector

She’ll arrive when you

Least expect her

Ofsted Inspector

She’s gonna getcha

You just betcha

She’s gonna getcha

Just one sigh

Makes the teachers cry

They stay up late

Trying hard to be great

Dream of being

Marked as outstanding

But this inspector

Is far too demanding

Constant objector

Anxiety infector

Devilish director

Dark-side defector

Ofsted Inspector

She’s gonna getcha

You just betcha

She’s gonna getcha

Getcha! Getcha!

She’s gonna getcha!

Getcha! Getcha!

She’s gonna getcha!

Getcha! Getcha!

GOTCHA!

Poetry Fun and Flockton First School's Christmas Fayre

Christmas is on the way...which means one thing...SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FAYRE'S. Now, in all honesty, they're not always fantastic. Some schools aren't overly well supported, some schools have stalls that look rather tired.

Not Flockton! It boasts just 80 pupils and yet was busier than school Fayres I've been to with four times that many pupils at the school. I was kindly invited by the school to read some of my poems to the children in a morning assembly, so I blasted them with 'I'm a Superhero', 'Mabel Mobbler' and 'The Biscuit Burglar.' Then I returned to school this evening for the Fayre, and ran a poetry competition for any children who fancied flexing their poetic muscles. What a great response! We even got some of the high school children involved, though they didn't win...sorry!

But there was a winner, and here she is...

It's a poem by Caitlin, in class 2, I think?!!!! Yes, it is. You'll see how I know when you read the following poem...


At School I am in Class 2
And it's right next to the loo
It sometimes smells
And I can tell
Who has been to the loo...


...IT IS YOU!


Written by Caitlin

Well done young lady! Enjoy all your goodies that you won (and mum - don't eat ALL the jelly babies...at least not in one go).

So, new friends made at Flockton, and a successful Christmas Fayre all round.

Night night. Time for me to get my head down...

Eva's Brilliant Butterfly Poem!

Before summer, I went to Middlestown Junior and Infant School to help with the Christmas Fayre. It was fab! I also ran a poetry competition, which a number of children entered. I promised a lovely four year old girl called Eva that I'd put her poem on my website, because I REALLY liked it...and then...the summer holidays...and then...back to school...and then...and then...and...well, I'm afraid it never actually made it onto my website. But, thanks to a gentle nudge from Eva's mum when I returned to Middlestown on Monday, here is Eva's (long awaited) poem!

Butterflies are
So beautiful
Bees collect pollen
Both fly away
In the night sky


Eva, well done, keep writing poetry, and I'll see you again in January when I come back to Middlestown for a two day visit.