Halfway Nursery Infant School is ALWAYS a lovely place to go - the atmosphere amongst pupils and staff is truly lovely - corridors full of happy, smiling characters. So I knew I'd have a good day there today. But the most special part of the day was meeting Jacob, in the Hungry Caterpillars. Jacob had, of his own accord (with mum's permission) written me an email a few weeks ago to say he was looking forward to my visit. He then sent me the following poem, written COMPLETELY by him...
there was a man who lived in a pan .
and he cooled himself down with a fan.
he got out of bed and jumped up to the moon.
and landed back in the pan!
Sounds to me like the man in the pan was having a pretty adventurous day! And so, Jacob, I say KEEP WRITING!
And I'll keep reading.
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Monday, 14 January 2013
I am a scary cat
Well, the New Year is here, the snow is falling, and, after a WONDERFUL Christmas break, I'm back in schools with a bang. It's full throttle from here to Easter. And, when work stretches ahead of you like an apparently undending road, you need some levity to lighten your load. Which is exactly what I got when I visited St Paul's Alverthorpe this morning. I'd been in last Thursday to visit Early Years and Year 1 and Year 2. This morning I was back to see the older children. I was passed a bundle of thank you cards made for me by Mrs Hayton's class. And they were just awesome. But two stood out for me, so much so that I read them out to the Key Stage 2 children this morning, and am now publishing them here.
Dear Conrad,
This is a story for you...
Once Conrad went to school and they wanted to marry him and they kissed him.
Brilliant card, don't you agree! But my personal favourite is this one...
To Crorab (!)
I am a scary cat
Love from
Amazing! It really made me laugh. Surely noone has ever had a thank you card like it? So thank you to whoever wrote that card (name was cunningly withheld). It made my day!
Dear Conrad,
This is a story for you...
Once Conrad went to school and they wanted to marry him and they kissed him.
Brilliant card, don't you agree! But my personal favourite is this one...
To Crorab (!)
I am a scary cat
Love from
Amazing! It really made me laugh. Surely noone has ever had a thank you card like it? So thank you to whoever wrote that card (name was cunningly withheld). It made my day!
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Cricket Swimming Madness
So...I DID IT!!!!!! This morning, at 910 am, I walked into Bannatyne's swimming pool area, fully clothed in my cricket kit, climbed into the pool, and swam a mile. A MILE!!!! It was tough, it was crazy, it was uncomfortable, but it was great! £750 raised for the club and counting! This was meant to be my week of relaxing - work finished, children at school and nursery, Christmas shopping done, Christmas on the horizon but not yet here...but thanks to Alice's poorliness and my madness and penchant for doing wacky things, I've instead spent the morning swimming 80 lengths of a pool. Thanks to EVERYONE who sponsored me, and if there are any others reading this who would like to, please email me at conrad.burdekin@sky.com and let me know who you are and how much you'd like to sponsor! Thanks.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Illness and hotels
Since the beginning of this term in September, I have been the ONLY member of our household not to be poorly. The litany of unwell Burdekins stands so far at...
Alice (twice) - fever followed by impegigo
Violet (once) - fever and vomiting
Mabel (once but for a WHOLE week) - fever, sore tummy, sore throat, vomiting and EXTREME grumpiness
Clare (twice) fever, tiredness, vomiting, tiredness, sore tummy, tiredness...
In the middle of it all I wrote a new poem called 'New Terms New Germs,' inspired by Violet's brilliant class 1 teacher, Mrs Preston, who uses that phrase to explain the repeated absence of children from her classroom at the start of a new term. Only problem is that our family's poorliness lasted across the first half term and into the second. Only now does everyone seem to be getting back to full health, and, consequently, only now do I find that I have the relative luxury of time to write a blog entry! So...where have I been...
Longford Primary in Stafford to do a poetry day - the children there were AWESOME doing some great performance poetry. Long drive for me, but worth it as the children were great.
Morley Lit Fest - the Morley library and staff were brilliant, the lady in the car park opposite not QUITE so brilliant as she ripped me to shreds regarding parking illegally. I smiled, nodded, almost exploded, declined her (rather spitefully given) offer of a cup of coffee, and drove away.
Altofts gifted and talented writing day - this was a BLAST! The children from the 6 schools who arrived at Altofts were great. The only sour note of the day was the vomiting child at the entrance just as they were ready to leave. And it was a very SOUR note, if you get my meaning (curdled milk etc.etc.!)
Ryecroft Academy - what a great school, led under the able stewardship of Mrs Clarke. This school is making HUGE strides to improve the children's levels and general school experience, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people invited to help with this. My favourite moment so far? The Year 6 group writing a story about a banana who has a sore nose due to his habit of sneezing yellowed banana snot all over the place.
Thornhill Lees - somewhere I've been each of the last three or four years and somewhere I always like to travel back to. Very accommodating and very happy, smily children.
Pikemere Primary - Cheshire - this was my first ever 'overnight stay' in a lovely hotel / pub nearby. I didn't fancy the two hour drive up the M6 / M62 / M60 / M62 only to turn around and set off at 530 the following morning to go back to school. So Clare happily agreed that I should stay local. And I did. And what a great evening. Cinema to see Taken 2 (brilliant), then a meal at the hotel pub (even more brilliant), then a full night's sleep, childfree (even more brillianter than everything else that was brilliant before!)
Following on from all that I've played golf at a stag do, taught newly qualified teachers how to inspire children to write and how to get them storytelling, written stories with Year 2 children about cheeky monkeys, taken part in the Kids Lit Challenge 2012 (WHAT an eyeopener), attended the Ossett Christmas Fair at South Ossett Church (and Katy - Jo, if I can find your poem, I PROMISE I will post it here), and today had a stall at my girls' school Christmas fair at Stanley St Peters. Which is where I'm going to finish, by publishing Leon's winning poetry competition poem. Well done Leon, I really like this, especially the last line. Here goes...
The Tornado
There was a tornado at the park
Today, so all the dogs said "bark"
There was a tornado at the park
Today
Twisting, turning,
Forever
Whirling
Well done Leon, great poem! And enjoy the sweets...
I also really enjoyed Jay's poem. Jay, who is in the same class as Leon at school, came very close to winning...
It
It is worser than a UFO
A ten armed octopus
Or being chased down the road
By a runaway bus
It is unimaginable
It is...
My mum on a bad hair day!
This made me laugh A LOT when I read it!
Phew! That's about it.
Alice (twice) - fever followed by impegigo
Violet (once) - fever and vomiting
Mabel (once but for a WHOLE week) - fever, sore tummy, sore throat, vomiting and EXTREME grumpiness
Clare (twice) fever, tiredness, vomiting, tiredness, sore tummy, tiredness...
In the middle of it all I wrote a new poem called 'New Terms New Germs,' inspired by Violet's brilliant class 1 teacher, Mrs Preston, who uses that phrase to explain the repeated absence of children from her classroom at the start of a new term. Only problem is that our family's poorliness lasted across the first half term and into the second. Only now does everyone seem to be getting back to full health, and, consequently, only now do I find that I have the relative luxury of time to write a blog entry! So...where have I been...
Longford Primary in Stafford to do a poetry day - the children there were AWESOME doing some great performance poetry. Long drive for me, but worth it as the children were great.
Morley Lit Fest - the Morley library and staff were brilliant, the lady in the car park opposite not QUITE so brilliant as she ripped me to shreds regarding parking illegally. I smiled, nodded, almost exploded, declined her (rather spitefully given) offer of a cup of coffee, and drove away.
Altofts gifted and talented writing day - this was a BLAST! The children from the 6 schools who arrived at Altofts were great. The only sour note of the day was the vomiting child at the entrance just as they were ready to leave. And it was a very SOUR note, if you get my meaning (curdled milk etc.etc.!)
Ryecroft Academy - what a great school, led under the able stewardship of Mrs Clarke. This school is making HUGE strides to improve the children's levels and general school experience, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people invited to help with this. My favourite moment so far? The Year 6 group writing a story about a banana who has a sore nose due to his habit of sneezing yellowed banana snot all over the place.
Thornhill Lees - somewhere I've been each of the last three or four years and somewhere I always like to travel back to. Very accommodating and very happy, smily children.
Pikemere Primary - Cheshire - this was my first ever 'overnight stay' in a lovely hotel / pub nearby. I didn't fancy the two hour drive up the M6 / M62 / M60 / M62 only to turn around and set off at 530 the following morning to go back to school. So Clare happily agreed that I should stay local. And I did. And what a great evening. Cinema to see Taken 2 (brilliant), then a meal at the hotel pub (even more brilliant), then a full night's sleep, childfree (even more brillianter than everything else that was brilliant before!)
Following on from all that I've played golf at a stag do, taught newly qualified teachers how to inspire children to write and how to get them storytelling, written stories with Year 2 children about cheeky monkeys, taken part in the Kids Lit Challenge 2012 (WHAT an eyeopener), attended the Ossett Christmas Fair at South Ossett Church (and Katy - Jo, if I can find your poem, I PROMISE I will post it here), and today had a stall at my girls' school Christmas fair at Stanley St Peters. Which is where I'm going to finish, by publishing Leon's winning poetry competition poem. Well done Leon, I really like this, especially the last line. Here goes...
The Tornado
There was a tornado at the park
Today, so all the dogs said "bark"
There was a tornado at the park
Today
Twisting, turning,
Forever
Whirling
Well done Leon, great poem! And enjoy the sweets...
I also really enjoyed Jay's poem. Jay, who is in the same class as Leon at school, came very close to winning...
It
It is worser than a UFO
A ten armed octopus
Or being chased down the road
By a runaway bus
It is unimaginable
It is...
My mum on a bad hair day!
This made me laugh A LOT when I read it!
Phew! That's about it.
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Benjamin Zephaniah...Irie Irie!
I visited Ecclesall Juniors last week for National Poetry day. I received an email earlier this week with a great story - the Y6 children from the Junior school were taken to watch Benjamin Zephaniah in action at the Lyceum in Sheffield. I'd have loved to have gone myself, but unfortunately when you have three girls to look after, things like this midweek are rather unattainable. When Mabel's in school...then...then...I'll be able to do it all!
Anyway, Joe, one of the boys who read out a poem in the final school assembly on the day of my visit, also managed to get himself on stage with BZ himself at the Lyceum. Not only that, but he also read out his poem that he'd written during my workshop, got to high five BZ, and was the recipient of much whooping and hollering from his classmates. Irie! Well done Joe, that's awesome. To have the approval of the great Ben Zeph, now that IS something to shout about.
I also suspect, (though have no proof to corroborate this 'fact' as I was not there), that the Ecclesall bunch, with their Benjamin Zephaniah hats, were by far the coolest kids there. I'll leave it to you to agree or disagree. Like I say, I wasn't there...
Anyway, Joe, one of the boys who read out a poem in the final school assembly on the day of my visit, also managed to get himself on stage with BZ himself at the Lyceum. Not only that, but he also read out his poem that he'd written during my workshop, got to high five BZ, and was the recipient of much whooping and hollering from his classmates. Irie! Well done Joe, that's awesome. To have the approval of the great Ben Zeph, now that IS something to shout about.
I also suspect, (though have no proof to corroborate this 'fact' as I was not there), that the Ecclesall bunch, with their Benjamin Zephaniah hats, were by far the coolest kids there. I'll leave it to you to agree or disagree. Like I say, I wasn't there...
Monday, 8 October 2012
Bird Brains at Altofts go bananas!
Q:What do you get if you gather 70 children from six different schools and ask them to write stories and play drama games?
A:A whole lot of fun!!!
Today, thanks to the wonderful Mrs Blackstone, G & T and English coordinator extraordinaire, 70 children, from 6 different local schools, gathered at Altofts Junior school for a day of writing and drama games. Somehow, they all arrived at the right place and on time (well, almost on time...).
I had the KS1 children in the morning, and so told them that we'd be making up a story about a monkey. That's about as much as I did. The rest was up to them, and how they shone! They named the monkey bananas, decided he was very cheeky, and began to come up with cheeky things that he did. All of which was a great deal of fun. However, when he did one cheeky thing too many, their ultimate revenge plot was fantastic! Shave him whilst he sleeps, catapult him into the Antarctic, and let him freeze or be devoured by Polar Bears!!! Who said children always want happy endings? Not these ones! The calibre of writing and the confidence of the children to formulate their ideas and then put them down on paper was quite something to behold.
All of which then led on to the afternoon session with the KS2 and lower KS3 children. I loved watching the Year 7s. Part cool, yet part loving being allowed to be juniors for one day more, having stepped up and away from the Junior school at the end of the summer term. I think that at that age it's great for children to be allowed to still be children, if only for a day here or there. We've just had our house decorated by a wonderful decorator called David, and he told us that when his eldest granddaughter comes to play with her younger cousins, she joins in with the dolls and the prams, things that in her normal life she's left behind. Hurray for acceptable regression, that's what I say! I'm hoping my three girls will live in that state until they're mid twenties. Boys? Who wants to play with boys? We just want to play pretend tea parties with the teddies. Sadly, that may not be the most realistic of hopes, but still...
The older children wrote a story about Boulder, a enormously fat bird (morbidly obiece, according to one girl - I just loved that spelling of obese!), who loved nothing more than bursting the bins round the back of McDonald's and scoffing his face with mouldy chicken nuggets, old burgers, and greasy fries. Despite warnings from the other animals as to the possible pitfalls, Boulder kept scoffing his greedy face until...
...and at that point I asked them what might follow. And boy! Did they have some ideas! Many of them centred around a grizzly end to Boulder, including him being turned into an 'Ultimate' Big Mac. The children didn't finish writing their stories as we did not have a massivly long session, but how I'm looking forward to reading the finished articles when they've been completed!
It was, quite simply, a brill day. I am loving my job these days. Who'd have guessed it when, 8 years ago, I was measuring smelly, sweaty, overweight miners for overalls. How things can change.
Goodnight Bananas. Goodnight Boulder. May your creativity keep the children captivated today, tomorrow, and as long as it takes them to finish and type up their stories!
A:A whole lot of fun!!!
Today, thanks to the wonderful Mrs Blackstone, G & T and English coordinator extraordinaire, 70 children, from 6 different local schools, gathered at Altofts Junior school for a day of writing and drama games. Somehow, they all arrived at the right place and on time (well, almost on time...).
I had the KS1 children in the morning, and so told them that we'd be making up a story about a monkey. That's about as much as I did. The rest was up to them, and how they shone! They named the monkey bananas, decided he was very cheeky, and began to come up with cheeky things that he did. All of which was a great deal of fun. However, when he did one cheeky thing too many, their ultimate revenge plot was fantastic! Shave him whilst he sleeps, catapult him into the Antarctic, and let him freeze or be devoured by Polar Bears!!! Who said children always want happy endings? Not these ones! The calibre of writing and the confidence of the children to formulate their ideas and then put them down on paper was quite something to behold.
All of which then led on to the afternoon session with the KS2 and lower KS3 children. I loved watching the Year 7s. Part cool, yet part loving being allowed to be juniors for one day more, having stepped up and away from the Junior school at the end of the summer term. I think that at that age it's great for children to be allowed to still be children, if only for a day here or there. We've just had our house decorated by a wonderful decorator called David, and he told us that when his eldest granddaughter comes to play with her younger cousins, she joins in with the dolls and the prams, things that in her normal life she's left behind. Hurray for acceptable regression, that's what I say! I'm hoping my three girls will live in that state until they're mid twenties. Boys? Who wants to play with boys? We just want to play pretend tea parties with the teddies. Sadly, that may not be the most realistic of hopes, but still...
The older children wrote a story about Boulder, a enormously fat bird (morbidly obiece, according to one girl - I just loved that spelling of obese!), who loved nothing more than bursting the bins round the back of McDonald's and scoffing his face with mouldy chicken nuggets, old burgers, and greasy fries. Despite warnings from the other animals as to the possible pitfalls, Boulder kept scoffing his greedy face until...
...and at that point I asked them what might follow. And boy! Did they have some ideas! Many of them centred around a grizzly end to Boulder, including him being turned into an 'Ultimate' Big Mac. The children didn't finish writing their stories as we did not have a massivly long session, but how I'm looking forward to reading the finished articles when they've been completed!
It was, quite simply, a brill day. I am loving my job these days. Who'd have guessed it when, 8 years ago, I was measuring smelly, sweaty, overweight miners for overalls. How things can change.
Goodnight Bananas. Goodnight Boulder. May your creativity keep the children captivated today, tomorrow, and as long as it takes them to finish and type up their stories!
Saturday, 6 October 2012
More poems
Just had a look through some of the other entries to the poetry competition. Here are some of my favourites, that ALMOST won, but just not quite. The first is written by my wacky and zany nephew, Tom. It's about an angry suitcase and it's superb...
The Angry Suitcase
There was once an angry suitcase
Who snapped and snapped all night
People kept on throwing him
Until his face went white
But one day it all began
And then he had a plan!
An extremely evil plan!
He had himself fitted wheels
And snapped at people's heels
And then he gave birth
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