Poetry at Highfield 2015-16

 

Highfield’s School Council took inspiration from the rooster and ‘The Door’ a poem by Czech poet Miroslav Holub and worked with Cheryl to write the following poem which they performed in assembly at the end of January. Click here to read their poem.

The CliPPA Shadowers

 This month, in June, I have been working with a group of children across the school who have been busily reading poems from five books which have been shortlisted for this year’s national CliPPA award. The award is for the best book of poetry for children published in the previous year. The books on the shortlist were: A Great Big Cuddle by Michael Rosen, Falling Out of the Sky, Poems about Myths and Mosters (The Emma Press), Poetry Pie by Roger McGough, Dancing in the Rain by John Lyons and One by Sarah Crossan.

My CliPPA Shadowers were:

Rayan (3M) Katie (3MB) Victor R 3MB Syed (Baqir) S 4D Qudijo M 4D
Kyra Jule D 4T Christvie N 5D Yekta R 5D Luke 5D Abir 5S

 

First we read the poems from the books in pairs and shared what we thought with the rest of the group. Finally we made a shortlist of the poems that we liked the best and then we decided how best we might want to perform those poems to make other people want to read the books as well. We didn’t have long to practice because the deadline for sending in our performances was the 15th of June. Cheryl’s son George, who is a film maker, came in and filmed our performances. You can see the videos of each of these below.

We hope you like them and that they will inspire you to read and listen to many more poems!

Agincourt 600

In January six children from Year 2, Giada (2I), Carmen (2G) Huseyin (2I) Tayla (2I) Tobias (2M) and Zak (2G) learnt about the Battle of Agincourt, a famous battle fought between England and France 600 years ago, and wrote their own poems about it. William Shakespeare wrote about this battle in his play, Henry V. If a great poet like Shakespeare thought it was an interesting subject to write about then so should we!

Tayla imagined what it might be like to be on the losing side and wrote her poem Win over England! from the point of view of the French general, Charles D’Abret.

Tobias, in his England vs France and Zak with his poem How England Won invite us experience the battle in full technicolour as if we were watching it played out like a football game and with sympathy for all those that lost their lives, including the horses!

Carmen’s poem, The Great Battle of Agincourt describes the battle from the point of view of the English army, led by King Henry, and provides us with a wonderful history lesson.

And finally, Huseyin’s poem War War is a moving and compelling warning about the horrors of any war no matter who ends up winning the battle.

I was amazed, as I’m sure you will be when you read their poems, at what a deep and extraordinary understanding these very young pupils display in their writing. And what a way with words!

Win Over England! By Tayla

England vs France by Tobias

How England Won by Zak

The Great Battle of Agincourt by Carmen

War War by Huseyin

Poetry in the Thinking Room

In April I had the pleasure of spending time in the Thinking Room with the lovely Mrs Lynch and Mrs Christodoulou and whoever else happened to be in there with us to write poetry together. Everyone in the whole school had been thinking about habitats and in the thinking room it was no different.

In his poem about habitats Nessim took us underground with ‘moles digging holes’ and into the bright jungle with tiger dens ‘like a holiday in full splendour’ and the far reaches of India or Sri Lanka where peacocks live and have feathers that ‘hypnotise your eyes, making you forget what just happened.’

And here is Nessim’s wonderful poem about monkeys and what they love doing best.

Swing by Nessim

Bobby took us under the sea in his poem

Imaginary World by Bobby

Raviye imagined a sea slug who ‘lived inside a smooth shiny shell’ but was driven out by some ‘slippery fish’ and seagulls who ‘stuck inside, leaving their soft feathers behind.’

Osman wrote this beautiful poem about a Peacock Paradise:

Peacock Paradise by Osman

The following week, it was such a beautiful day we decided to go outside with our notebooks and discover what different kinds of habitats there are right here at Highfield.

Poetry in the Thinking Room – Outside!!!! by Cheryl, Raviye, Osman, Faith, Mrs Lynch and Mrs Chrstodoulou

Inspired by the famous poem by William Blake The Tyger ,Raviye and Bobby chose their own animals to write a poem about.

The Leopard by Raviye

Flying Foxes at Night by Bobby

I can tell you after my time spent in the Thinking Room that it really does live up to its name. There is some wonderful thinking that goes on in there. And here, to prove it, is one of the best poems I have ever read about what it means to have friends and be a good friend to others

Somebody Who is a Friend by Raviye, Ollie, Nessim, Bobby, Osman