Sally Bavage writes:
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| James Nash Photo by Sally Bavage |
Intriguing
poems set up puzzles to describe animals that you find in Headingley
– and the audience of over 200 including 30+ parents/visitors had
to guess which animals 30 youngsters from Mr Martin's Class 3 were
talking about.
Ears
were sharp, flat, pointy, small. Tails were long, bushy, short,
beautiful. Eyes were dark, large, mischievous, beady. Teeth were
sharp enough to crunch acorns. Homes were in trees, under grass, in
holes, in drays, under rocks, in hollow trees. Grass was bitter to
the taste.
Other
words used by these seven-year-olds include nocturnal, kittenish,
forage and scavenger. Yes, seven years old and confident enough with
both their writing and their delivery to the whole school. Strong
voices reading with such brio - priceless.
The
early work on exploration of the worlds of the many animals of
Headingley was later taken up by Ms Bennet after Mr Martin took
(paternity) leave to be with his own tiny creature. And once again
LitFest volunteer Rachel Harkess supported James Nash, local writer
and poet, with the work in the classroom.
Headteacher
Jane Devane commented: “Working with real writers makes our
children understand that their writing is important. They have an
audience for it now – and it could even be something they could do
as an adult. And the whole school loves working with James!”
Parents'
comments included:
Cracking
job – works so well with the children.
Fantastic!
Really impressed by the children's use of interesting similes. Lots
of fantastic descriptive poetry and crystal diction.
Well,
you can't say fairer than that, clearly.
Or
perhaps you can, as one young girl summed it up in her answer to the
question about why it is good to share your work with other children
in the school “So you can try and make them feel like writing their
own poem.”
And one
young man said simply “I was well nervous, but it was great!”
Other
audience comments included:
Well
done kids, lovely poems.
Excellent
work by the children.
Lovely
event – fantastic!
It
seemed the children really enjoyed the poems and were comfortable
sharing their work- a sign that they were proud of what they had
done.
Fantastic
work by all!
Great!
What a fantastic opportunity for the children.
Very
good. Well written pieces of work.
It
was a lovely event. It gave the children an opportunity to perform
to an audience. We had the chance to hear their poems and that of
the group. A very good idea.
Excellent
poetry read so well by all the pupils.
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