'Where I live' at Shire Oak Primary School

The Poet’s Blog

It was World Book Day and I felt seriously underdressed. I  was at Shire Oak Primary School ,  in Year 2’s classroom and I was surrounded by young people dressed as favourite characters from books.   All the children had made such an effort, including Helen Barley the class teacher (pictured) who was in  dragon costume.

 

It was my final visit to the class, and we were about to get ready to share our work.

In previous sessions we had used the theme of ‘Where We Live’ to talk about the houses we lived in,  favourite buildings in Headingley and even favourite trees.  The enthusiasm of the children was boundless.  In no time they had written their first ideas down and many of them had read their writing out to the whole class. 

 

We then talked about how to turn those initial ideas into a first draft of a poem by choosing their best lines and deciding on the best order to put them in. I showed them what I had done to turn my first ideas into a poem, knowing in my heart of hearts that some of the children’s writing, in its freshness and originality, would outstrip my own 

 

We decided together that poems did not have to rhyme but that it was sometimes effective to have a rhythm running through them.

 

‘I would take a picture of everything’ one young poet began their writing,

 and another wrote

 

‘my house has a cat

That is so red that

It warms me up

Every time I see him’.

 

And I have to pinch myself to remember that my young poets are only six or seven years old.

 

On this final session we talk about what we have learned together, before finishing off our poems and getting ready to have them recorded so that parents can see what their children have achieved.  They are very keen to share their work, particularly as they feel so proud of what they have written.

 

One by one read some the whole poem or some  a favourite line from their writing.  They read beautifully, and I’m left with a wonderfully inspired feeling, with the final line of one poem still in my head as I walk home,

 

‘My favorite tree

Is my apple tree in my back garden,

It welcomes me with a smile.’

 

#James Nash 3^rd March 2023