poetryclass - Roger Stevens

KEY STAGE ONE

Years One and Two

Take a nursery rhyme and change the rhyming word.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a ...

Maybe there's a shop at the top of the hill. I wonder what it sells? What might Jack be going to buy? Encourage your class to make suggestions. When you have one or more suggestions (choose words that are easy to rhyme) ask the children what happens next.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch (or buy?) a David Beckham shirt/a jar of honey
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill ...

Use lots of different nursery rhymes.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a ... chair? pin? stool? brick?

The final poem may or may not make a lot of sense, but should be fun.
It could be a class poem. Maybe the children could illustrate it.
Maybe your class could write lots of these poems and they could then choose their favourite and talk about why they made that choice.

Mary had a little lamp post
Its light was very bright
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamp post just sat tight

It wouldn't go to school with her
And this made her see red
So she chopped it down with an axe she'd found
And took a lamb instead

2. Counting rhymes

The following counting poem works very well when spoken aloud with actions.
First perform it, repeating each line until the children get into the swing of it. They find it very easy to learn. I first saw Nick Tokzek perform this type of poem - and this is my version on the same theme.

Number one - here comes the sun (Point up)
Number two - Yahoo! (Punch the air like a rodeo rider)
Number three - Hee hee
Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee (Hold your tummy laughing)
Number four - shut the door (Swing an imaginary door shut)
Number five - snakes alive (Make snake motion with hand)
Number six - finger clicks (Click your fingers)
Number seven - drive to Devon (Turn steering wheel)
Eight, nine, ten - start again (Repeat the rhyme)
(Last time)
Eight nine ten, the end

When the children know the poem really well, ask them to substitute other rhymes. Someone will undoubtedly rhyme number two and poo. What you do, of course, is up to you - and depends on your relationship with the class. As a visiting poet, I usually join in the laughter - and then move swiftly on to a more ambitious rhyming word, of which there are many.

3. Tongue Twisters

Children love tongue twisters and there are lots around. As well as traditional rhymes such as Peter Piper and the tale of the lorry that is alternately red and yellow, there are some good examples in Paul Cookson's Tongue Twisters and Tonsil Twizzlers and Let's Twist Again (Macmillan Children's Books)

Although the NLS suggests using tongue twisters with young children, they are actually quite difficult to write and present something of a challenge.

The following exercise works well; you might also like to use it when talking about adjectives and alliteration.

On my way to school I saw a...

What did you see? You are looking for a suggestion beginning with a common consonant - such as a Snail. Now ask for words that describe the snail, beginning with the same sound. E.g. Slimy, slippery, silly, silver, sad and so on.

Each time you add a word, begin a new line. Each line then gets longer and longer.

On my way to school I saw a snail.
It was a slippery snail.
It was a sad, slippery, snail.
It was a slimy, sad, slippery snail...

At the end of the poem ask the class what happened to the snail?

And it got squished.

Finally the children read the poem together - very fast.

On my way to the shops I saw a bus
It was a double-decker bus
It was a big double-decker bus
It was a dull, big, double-decker bus
It was a bright, dull, big, double-decker bus
It was a dreary, bright, dull, big, double-decker bus
It was a brash, dreary, bright, dull, big, double-decker bus
It was a dashing, brash, dreary, bright, dull, big, double-decker bus
And it crashed into the double-decker bus stop

4. Nonsense Poems

Children enjoy making up odd endings to well known rhymes. One way to facilitate this is to write lines from well known poems on large cards with keywords missing, then make a set of flash cards bearing a selection of words that might fit. Children could work in groups to see which group comes up with the funniest poems.

Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he.
He called for his ...
And he called for his ...
And he called for his...

The children could also choose the words before you begin the exercise.

Suitable words might include:

bike doll cabbages flea cake TV cup of tea

football handbag crocodile melon knee

(You'll need a few words that rhyme with he.)

Each group could tackle a different rhyme. All the words for the different rhymes could be muddled.

Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he
He called for his flute
And his pink parachute
And he climbed to the top of the tree

Continue to next section (KEY STAGE TWO - Year 3 Term 1)

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