primary school teaching resources: poetry party project

Developing a Creative Writing Club in your Primary School

Poetry Party project

Poetry Party

A six-week programme of lesson plans and resources for new or established creative writing clubs culminating in a Poetry Party event

Designed and Produced by Mark Grist as part of the Well Versed Poetry in Schools project.

Week 1 Who can write the ugliest Haiku?

Week 2 Introduction to ballads. A dramatic reading of ‘Frankie and Benny’

Week 3 ‘Zoe’s Earrings’ as inspiration for poetry work

Week 4 ‘The Argly Woo’ as inspiration for poetry work.

Week 5 Students write their own poems (ideally ballads)

Week 6 Poetry Party preparation


Week One

Intended learningTo introduce the scheme for the half term and get students to develop their understanding of haikus.

Intended outcomesEach student to write at least one haiku about something ugly.

Time Activity Resources required

00-05 minutes

Pupils will come in and write a haiku based on the following.The view out of the window

Basics of Haiku can be found in Appendix One

05-15 minutes

Explain that Haiku’s often describe nature or something beautiful. Today we’re going to try to create ugly haikus.Pupils have 2 minutes to write a list of ugly things – no people that anyone would know are allowed to be included. They then share them.

15-25 minutes

Pupils try writing their own haikus based on these ugly things.

25-30 minutes

Pupils share their haikus. Have a vote to decide who wrote the ugliest haiku.

Extension Work

To bring in any other poems they’ve written, with a view to the final Poetry Party.


Week Two

Intended learningDramatic reading of a poem

Intended outcomesPupils work together to create their own performance of ‘Frankie and Johnny’


00-05 minutes

Pupils each write a title for a poem – these go in a pot. One is drawn at random and they have 5 minutes to write a poem (the others will be drawn in later weeks). They can be as ridiculous as you like and the aim is to see what you come up with in a short space of time.

05-10 minutes

Read through ‘Frankie and Johnny’ as a class. ‘Frankie and

Johnny’ can be found in Appendix Two

15-25 minutes

Pupils have to arrange their own reading of the poem in groups/as one large group.

25-30 minutes

Perform the pieces to the rest of the group.

Extension Work

Pupils to create their own story of ‘Lofty and Ned’ for next week’s Writing club.

‘Lofty and Ned’ can be found in Appendix Three


Week Three

Intended learningTo explore the poem ‘Zoe’s Earrings’

Intended outcomesPupils to create their own funny poems about an item of clothing.


00-10minutes Pupils to speed write based upon a title from the pot. They’ll then read them out to each other.

10-15 minutes

Pupils watch ‘Zoe’s Earrings’ and discuss the following:What did you think of the poem?What was effective in the poem?Could you write your own version?

‘Zoe’s Earrings’ can be seen here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/kit-wright-zoes-earrings-poem-only/8840.html

15-20 minutes

Pupils write a list of places they can think of. These can go up on the board.

25-30 minutes

They can use one of the following as a title and write their own poem.Brian’s pantsSally’s shoesJohnny’s glassesHelen’s jumper

Extension Work

Pupils to continue working on these poems, to read them out at the start of the following Writing Club.


Week Four

Intended learningPupils work on ‘The Argly Woo’ and see whether they can finish the poem.

Intended outcomesTo write an ending to ‘The Argly Woo.’


00-05 minutes

Pupils to speed write based upon a title from the pot. They’ll then read them out to each other.

05-15 minutes

Pupils get a copy of the first half of ‘The Argly Woo’ by Mark Grist. Read it through as a class.

‘The Argly Woo’ can be found in Appendix Four

15-25 minutes

Pupils try writing their ending for the poem. What happens to The Argly Woo? Who will defeat it?

25-30 minutes

Pupils share their poems with the rest of the class.

Extension Work

Pupils create their own monster poems


Week Five

Intended learningTo develop their own poem for the Poetry Party.

Intended outcomesEach pupil to have a poem about a location which could be used in the Party.


00-05 minutes

Pupils to create their own titles for poems. These can be written up on the board.

05-15 minutes

Pupils write on the board a list of places that are important to them – eg their bedroom, the beach. Pupils create their own poems about these places, focusing on how they feel when they go there. Perhaps something has annoyed them and the place makes them forget this.

25-30 minutes

Pupils share their poems with the group.

Extension Work

Fine tune their pieces for the party.


Week Six

Intended learningTo develop team-working skills and take responsibility for organising a poetry event.

Intended outcomesAn outline for the party will be created, with pupils knowing what they’re reading.


00-05 minutes

Pupils practice reading their poems and decide on a running order. They can each read one poem by another writer and one of their own poems.

05-15 minutes

The teacher or a pupil will work as compere, introducing the students.

15-25 minutes

The pupils then either continue planning the party and practising their poems, or deliver the party during the session.

25-30 minutes

Feedback.


‘Poetry Slam’ resources

Week Resources Can be found

1 Haiku PowerPoint An Introduction to Haiku can be found in Appendix One

2 Two poems – ‘Frankie and Johnny’ and ‘Lofty and Ned’

‘Frankie and Johnny’ can be found in Appendix Two

‘Lofty and Ned’ can be found in Appendix Three

3 ‘Zoe’s Earrings’ poem ‘Zoe’s Earrings’ can be found here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/kit-wright-zoes-earrings-poem-only/8840.html

4 ‘The Argly Woo’ poem ‘The Argly Woo’ can be found in Appendix Four.

5

6

Additional resources Word search http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/xmaswdsch.pdf


Appendix One

An Introduction to Haiku

- Haiku poems come from Japan

- Haiku usually have simple themes and images

- Haiku are short poems, usually seventeen syllables long:o The first and third line contain five syllables eacho The second line contains seven syllables

Consider these examples:

The graveyard stands stillA moment is a lifetimePeople pass beyond

Flourishing despiteYour rough inconstant climate,

I shake but am still.

Your name is on the Internet under those dead - Resting at St Mark’s.

Count the syllables. Do these poems conform to the rules of Haiku?

Haikus often capture a feeling, a perception or a snapshot of something. Although brief they can provoke deep thought.

Discussions of the haikus may lead to an awareness of the generally sombre nature of the form.

The following websites contain more information about, and examples of, haiku.

http://home.clara.net/pka/haiku/haiku.htm

http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/haikugen/framset1.htm

http://www.footballpoets.org/p.asp?Id=941


Appendix Two Frankie and Johnny

Frankie and Johnny were lovers.O My Gawd how they did love!They swore to be true to each other,As true as the stars above.He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down to the hock-shop,Went for a bucket of beer,Said: ‘O Mr BartenderHas my loving Johnny been here?He is my man but he’d doing me wrong.’

‘I don’t want to make you no trouble,I don’t want to tell you no lie,But I saw Johnny an hour agoWith a girl named Nelly Bly,He is your man but he’s doing you wrong.’

Frankie went down to the hotel,She didn’t go there for fun,‘Cause underneath her kimonaShe toted a 44 Gun.He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down to the hotel.She rang the front-door bell,Said: ‘Stand back all you chippiesOr I’ll blow you all to hell.I want my man for he’s doing me wrong.’

Frankie looked in through the key-holeAnd there before her eyeShe saw her Johnny on the sofaA-loving up Nelly Bly.He was her man; he was doing her wrong.

Frankie threw back her kimona,Took out a big 44,Root-a-toot-toot, three time she shootRight through that hardware door.He was her man but her was doing her wrong.

Johnny grabbed up his Stetson,Said: ‘O my Gawd Frankie don’t shoot!’But Frankie pulled hard on the trigger

And the gun went root-a-toot-toot.She shot her man who was doing her wrong.‘Roll me over easy,Roll me over slow,Roll me over on my right sideCause my left side hurts me so.I was her man but I done her wrong.’

‘Bring out your rubber-tired buggy,Bring out your rubber-tired hack;I’ll take my Johnny to the graveyardBut I won’t bring him back.He was my man but he done me wrong.

‘Lock me in that dungeon,Lock me in that cell,Lock me where the north-east windBlows from the corner of Hell.I shot my man cause he done me wrong.’

It was not murder in the first degree,It was not murder in the third.A woman simply shot her manAs a hunter drops a bird.She shot her man ‘cause he done her wrong.

Frankie said to the Sheriff,‘What do you think they’ll do?’The Sheriff said to Frankie,‘It’s the electric-chair for you.You shot your man cause he done you wrong.’

Frankie sat in the jail-house,Had no electric fan,Told her sweet little sister :’There ain’t no good in a man.I had a man but he done me wrong.’

Once more I saw Frankie,She was sitting in the ChairWaiting for to go and meet her GodWith the sweat dripping out of hair.He was a man but he done her wrong.

This story has no moral,This story has no end,This story only goes to showThat there ain’t no good in men.He was her man but he done her wrong.


Appendix Three

The sad story of Lefty and Ned

There were two crooks, called Lefty and Ned Who had to steal for their daily bread.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

One day they planned to rob the bank,The other side of the taxi-rank.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

And then they tunnelled into the bank,The other side of the taxi-rank.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

I think it was Monday they got through,With all their tools and gelignite too,But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

They put the gelignite in its place,With a mattress on top, just in case.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

And then they had a terrible scare,When the burglar alarm rent the air.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

Back to the tunnel they made their way,Just as the police joined in the fray,But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

Ned dropped the torch as he shut the hatch,Because of the dark, he struck a match.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

But he’d forgotten the gelignite,And right on to it he dropped the light.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

So now they’re dead, the tunnel’s caved in,This is the punishment for their sin.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

And now the moral, Crime Never Pays,You’d best take note of this worth phrase.But now their bodies are under ground,Left there to rot until they’re found.

Richard Alan Crust


Appendix Four The Argly Woo – by Mark Grist

Many people tell stories Of monsters and beasts Of knights killing dragons And glorious feasts

Of vampires and werewolves And seamonsters too But none were as bad As the Argly Woo

“What’s the Argly woo?” I hear you all shout Well that’s what this poem Will tell you about

The Argly Woo Was a massive creature With two purple eyes And five gallons of fur

It had massive jaws And lived upon meat Underneath all its fur Grew four giant feet

With it’s claws and its teeth It could destroy and devour The widest village ever known And the highest tower

But a horrible talent which the monster had Was that it could make anyone Go completely mad

For instance, Sir Thomas Who came up from the South The Argly Woo easily got him Foaming at the mouth

And then there was Ryan Dibble who lived at north Jonkers After just a look at the foul beast He went completely bonkers

Some acted like a chicken Some thought they were a bunny And the Argly woo, (AW for short) Found this rather funny

primary school teaching resources: poetry party project

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