Marooned! Weetwood School Poetry Sharing - 4 February

Sheila Chapman writes:

The children in year 5 at Weetwood School wrote poems inspired by the book they have been reading in class. The book, ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo tells the story of a young boy who is marooned on an island in the South Pacific along with his dog, Stella Artois, and judging by the poems it inspired it is well worth reading.

The children read confidently, and clearly immersed themselves not only in the process of writing and performing poetry but also in the whole idea of being abandoned and alone.

Some memorable lines were

Seagulls screech like a knife

I see a kind of nothing

Still I remember the taste of the brine

I can taste the salty sand

I wake up confused, feel heat from blazing sun

Rocks dangerous and steep

I am excited it’s new

I smell the fresh air

The footprint not mine

My body is not working

Hidden streams, juicy cherries

Sand clutching my hand

I want to go home

Someone waiting for me, heartbroken

Gail Alvarez adds:

The pupils from Mr Annis-Brown's class were really so very confident they took your breath away.  You could hear every word, even from the back of the packed hall.  The teacher was really pleased at the response to James Nash's coaching to perform, and the collaboration was heartwarming:  one youngster got so nervous they dried up but the boy next in line just took the poem and read it out.  Marvellous.

Audience Comments

A large thanks to James and Rachel, we've learned so much and gained confidence speaking to an audience. The poetry was fantastic. (class teacher)

super poems and snippets of poems. It was clear a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes. A lovely idea to base the poems on the book the children are reading in class - the children were clearly vey inspired.

Amazing how the quality of the children's work is boosted so much by the leadership of an inspiring professional writer who believes in their abilities and consequently allows them to believe in themselves. Thank you.

My win granddaughters enjoyed the development and writing of the poems and I very much enjoyed the performance by the class.

Great event - my girls really enjoyed the process of creating their poems and working with the poet

Fantastic event to spark children's interest in poetry and to share it.

The children really enjoyed and benefited from the help and input they received. The end result an reading was fabulous.

Language evolves both spoken and written. Good to hear youngsters working with poetry.

Really nice to hear the poems the children had worked hard on.

I am so pleased we came. How wonderful the children could write such good poems. Congratulations to all concerned for the excellent work

Next year let's try and get elders involved again - OWLS now has more capacity so we may be better placed to get involved. Would be good to hear James Nash read out a poem so we could hear a real life poet speaking.

Some children’s comments

The children were asked what they had learnt, why it was good to share their work with others and what they would remember about the project.

What they had learnt

Finding that my quick jottings can be turned into a good and finished poem.

A small poem can be a good poem.

Only using the best parts of your first try will make it the best it can be

How it changed from each lesson It got better and better!

How to present a poem

How to write poetry and how James Nash writes poetry.

Learning how to write a really good poem

When you wright (sic) a poem it doesn’t have to rhyme and that when you wright a poem you have to wright it like whats(sic) happening now.

I have learnt how to be a proper poet.

Writing poems is fun and I’m good at it.

How to write poems professionally.

That nothing is wrong in poems

Learning how to edit and write a poem.

Writing different drafts

That poems take a lot of crossing outs.

I have learned that your poems can be anything

To do more descriptive writing

That poems don’t always have to rhyme.

That you need to take time and don’t rush.

Making the story into a poem.

It doesn’t matter what the poems(sic) about

Why it is good to share

Because you can hear other ways of doing it and get inspiration from them

It is good because you could give them inspiration

Because it makes you happy and really good and you can be a super star and wizard.

It builds your confidence and other people can hear everyone else’s work.

It makes you feel more confinc(sic).

To maybe give them more ideas and give them ispration(sic).

Because they will know what it’s like to write a poem.

Because they can get inspiration and start writing poems themselves.

I think it is but I don’t like reading my work in front of other people.

For advise (sic)

To boost your confidence.

So they can experience what where (sic) learning

So you’re confident in reading.

It is good because they can have ideas for their work.

Because it helps build up your confidence.

To inspire them to write poems.

To boost your confidence. And to show everyone that you are Amazing at writing poems.

So they can learn not just in their classrooms

What will you remember

I will remember working with a proper poet

I will remember every think(sic) about this project.

I will remember meeting a professional poet.

... It was amazing 

Everything because it was brilliant

Everything. James and Rachel are really nice.

That I wrote a poem

My poem