PERSONIFICATION

After reading a poem entitled, The Wind, we discovered it used many examples of personification. We decided to have a go at writing our own examples about the sun.  
Ciaran: The sun glared and pounced onto the hillside. He covered the earth with a bright, red cloak, and slapped sunburn onto helpless victims as he devoured the earth with his boiling flames. Stephanie:The sun baked the earth until it was golden brown. Her eyes watched over us until the moon rose. She guarded the sky until morning was nigh. Eden: The sun jumped into the sky. His long, warm fingers tickled the earth. His bright, yellow face glowed cheerfully at me. Joe:As the sun went for a rest, the moon, his friend, took his place. Travis:The sun spread his red arms across the land, hitting creation with his gentle hand. Hiding or shining bright, the sun goes to sleep when it reaches night.

CONCRETE POEMS-taught by Georgia

Concrete poetry—sometimes also called ‘shape poetry’—is poetry whose visual appearance matches the topic of the poem. The words form shapes which illustrate the poem’s subject as a picture, as well as through their literal meaning.

Teacher  Response:Thanks, Georgia. Being the artistic one, I knew this form of poetry would suit you. I love the idea of the flight of the bee. You illustrate exactly what a concrete poem is meant to be. The concrete poems produced by your classmates show they were engaged with the idea. 

I couldn't resist sharing some of the favourite concrete poems I found online!

Today's Poetry Form - QUATRAIN

After Will and Madeline's lessons:

Corinne wrote: ABBA

His big, heavy hooves fell deep in the snow

Shaking away his frosty white hair

His bones ache yet he doesn't care

A long journey worth to see the northern lights glow.

Jamie wrote: AABB
As the leaves start falling down
It's part of the circle of life that's going round and round!
As the cool breeze starts coming on
I can't hear the birds singing their song.

Ivan Chan wrote: AABB
Swaggering along
Singing this song
Eating my chips
Lickin' my lips!

Jonathan wrote: AABB
 Going on a mission
To do some fishin'
Caught one fish
Going on my dish!

Akon wrote:AABB
At the bay
Wanting to stay
Mum said to go
But I said, "No!"

TANKA POEMS

Today I presented the Tanka poem to the class and I thought it went pretty well. I think I explained everything clearly and I think everyone understood. Below you will see my Tanka and those of other students who were inspired by my teaching.

From Corinne:
A shattered window
To send shivers down my spine
Through a creaky door
Is.there any more to come?
These questions I dare to ask.

From Tessa:
Darkness up above
Bright moon with surrounding stars
Bats screeching in trees
Possums running round all night,
Sunrise, possums and bats hide.

Katherine:
The sun shines right down
with rays of heat and sunshine
Rain soon comes around
Wind twirls and whirls through the trees
Weather unpredictable

LANTERN POETRY

Gemma and Daniel were our poetry inspirers today with their poetry form, the "Lantern Poem." Below are the poems they inspired others to write.

Isabella wrote: Rain Through the green trees In the winter Breeze	Mia wrote: Bee Buzzes Happily Through the summer Trees	Natalia wrote: Fly Buzzes Having fun Swiftly swooping Splat
Tia wrote: Rose Growing Beautiful Very Sharp thorns Rose	Corinne wrote: Rose Petals Soft to touch Into Summer Rose	Ivan wrote: Bling Shiny So much gold Makes me look cool Swag
Joe wrote: Ball On ground Specky mark All those flyers high	Akon wrote: Leaf Beauty  Autumn,Spring So precious, both Blade	Madison wrote: Book Read it You need it You so want it Read

   

HAIKU-students teach one another how to write poetry.

The next poetry topic was "Haiku," and the teachers today were Ivan and Nick.


Teacher response: Nick and Ivan, you prepared a wonderful presentation about how to write haiku. The process was clearly explained to the other students. I really enjoyed your own work and, again, you made the "how to" part easy for the class. I will now publish some of the student work that resulted from your lesson!

Joe wrote:                                                                   Tessa wrote:
At the MCG                                                                Outside in the sun
"Up there Cazaly!" they screamed                            laughing, playing all day long
many years ago.                                                         'til the bright sun sets.

Corinne wrote:                                                             Jamie wrote:
Through the tall, barked trees                                    Stars cover the sky
the soft breeze whispers to me                                   sparkling and glittering down
at the crack of dawn                                                    as day turns to night.

Madeline wrote:
Gallipoli plains
The bugle blows long and loud
in nineteen fifteen

STUDENTS TEACH ONE ANOTHER POETRY

Corinne and Kathryn speak! 

At the moment we are doing a students teaching students programme. We are studying poetry and we learnt about a poem called the sonnet. It was a form of poetry used by Shakespeare. Firstly, we researched it and found out that a sonnet has fourteen lines with ten syllables in each line. It has three quatrains with the rhyming pattern of ABAB meaning the first and third line rhyme and the second and fourth line rhyme. This is repeated twice before a couplet, which is simply two lines that rhyme with each other.

We created this poem together!   

Teacher Response: As a teacher, I am blown away by the power of peer teaching. From the outset of this exercise, all students were highly engaged in the lessons each pair was preparing. As the fortnight came to an end, students were keenly selecting the days for their presentation. Engagement during Corinne and Kathryn's presentation was high. All students have had a really good go at writing the first quatrain of their sonnet. We will publish some of their efforts. And how do I feel as the teacher? Excited, engaged and enthusiastically brainstormimg the next possibility.

Corinne and Kathryn: your sonnet is beautiful, reflective and creates amazing images for me. You have captured the essence of this form of poetry. You have attended to the strict requirements of a sonnet's structure. Have you explored one of Shakespeare's sonnets?

 Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? is perhaps the most famous. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html  It is thought to be one of the most widely read poems in all of English Literature. Try reading it then click the link for further explanation of the meaning. See how close you were to interpreting Shakespeare's intention!

GUEST POST - LEAH and JESS- VILLANELLE

At school we have been teaching each other different types of poetry. We taught everyone a Villanelle. A villanelle is a French poem that has 19 lines arranged in six stanzas.
The first five stanzas contain three lines and rhyme in the pattern ABA. This rhyme stays the same throughout the whole poem.
The sixth stanza consists of four lines with a rhyming pattern of ABAA.
In the sixth stanzas, the first and third line in the first stanzas are repeated in the last two lines in the sixth stanzas.

This is our Villanelle.

The ferns covered the descending trees
Disguising all the plains
Blowing in the soft, supple breeze

A wind’s hazy wheeze
Appears naturally
Harshly blowing all the leaves

The wind starts to ease
As powerful as it was
It calms down the leaves

I bend down on my knees
Pluck some flowers
As I hear the bees

As the sun sinks down it sees
The beautiful nature
The place that holds the keys

So now it is time for us to freeze
And for one last time
The ferns covered the descending trees
Blowing in the soft, supple breeze

Our reflection about students teaching one another!

Leah: I thought that it worked well because we could understand it more easily because it was at our  own level.

Jessica: I think it worked well because everyone was able to give it a go. I enjoyed being the the teacher because it provides some variation in the way I work and also, because I had to teach it, I understood the poem better.

Mrs Yore reflects: I am simply blown away by the poetry the seniors primaries are writing. Empowering them with the role of imparting the knowledge to their peers, has certainly raised the bar both in terms of student engagement and in the standard of learning that has taken place.

GUEST POST from James and Caitie

In the past few weeks we have worked in pairs to learn about a different type of poem. We have researched the Tanka poem.  James and Caitie

What is a Tanka poem?

A Tanka poem is a classic form of Japanese poetry.

It has been used since 1300, the the oldest form of Japanese poetry.

When they wrote them it was often for special occasions.

The Tanka poem has 31 syllables.

After our lesson some of the students wrote a beautiful Tanka.

Jia-Yi wrote:

Cherry blossom trees

Baby pink, white appear

This means spring has come

Adding beautiful texture

To the sunshine coated land

Jessica S wrote:

A radiant beam

Shines across our God's splendors

Vast fields of flowers

A creation of wonder

And a creation of peace

Reflection: We worked well together. Collaborating was fun on this activity. We really enjoyed teaching people about this wonderful type of poem. It was amazing what our class produced from this lesson.

MY COUNTRY-STUDENTS' RESPONSES

It has to be one of a teacher's greatest joys to enjoy with her students, Dorothy MacKellar's poem, My Country. Enjoy their insightful responses!