Some of my favourite July challenge poems: you are something or someone else poems

but I do get to go for early morning walks!

 

I do hope you had magnificent holidays, kept warm, kept busy, did some surprising things, read some books, wrote some poems, toasted marshmallows, looked at the sky, went for adventure walks, saw something that made you blink, laughed and laughed, thought about something, did a puzzle, watched a good movie ……

…… I have been so busy writing my book I have barely had time to do anything else!

But it was a special treat to read all your poems where you imagined you were something or someone else. I was really impressed with how your imaginations bounced like a trampoline with this challenge.

AS usual I could NOT post them all so please don’t feel sad if you missed out this time because YOUR POEM put a smile on my face.

I am sending a copy of The Letterbox Cat to Toby and one to Dakota, and a mystery book (I have to look in my book box) to Daniel.

 

 

 

Henry Box Brown

I am not a slave
I will not stay here
I will do something
I see a crate
I fit inside that crate
I will mail myself to Pennsylvania
I will mail myself to freedom
I will bump and shudder on a stagecoach
I will be upside down on a train
I will slide and crash about on a ferry
I will have four days of agony
I am not a slave
I am Henry Box Brown
I am free

By Daniel L
Year 4 age 8
Adventure School

 

Neil Armstrong

One small step
The hardest I ever took
A step made with heavy boots
And a light heart
A step that changed everything
That changed me
Years of learning how to take that step
A giant leap for man kind
But now I want to keep my feet on solid ground

from Gemma who goes to Adventure School but is currently at a NASA space camp.

 

Here are some poems from Room 12, Year 4  Stanmore Bay School, Teacher: Mrs Jeromson. I love he wide-ranging subjects and the way the poems include such vivid detail:

The Fierce Attack!

I’m a lurking creature
in the shallow swamp
I flick my tail
And lick my jaws.

A flicker catches my eye,
Has my enemy come to battle?
I splash my tail it looks up
But I am gone.

I come up behind it and do a mighty
Chomp!
The bunny scuttles away as I am left alone
Crawling back to my throne.

By Toby H (8 Years)

 

My Life

If you snuggle with me, I’ll snuggle with you,
If you stroke my fur nicely, you might just receive a …
rumbling purr.

Night is my day, day is my night
this is when I sleep and…
fight.

By Gracie W (9 years)

 

The Unthinkable

I am huge
Strong, stable
unsinkable.

I’m on my way
Crossing the Atlantic
My first voyage.

The 15th of April
Close to midnight
A blurry shape in the water.

Crack!
Screeeeeeeeeeeech
Passengers rush outside to see what happened.

The water fills my hull
People jumping out of me
I start to tilt.

I’m in pain
My back starts to tear
Bang!

Now I’m two
I drift towards the bottom
No more voyages for me.

By Jordin F (9 Years)

 

The Roadside Chair

I stand rickety and old
Big but not bold
I, an old chair
It really is not fair

My fabric starts to tear
Now I’m super bare
By the road I sit
Because I just didn’t fit

By Lucia H (8 Years)

 

Fantail Dance Off
I’m shaking my feathers
With delight
Dancing and feasting
All day and night.

Sienna L (8 Years)

 

Feed Me

I lay on the couch as you
Stroke me
I jump off the couch
and wait for tea

I do a desperate
Meow
Then I start to
growl

I sit up straight and
start to purr
But you just stroke
my soft fur.

By Max R (8 Years)

 

And two poems from the South Island:

 

Poem

Now it’s my time to shine.
The sun goes down and I come up.
The dark sky surrounds me as I stare down at earth.

The stars are my friends.
We chat every night.
Some times I dream of going to earth.
But I am stuck in the sky.

I am the moon

By Dakota G Age 11  Fendalton open air school

 

Lost Hiker

Snow billows around me,
Every step is fading hope,
Unpleasant waves of cold lessens my breathing,
Nothing heard but icy winds,
Glimmering ice torrents narrow my every possible path,
Exhausted I collapse to my knees.

A distant crunch, a snap of a twig,
A voice perhaps,
Eyes half closed a blurry shape,
Rescued.

By Lucy M, age 9, Cashmere Primary School – year 5

 

Some extremely inventive POEMS from Westmere School:

Under the Hat

Well I’m the Cat in the Hat
there’s no doubt about that!
So let’s have a chat
about my big hat!
Say! I’m the Cat in the Hat…..
And I’m very proud of that.

By Deacon LS6 Age 11

 

The Vacuum Cleaner

YUCK! Furballs!
I HATE furballs.
Into the kitchen…..
and fish scales get stuffed in my mouth.
I hate lego pieces from the bedroom.
But now I am tired from all the stuff
going up my shoot….
so goodnight everyone and I’ll see you again
tomorrow.

By Layla LS6 Age 9

 

Books These Days

Yay! Someone is finally using my pages.
This hasn’t happened in ages.
A week passed
my pages danced.
My words are amazing
so everyone is staring
at me.

By Jimmy LS6 Age 10

 

I am a Poem

I am slippery and slimy,
brave and tall.
sometimes I’m shy and small
and don’t want to come out at all.
I am never the same
I change moods
like the rain.
I am always different
not the same
at all.

By Bailey LS6 Age 10

 

Who am I?

Who am I?
Am I as fierce as a lion or as scared as a puppy?
Am I as tiny as an ant or as giant as a blue whale?
Am I as fast as a cheetah or as slow as a sloth?
Am I a lone wolf or a school of fish?
No
I
am
a
human.

By Renee C LS6 Age 11

 

Tornado

Swirl. Woosh. Swoosh.
I am a storm of swirling wind.
I am masked in debris and rubble.
I am looked down upon for my hostility.
But I don’t want to devour animals, buildings, plants!
Even in the depth of my chaos,
there remains a peaceful silence.

By Nina LS7 Age 10

 

The Cleaning Journey

I am a dishwasher.
I clean every day.
Washing the dishes is my
normal way.
Some are
quite
dirty.
Some are
quite
clean,
I
don’t
care.
I’m
going to
SCREAM!

By Kate J LS7 Age 10

Rubbers

I am a rubber called Grace
I come out of my case
to erase.
I am starting to hate the human race.

I am a rubber called Pat
I am flat because Matt’s cat, sat
on me.

I am a rubber called Snout
I like to rub out
but sometimes I say help
because they try to rub out felt.

By Flynn W LS7 Age 9

 

My Job as a Blender

My job as a blender is very horrible.
The sloshing red meat is quite intolerable.
The bananas and nuts are Okay,
but the kidneys and livers do not make my day.
But it is all mushed
it’s a bit too much
it makes me gag
and feel sad.

By Jamie G LS7 Age 10

 

Some extremely inventive POEMS from Richmond Road School:

 

Pens and Pencils

Cats coming out of holes.
Firefighters going down poles.
T-Rexs like to listen to remixes.
Lamborghini are fast like a flash.
When I draw,
when I wink,
something comes out of me…
it’s ink.

By Kingston Samoan Unit Age 9

 

ROAR!

I’m a lion.
I’m fearless.
I’m gorgeous, golden.
I love zooming
zebras to eat
but hate getting
caught for
zoos, but
they always
give me
food.

By Alani Samoan Unit Age 9

 

 

 

Toitoi 8 for young writers is now out – a great opportunity for Primary and Intermediate ages

This is a terrific place for young writers and artists to send work – Primary School and Intermediate ages!

Check out the latest issue so you feel inspired to send in work to the next one. Or get invited to illustrate!

I think the cover is magnificent!

 

We are delighted to introduce Toitoi 8! Congratulations to 10-year-old Isabella Lee on her fantastic cover illustration. Check out more of her work in the story “Can Kiwis Fly?” by Frederieke Beekmans, age 11, on page 60.

 

Get your copy of the journal at here.

 

 

Cool idea: NZ Children’s Book Awards holiday activities

Go

Go here for details and to download activity book

Poetry Box July Challenge (holiday and school): Other shoes

Just gave you a few more days – but try this challenge in the holidays

 

The June challenges almost broke my email box I received so many poems which was

f    a   b   u   l   o   u   s !

I loved reading them all, and did feel a little bit sad I couldn’t share them all.

 

This month I want you to get your imagination      b o u n c i n g

because I want you to imagine you are someone or something else in your poem!

 

HOT TIP: Before you start writing collect a page of words and details to PLAY with in your poem.

 

Imagining someone else

You might be a real person from HISTORY so you might need to do some research to get some clues about the person and what life was like when they lived.

You might like to write as though you are a CHARACTER from a book you love. Show them in a different light doing something different that didn’t make it into the book. Or replay something that did.

You might like to invent a person   …. your own CHARACTER! Use strong detail to make your character come alive in your poem.

 

Imagining you are a thing

Try writing a poem as though you are a rugby ball or a vacuum cleaner or a clock or a computer or a rocket or a bicycle or an old sofa  …..  OR YOU CHOOSE!

 

Some poetry tips

Don’t send me the poem the day you write it. Let it sit for at least a day then read it out loud. This is what I do.

Play with the order of words.

Play with how many words you put on the line.

Show things in your poem to do with your character or object –  NOUNS!

Show action – your character or object doing things. (if it fits)

You might like to have your character SAY things.

You can either write an I or He or She poem  (I seem to be running slow, he is so tall he can get the apples off the tree, she can fly like a Haast eagle)

Think about the title of your poem.

Try three DIFFERENT endings, then pick your favourite.

 

 

Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com by 30th July. I will post some favourites on 1st August and have a book for at least one reader.

Please include your name, age, year and name of school. I won’t post poems if I don’t have these details.

IMPORTANT:  Put OTHER SHOES challenge in the subject line of the email please.