A dazzling new poetry collection from Fairburn School in Otāhuhū

 

 

A few years ago I was writer in residence at Fairburn School in Otāhuhū thanks to a programme initiated by The NZ Book Council. It stands as an extra special memory.

I was so delighted when Principal, Frances Nelson, popped the 2017 book in the post for me. Staff and students get right behind the author visit and the school just hums with poetry. This year Janice Marriot and Zech Soakai got the school exploring the theme, ‘cultural identity’.

I love the book and know from experience this is only the tip of the poetry treasures popping through the school.

Congratulations on this wonderful project. I am full to the brim with poetry joy.

 

 

 

 

Some poems by children to celebrate NZ poets in the reissued Treasury

 

 

 

Thanks for sending all the poems in – it was fun reading them all. I am sending a copy of The Treasury to Gabriella.

Extra thanks to Churton Park School for sending all the pop popping poems in! I loved them.

 

 

Paperclip
(a reply to Elizabeth Smither’s “The Stapler”)

Paper clips are nice to paper
not like any nasty staple
Can hold a lot of paper
5 or 6 its favourite number
Wants to end the staple families.

Paper clips can connect and bend
They are paper’s best friend
Easy to collect with a magnet
Never tears or rips the paper
Paper clips are best, not staples

By James K    Age 11, Year 6  Churton Park School

 

The scissors
As in response to ‘The stapler’ by Elizabeth Smither

What a ferocious beasts are scissors
With blades that ruin knickers
They do not like to feed on snickers*
They do not like large rocks

They must have two sheets at least
Or else they can’t be deceased
They prefer more at least four
As when you cut up a story.

 

*as in the chocolate bar
Gabriella R age 10, Year 6  Churton Park School
Note: There are ones similar, but these are all my ideas. By the way I put deceased there as in getting worn out.

 

The Scissors
In Response to Elizabeth Smither’s ‘The Stapler’

What a strange beast are a pair of scissors
With sharp blades that ruin pictures
They have an appetite for stickers
They do not like cardboard

Over time the things it can cut
Begins to be not as much
It does not care how many sheets
It will tear up your story

Nathan S Year 6    Churton Park School

 

 

Wiggly Wiggly

Wiggly, Wiggly,
Do the harlem
Wiggle a jellyfish,
Touch a marlin.

Wiggly, Wiggly,
Bend a worm,
Twist a leg,
Squirm a berm.

Wiggly, Wiggly,
Twist a head,
Break a led,
¨Oh! No!¨ he said

Wiggly, Wiggly,
Kiss a frog,
Buy a dog
Climb through fog.

In response to Joy Cowley’s Wriggly Wriggly

Ryan L 11 years old   Year 6   Churton Park School

 

 

Inspired by Joy Cowley:

Muddly Muddly

Muddly Muddly
feed a cat
It wears a hat
Big and fat
Muddly Muddly
Feed a cat

Muddly Muddly
Feed a dog
Eat a hotdog
Than take a jog
Muddly Muddly
Feed a dog

Muddly Muddly
Feed a horse
Use the force
Become the source
Muddly Muddly
Feed a horse

Muddly Muddly
Feed a kiwi
Wee wee
Very sneaky
Muddly Muddly
Feed a kiwi

By Angad Gill, Churton Park School, Year 6

 

To Joy Cowley

Muddly Muddly,
Feed a horse,
Give it a tomato,
Make a sauce,
Eat it up,
With some paws,
Put it down,
On the floors,
Feed a horse

Muddly Muddly,
Feed a dog,
In it’s bowl,
Feed it hogs,
Eat them up with,
Some Hogs,
Muddly Muddly,
Feed a Dog

Muddly Muddly,
Feed a cat,
Stuff it,
Inside a hat,
Tip it out onto,
A mat,
Muddly Muddly,
Feed at Cat

by Hannah age 10 Year 6 Churton Park School

 

 

Free

for Robin Hyde (inspired by ‘The Last Ones’)

Galloping along wild prairie
Paddling through the cool waters of the lake
Resting under a weeping willow
Braving the fierce winds of the desert
Soaring through grasses
Mane and tail billowing
To be wild
To be free

 

Name: Nell  Age: 9 Year: 4   Homeschool

November challenge #2: Some favourite poems that bounce from art

 

 

I was so inspired by the updated The New Zealand Art Activity Book by Helen Lloyd I got you to write poems that leapt from one of the artworks I posted.

You all loved Sara Hughes’s gorgeous ‘Millions of Colours’. I do too!

I am posting just a few  you sent in. It was just fun reading how you made the poems pop with colour.

I am sending Daniel a copy of the activity book (Thanks Te Papa Press) because I really like the idea of dream eggs hatching colours.

And I am sending Tom a copy of The Letterbox Cat because I loved the repeating pattern of words that made the poem spin like Dick Frizzell’s dancing chicken.

 

You still have a change to do my Treasury challenge (I am really keen for NZ poets to be picked!). Even if you have a copy still try the challenge. See here.

Some Poems that bounce from ART:

Inspired by Dick Frizzell’s painting,  ‘The Dancing Chicken’:

 

The Dancing Smile

I am the dancing chicken
The dancing chicken
The dancing chicken
Watch me swirl
Watch me spin
The smiling, dancing chicken
So I won’t forget your spin.

I am the dancing chicken
Watch me twirl
Watch me spin
I’m pleased to give a smile
So I won’t forget your spin.

Tom N, Year 4, age 9, Hoon Hay School

 

 

Inspired By Sara Hughes painting: Millions of Colours

 

 Daniel, Year 4, age 9, Adventure School

 

Colour dots

Spot, spot, spot, it’s a dot.
Jumping on the page.
Yellow like the sun, blue like the sea,
Colours all around me!
Red as a rose
And likes to pose
On the page.

By Clementine, 9, year 4, Lyttelton Primary School

 

Dots

Colours jump around the page
spots and dots
lots and lots of colours to be made,
yellow like the sun,
pink is lots of fun,
violet is the queen
like a never ending scheme.

Seraphine, 9, Year 4, Lyttelton Primary School

 

Blurry colours

Colours everywhere make me look stand stare
Blurry like a blind man’s seeing
like a colourful human being
Red like a rose, blue like the sky
The colours that fly on morning sky

Nydia, 8, Year 4, Lyttelton Primary School

 

Millions of colours

The colours I see in my head
I even see them even in my bed.
When I’m asleep at night the colours stop the fright.

The moonshine makes this poem rhyme.
The colours flee but come back at May
to keep the bad monsters at bay.

This is my poem I hope you like
make sure the colour stops the fright.

By Sophie M, 8, Year 4, Lyttelton Primary School

 

Colours!
Colours colours
I can see colours
I can see colours on a piece of paper.

Colours colours
I can see colours
I can see colours on a book.

Then I took that book and added more colours!!!!!!!!

Chloe D, 8, Year 4, Lyttelton Primary School

 

Kate, Age 10, Year 5, Fendalton School

November challenge #1: Some favourite acrobatic acrostic poems

Thanks for sending me a delicious swag of acrostic poems. I think there is so MUCH MORE room to play with in this form than you think!

I did a lot of WOW WOW WOW reading them all.

I have picked just a few to post. Because it is my last proper challenge this year, I put the names in the hat and picked out  Eileen, Phoebe and Jackson to send a copy of The LetterBox Cat.

You still have a change to do my Treasury challenge (I am really keen for NZ poets to be picked!). Even if you have a copy still try the challenge. See here.

 

T h a n k    y o u   !!

 

Some acrostic poems

Lifting animals’ fur
In a traffic jam
Going to school
Homes being thrown around
Towns empty
kNowing I’m safe
Inside a warm room
Night noises
Going around scaring pets

Lucy K,  Year 2,  7 years old  Ilam School

 

The Jewelry
stealing Elephant
likes To blow water

the Blue
coloured Lion
likes Orange
coloured Water

By Eileen C Age 7   Year 2  Ilam School

 

My Pets
My Family has 3 pets.
One Is soft and fluffy,
HaS black and dark chocolate fur,
And Her favourite toy is a warthog.
The other two pets Don’t live on land.
They swim thOugh,
And always Go in their mini shipwreck.

Phoebe, Year 5, age 10, College Street Normal School, Palmerston North

 

On the Pebble nest
the adElie penguin
loNgs to meet her chicks.
A Gale blows
from Under her
wInter coat
the Noise of two chicks.

Joshua P, age 13, Medbury School

 

 

The power from the lava eruption blasts out of the volcano with hot lava in it

The power Evolves
The lava Rumbles
It blasts Up
The volcano is Powerful
The lava is Terror
I Imagine
The Outstanding volcano
The Noisy eruption

Jackson R  age: 9   Fendalton School