When I visited Gisborne’s Ormond School last week (the North Island winner of The Fourth Fabulous Picture Poem) I kick-started classes on picture poems.
I adore these cat ones from Y2 and 3. I have picked just a few to post, but they are all WONDERFUL. I kept going WOW! as I looked at them.
These poems are good to look at but are also fun to read aloud. Congratulations to the WHOLE class on your poems. I just loved them. I love the one with the rat hiding in its belly!
Lots of lovely cat poems thank you. Sorry couldn’t post them all! I loved the detail in your poems and the way the cats have come alive with your choice of words. These poems are all different but great to read. Congratulations if I picked your poem to post.
I like to share books around rather than say I am picking winners of my challenges! I love all the poems I post but this time I am sending the cat book to Imogen.
My cat is scared of everything
My cat is scared of everything
When Dad puts the chainsaw on outside
She runs back indoors like a maniac
Her tail in knots, her paddy paws thumping like a thunderbird
My sister calls her “scatty catty”
My cat is scared of everything
When someone creaks opens the pantry
She scampers up into her cat tower
Her eyes like an owl, her whiskers in a twist
My mum calls her “chicken kitten”
When she sees a scary part in my How to Train Your Dragon dvd
She leaps high in the air
Her fur sticking out like a puffer fish, her tummy vibrating like a wobbly jelly
My dad calls her “wussy pussy”
My cat is scared of everything
When it is really stormy outside
She snuggles right up to my pillow
And she purrs me to sleep like someone telling a bedtime rhyme
I call her “my hot water bottle”
Daniel Age 6, Year 2, Adventure School
Unwanted
Blood red whiskers,
eyes like bubbles,
his ginger fur
skims past lamp posts
Silence falls until…
CLAWS,
you’re in trouble!
Poppie-Belle Year 6 10 years old Fendalton Open Air School
Gemma Age 9 Year 5, Adventure School
My Cat Crystal
Mattered fur, swishing tail
Goggly eyes, staring at the door
Dancing at the door, meowing endlessly for food,
Every morning & night
Sound asleep in the front yard snoozing
Running because she doesn’t want to be held!
Imogen R, Age 9, Year 5, Kenakena School
Cat
Prowling,
fluoro green eyes,
in the dark of night,
ink black,
tail swishing,
silence,
slinking,
claws swiping,
danger.
Natalie Age: 10 Year: 6 Fendalton Open-Air School
A flash of white in the middle of the night
A flash of white in the middle of the night,
The clouds, the sun, the moon, the sea, is my little Artie.
He is the sun, he is the moon and he is the one, the single sun,
But most of all, he is my Artie.
My cat is like
My cat is like a phoenix, he rises majestically, to the skies he will rise.
My cat is as ginger as cinnamon, ground in the pot.
My cat is like Queen Nefertiti with his beautiful green-eyed stare.
My cat is like a ballerina as he leaps through the air.
both poems by Imogen 7 years old Year 3 Homeschooled
The Story of Cali
On a wild wet track
Walked past the flax
Mew
A strange
Cry
Followed the sound
And finally found
Cold
Wet
Abandoned
Wrapped in a towel
With a tiny meow
Hungry
Thin
Frightened
Fed the cat
Brushed out the matts
Warm
Befriended
Purring
Found a new home
Never alone
Named
Brushed
Stroked
Now the Queen of laps
Can just relax
Happy
Fat
Loved.
Daniel Age 6, Year 2, Adventure School (This cat turned up lost at Daniel’s place and now his Nan has it! Wonderful. We ended up with a lost cat too that nobody wanted.)
Weetbix and Molly (the dog who swims like a concrete mixer!)
This weekend I went to the Auckland Writers Festival which filled me with the joy of words. I heard wonderful stories and breathtaking poems.
What did I love about them? How did some stories and poems catch hold of me while others didn’t? It is a BIG question and there is no one straight answer to it. There are lots of answers!
Some authors said REAL DETAIL helps their writing. I agree. I f you write a poem about a big thing like love (how you love your mum for example) and you go hunting for real detail (about your mum for example) the poem matters so much more.
When I visit school I discover how many of you love cats. So I thought this week the challenge will be to write a cat poem with lots of REAL DETAIL. If you have read my books you will know I have written lots of cat poems because we have three cats. But sadly one of our cats (Weetbix) has died recently so now we just have two cats. He was the cat that ate everyone’s food! So we have been sad.
Here are some tips on writing a cat poem with good detail:
1. Hunt for words before you start writing.
2. What does the cat look like?
3. What does the cat like to do?
4. What does the cat like to eat?
5. Is there anything unusual about the cat?
6. What moods does the cat have?
7. Where does the cat like to sleep.
8. Try writing the poem with no more than 5 words on a line.
9. Try writing a cat poem with good detail that uses no more than 20 words.
10. Try putting a popping simile in your poem.
11. Make sure you have the best word for the job when you are describing something.
12. Try out three different endings. Which do you like best?
13. Try three different titles.
14. Have fun!
DEADLINE for your Cat-Poem Challenge: Thursday May 28th
Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com. Include your name, year, age and name of school. You can include your teacher’s name and email.
PLEASE say it’s for the Cat-Poem challenge. Put in the subject line of the email please.
I will post my favourites and have a book for a poet (Year 0 to Year 8).
PS I have a very cool cat book for one poet!
What a lot of fun you had filling nursery rhymes with C A T S ! I loved reading all the poems you sent and in a hard job choosing a few to post. Daniel did THREE fabulous poems that were GREAT to read aloud. And Gemma‘s had pzzazz running through her verses. I thought Ewen‘s was especially witty (love the name of her cat). And great job Cassandra, Charlotte and Benjamin — your poems put a smile on my face. I am sending the the book to Weaam at Russley School in Christchurch as I loved the way the cats and mice swapped places! Brilliant!
Thanks to Scholastic I am sending Weaam a copy of Purrs, Paws and Claws.
Here are the cat filled nursery rhymes:
Sleepy Leapy
Sleepy Leapy leapt over the wall,
Sleepy Leapy fell on his paws,
all the land’s cats
purred til the end,
but they couldn’t purr back
their sleepy friend.
Ewen aged 11, Year 7, Cobham Intermediate School, Christchurch
Amber is a Little Cat (to Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Amber is a little cat
Who really is quite clever
When it comes to homework time
We like to learn together
Amber likes to play board games
Especially with a spinner
Beetle, or the Game of Life
She always is the winner
She doesn’t like to hunt for food
Or prowl around at night
She would rather do some maths
Or read with you all night
So if you want a furry friend
That’s more than just a pet
Forget about a rat or dog
A Maine Coon cat is what to get!
Gemma Year 4, Age 8, Adventure School, Wellington
Three Blind Cats
Three blind cats, three blind cats,
see how they bounce, see how they bounce
They pounced after the farmer’s mouse
and chased the mice right out of the house
Have you ever seen a mouse in the house
with three blind cats?
By Weaam, Year 6, Russley School
Cat care (to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat)
Stroke, stroke, stroke your cat
Sixty times a day
Make sure that you feed it first
Before you go to play.
Stroke, stroke, stroke your cat
Tickle behind its ears
And it will be your bestest friend
For years and years and years.
Good Job! (To the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock)
Hickory dickory dock
Cat thinks its dinner o’clock
It brings a mouse
Into the house
And gives everybody a shock!
Flubber Flubber (To the tune of Mary Mary Quite Contrary)
Flubber, Flubber
I really do love her
But she is getting so fat!
She loves to eat
Spends all day asleep
What will we do with that cat?
All three by Daniel, Age 5, Year 1, Adventure School, Wellington
One, Two, Lick My Shoe
One, two, lick my shoe;
Three, Four, meow at the door;
Five, Six, scratch the sticks;
Seven, eight, catch the bait;
Nine, ten, meow again;
Eleven, twelve, lick myself;
Thirteen, Fourteen, I am clean;
Fifteen, sixteen, I’ve been seen;
Seventeen, eighteen, I am waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my bowl’s empty.
By Benjamin Home-schooled, Year 4, Age 8
Meow, Meow Ginger Cat
(Sung to Baa, Baa Black Sheep)
Written for my pussy cat Ginger who likes to catch birds.
Meow, meow Ginger cat
Have you caught a mouse?
No meow, No meow
I have caught a bird.
One by the garage,
One by the pool and
One by the back garden gate
I’ve eaten off the head and left it on the front step.
By Charlotte Home-schooled, Year 1, aged 5 1/2
Three Cat Poems
Walk, walk, walk your cat
Gently down the street
if you see a car
Don’t forget to wait!
Meow-meow black cat
have you any fur
yes yes yes
lots of piles full
Long for him
Short for her
Medium for my cat who I like
Meow-meow sat on a wall
Meow-meow had a great fall
Meow-meow landed on her feet
Because she’s a cat
What a great feat!
Cassandra, Home-schooled, aged 7
Since 1967 people around the world have celebrated International Children’s Book Day on the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson.
Poetry Box is celebrating this day by offering a copy of a beautiful new book by Errol McLeary called Purrs, Paws and Claws. Scholastic has just published it! It is fun!
All the poems are about C A T S, and in some, Errol filled traditional nursery rhymes with unexpected cats. It made me want to go and write some poems myself!
Here is the start of one:
Two little pussy cats,
sitting on a wall,
one called Peter
and one called Paul
Pick a nursery rhyme and fill it with cats.
DEADLINE for your Nursery Rhyme Cat poem: Friday April 4th
Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com. Include your name, year, age and name of school. You can include your teacher’s name and email. PLEASE say it’s for the Nursery Rhyme Cat poem challenge.
I will post my favourites and have a book prize for one poet.
After some very busy months I finally have some clean spaces on my calendar which means lots of time to get on with my writing. BUT! Today (on my first empty day) I said yes to a day’s relieving at Waitakere School, the school near where I live.
This afternoon we wrote cat poems, so I thought I would post some of my favourites. I loved reading them all. It was an awesome class and I liked the way the children showed respect and got stuck into all their tasks. I really enjoyed my day. Thank you!
Some cat poems by Y3 and 4 students in Room 8:
Cat
Black and shiny
purrs and lies.
It’s a house cat
that always guards.
He pounces
jumps and
shouts meow!
He eats cat biscuits
and also meat
and snuggles on
our beds.
By Thomas
My Cat
Grey black
the colour of stormy skies
smooth fur
soft as a cotton ball
crazily funny
acting like a silly clown
‘Oh cat, oh cat, how silly
can you be!’
Hungry, young
sleepy cat
time for your bedtime nap.
By Natasha
Our Cat
Black stripes, ginger fur
rock on the couch,
letters all over the floor
when the cat’s about.
Cat staring at me just
wants some milk.
Time to sleep, let’s
see, ahhh, some comfy silk,
cuddly cat.
By Anataia
Cat
White cat
black cat
yellow cat
fluffy cat
lazy cat
tabby cat
silky cat
shy cat
stuck up in a tree cat.
By Charlie and Teak
Cat
Fat, big
black and grey
fluffy, silky, fuzzy
pounces on the curtains.
A very silly cat.
My best cuddly friend
sleeps on my bed all day long,
my soft ball of fur.
By Bryn
Fur Ball
Slumpy mumpy cat
purry furry surry cat
lumps of fur
wumpy lumpy scary cat
fat ball of fur
grey and white lump of fuzzy fur
like an old man’s beard,
fur ball.
By Toby
The Year 3 and 4 poets at Glen Eden Primary School wrote cat poems with me ( I was in the mood for cat poems maybe because I have been writing poems about my cats). These poems have great detail, some very shiny words and good rhythms. All of these poems are wonderful to read aloud (just as poems should be!). There are also little delicious surprises in these poems, but I will let you discover them. Happy reading, and congratulations young poets!
Rosie and Maui
Maui black, Rosie tan, black, white
they eat tuna, tails flicker.
My cat’s happy, night prowler.
Maui infected, lost, hides in shed
friends with Dad, Mum.
Black like night, Rosie sleeps
on bed, purring on blanket,
cute and fluffy as a cloud.
We bought her with a dish on her head
to stop her scratching.
We love them both,
Rosie and Maui.
by Eli
My Big Fat Cat
Fluffy cat’s soft and warm
the colour of Africa
chases the mouse under the bed
eating birds on the lawn
fast at getting on the roof
lying under the table,
sleepy cat.
by Tearoa
Sleeping cat
Sleeping cat, scratches
black fluffy tail
wiggling ears, lazy.
Fat cat loves
playing with rats,
jumps on the
bed loves drinking
milk, climbs on
couches, she loves
cuddling me.
by Domi
My Cool Cat
Black cat
she feels smooth
purrs happily
makes me remember night
loves squishy toys
loves sleeping in cosy beds
scratches you when unhappy
eats cat food.
by Vickie
My Imaginary Cat
Blue and black
really fluffy
creeping up my sleeve
fat
sleeps on my lap
stretches in the sun
flappy ears
when he’s happy he stands
scratches when he’s angry
loves fish
really fast
plays with yarn
chases mice
leaping around
looks like America,
I love my cat.
by Jingo
My Dream Cat
My cat is black
and white.
My large cat
likes to eat
and run
and it likes to play around
with cat toys
soft squishy toys.
It likes to relax
on the soft couch
and it likes to
watch cartoons.
My cat likes to
jump on my bed.
by Michael
This week I did some writing workshops at Titirangi Primary School. The children wrote some terrific poems, but what I really loved was the conversation we had about the poems when they read them out. We had an hour and half per session so we could really take our time. The students were great at listening to each other and picking out the little bits of XFactor in each poem. So congratulations budding poets — I really loved working with you. I loved the way you took up the challenges.
I have picked some poems from each session to post. These are from the Year 4 and 5 group. I was in the mood for cat poems, so we wrote about cats (plus a dog or two, a mouse and a bunny!). We went on a big cat word hunt and then used our ears to listen as we wrote.
Luke is aged 8 and is in Year 4. I love the first line of this poem as I am not sure what will come next. I also like the length of the lines he chose. They work well here. And I love the eating! Great job Luke!
Where’s My Snowball?
White blur, white blur
here and there
it looks like a
snowball fight
no, no, no
it is just my cat
chasing a big, juicy rat.
Ruby is aged 10. I love the first line of the poem and I love the last line and I love all the lines in between. This poem tells a little story and it sounds good. Great job Ruby!
My Silly Silly Cat
Tip toeing closer to the pantry
meowing a high pitch
meow
looking around with
big eyes
then gobble gobble gobble,
down goes the whipped cream
and biscuits.
Meg is 9 and in Year 5. Meg is got great detail in her poem. I can picture the cat so well in my mind because of the real things Meg thought of. Her poem flows well and tells a story. Great job Meg.
A Fat Cat’s Life
My cat always
sleeps on my bed
and begs to be patted.
She is curious because
she was found in the wild.
She loves baked beans
but since she’s fat
she has to eat diet food.
Her eyes are bright and shining.
She hides under my parent’s bed
when other cats are around
because she is scared.
Her fur is short
but it’s soft and smooth,
and she often whines by her food bowl.
Her eyes are half closed when she’s happy.
She plays with a toy mouse
and her name
is Toki.
Kiera is aged 9 and is in Year 5. I love the sounds in this poem — the way you go from dab to dob to red and bed. Kiera has picked lots of words that shine in the line. Plus I liked the ending. It surprised me.Great job Kiera!
Lexus Texas Burger Bear
She’s brown
with a hint of ginger.
She has a dab of white
and a dob of red.
She hides under the bed
and bathes in the sun.
She’s my cat
that one,
as cheeky as she is
wonderful and kind
and all she wants to do
is cuddle up to you.
At night she creeps over the fence
and strides up a tree
and stalks her prey,
and when she comes home
she turns Mum’s hair grey.
Louis is aged 8 and is in Year 4. I love this poem because it surprised me. I like the way the first two lines swap about. I like the word ‘hiss’ on the end of the line. I like the way chase rhymes with pace. There is a lot of splendid action in this poem and some very shiny words. Great job Louis!
Gala
Gala swiftly chasing minor birds
minor birds chasing Gala.
Now they come to peck her.
She sees a dog and starts to hiss
but when the dog
starts to chase,
brown fur on its end,
off she goes
pace by pace.
Oscar is aged 10 and is in Year 5. I love the way you can tell Oscar loves his bunny in this poem. He has chosen great words and his poem has a great rhythm. Great job Oscar!
My Bunny So Cuddly & Cute
A flash of brown, white and black
jumping
all over the place
so so soft and
cuddly.
My bunny is funny,
he nibbles holes
in my pants.
A warm, cosy
bunny, so lovely
to have.
I hear
soft foot
steps on the wood
coming closer
& closer,
So fast and
cute, my favourite
bunny.
Arlo is aged 8 and is in Year 4. I love this poem. Mumford sounds a bit mischievous. Arlo has really made the dog come alive in his poem as he has hunted for great detail. This poem sounded good read aloud. It told a story. (Yes the dog is named after Mumford and Sons) Great job Arlo!
My Dog Mumford
My dog Mumford
is brown, grey and black
with smooth straight hair
on his back
he always
sleeps on my bed
my feet always feel
his furry little head
he chases our cats
which he gets in trouble for
and then my mum
locks him out the back door
he barks and yaps and then
my mum
lets him n again
but then
he gets my rugby ball
and runs with it right up
the hall.
