Anahera’s friends read her winter poem aloud together while she finishes her winter drawing.
Anahera goes to Russley School in Christchurch.
Check out my June winter video poem challenge
Today is SO cold in Auckland and we are waiting for our fireplace to be finished. When it gets down to 1 degrees like last night (and probably colder up high where we are) it feels like winter. Our cats are sleeping tight together.
I love winter. I love running on the beach in the biting teeth of the wind to get warm. I love making hot soup and hot muffins and piping hot curries and tajines. I love looking at the bright blue sky when my fingers are numb.
Last week Y3/4 at Waitakere School made a video of themselves reciting an epic woman poem. You can hear it here. It inspired me to get you making poem videos.
Important: I can only post videos with you in them if the school or your parents give me permission!
The topic: W i n t e r
First: you have to write a winter poem as a class or by yourself or with a friend. See tips below.
Second: you have to make a video of it. It might be you saying the poem or you might film something else as you read it. See tips below.
Third: I will post the videos as I get them not just on the last day of the month.
So it will be a JUNE WINTER VIDEO POEM FESTIVAL
Fourth: On June 30th I will repost some favourite links to your videos. I will have a copy of A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children for at least one class and at least one child.
Deadline: June 27th
Send to: paulajoygreen@gmail.com
Please include: your name, age, year, name of school
Don’t forget: to put winter video poem in email subject line so I don’t miss it
Tips for writing a winter poem:
Collect as many winter words as you can. Hunt for verbs adjectives nouns adverbs. 50?100?
Make patterns with the words you collect.
Hunt for sparking similes.
Poem launch points: what you eat, do, wear, see in winter. Where do you go?
Real things can make a poem strong.
A winter poem might tell a winter story.
A winter poem might be short and it might be long.
You might write it together as a class or in a group, with a friend or sibling or by yourself.
Listen to the rhythm of your poem. How can you change it?
Play with how many words you put on the line.
Let your poem sit for a few days, then make sure you love every word and how it sounds.
Tips for videoing a winter poem:
Film yourself or your class reading the poem.
Play around with who says what line! One voice, many voices.
Film something wintry as you read the poem.
Film winter drawings you have done as you read the poem.
Film photographs you have taken as you read the poem.
You can film it on a phone! Or IPad.
You can get video tricky with how you do this but you can keep it very simple.
I am no expert on video things. This is a BIG learning curve for me so I will give it a go too. I will get my daughters to teach me.
Remember I cannot post videos with you on screen without parental permission or school permission if a class does it. Audio is ok.
Winter has been an extremely popular topic for poem writing. What a lot of poems arrived. How wonderful for me but it does mean lots of you missed out on being picked to be posted this time. I was especially delighted that some classes sent in bunch of poems (terrific poems from Hillcrest School and Karitane School). It shows how poetry is bubbling away in classrooms.
The poems that really caught my eye and ear had lines that sounded good, real detail and strong images. These things make your mouth water and your ears sing as you read.
Sometimes simplicity is gold in a poem. I have picked these children to send a LIANZA Book Award notebook to: Summer W, Trinity, William S and Emma C.
But you all deserve notebooks to write poems in!
Plus I was so delighted with the huge number of wonderful poems from Hillcrest School ( I could only post a few) I am sending them a copy of my book The Letterbox Cat and other Poems. Thank you!
Summer in Winter
As sun burns my face
as snow tickles my toes
I wonder what is life really all about.
Summer W Year 4, age 8 Karitane School
The winter art
Frozen blue
With green, pink and blue cascading down
Into the ice
Cold white
Once flowing down
Now solid
The grey paint
Endlessly traveling
Down a never ending canvas
Falling clouds
Never ending
Until light comes
To the painting
Emma C Age: 10 Selwyn House School
A Winter Hill
Everyday a winter hill is silent
And it is always winter there
I went to a winter hill once
It was as cold as snow
A winter hill loves it’s home
Animals live on winter hills
Polar beers eat plants that grow
The Winter Hills have secrets!
They do not say to the animals
When the grass dies
The winter hills start to fade
While the grass dies
The winter hills tell the animals
The secrets they have kept.
Trinity Aged 7. St Andrews College. Christchurch
Delicate Frost
My eyes shimmer and reflect in the crumbly frost
Little dwarf icicles, rest upon the damp grass
Substance on my feet travels throughout the room
Intense arctic chill, sending an icy storm through my feet
Like a piece of broken glass sitting in my hand
Dew breaks and crumples on the strips of land
Carys F, Room: 7 Age: 10 Hllcrest Normal School
Frozen Frosts
Frozen yoghurt texture, when without sunlight
Rough feeling on my chilled fingers
On different types of nature’s objects
Sugar grain size, all clumped together
Tiny ice hairs, all in a group
Shimmery and slippery underneath my feet
Charlotte H Room: 7 Age: 10 Hillcrest Normal School
In the morning
Fierce, Freezing feet
unReasonably cold fingers
bOiling the jug for a hot chocolate
Shiny and crunchy plants
Tinted windows filled with ice
Luca H, Room: 7 Age: 10 Hillcrest Normal School
Kiwi winter
Warn heater that seems to attract my dog
In the car drinking hot drinks
No one wants to go outside
Tingling feeling in my nose from the winter frost
Eating a nice warm sausage after a wet game of rugby
Rainy day great for going to the movies
Finlay Shiels Room: 7 Age: 11 Hillcrest Normal School
The Blizzard Frost
Frost its frigid
It looks like sodium
Random shaped ice
If you eat it you won’t have a pleasant surprise
A relative of snow
Timothy Y Age 11 Room 7 Hillcrest Normal School
Snow
Snow falls during night
Whiter than the rose in the lawn
The children’s delight
Enya O Age 12 Year 8 Selwyn House School Christchurch
Winter
Winter means snow to me
when it falls on top of the bare branch trees
when it drops so slowly from the gray clouds
and sets softly on the ground
Niamh C Age 11 Selwyn House School Christchurch
Winter
Snowflakes are drifting like elegant ballerinas with frost covered trees behind them.
White clouds cover the sky,
the gods are cold.
Children ice-skate across the lake
with their parents…. everyone is happy.
Jenna H Year 4
Winter
It’s winter!
Time to dress up
In warm gear
And build a big snowman
Or make snow Egyptians.
First it will be snow Egyptians
Then a big snowman.
Now I will make the snowman.
Two minutes later
I finished the snowman.
One minute later
The snowman melts so
I build a new one.
By William S Age: 7 years, St Andrews
Negative Temperatures
I wake up to find
condensation lurking
the windows,
blurring the white grass
behind them.
Outside it’s grey
and gloomy,
the temperatures
dipping lower and lower,
layer upon layer
of clothes wrap
around me.
Walking out,
my breath is visible.
Gloves protect my hands,
but my face remains
red and exposed.
The sun resides
behind the clouds,
leaving us
with slippery slopes
and a place
where negatives
are a commonality.
Ewen W aged 12, Year 8, Cobham Intermediate School, Christchurch
Snow Fight
Snow and frost covers the fields in a sparkly white blanket
The cows cuddle up in an airtight herd
horses rugged up.
Me and my brother run round the carpark
dogs hot on our heels.
Scraping frost off the windows,
enough for some snow balls.
BANG! CRASH! BOOM!
Snowballs fly everywhere
like seagulls dive bombing our heads.
We scamper inside
we look worse than the dogs.
Granny feeds us hot chocolate and toast
then sends us straight to the fire.
Brook H Year 6, age 10 Karitane School
Winter
Winter, where are you?
Winter, I do not see you.
I want to see your snow but it’s not here.
Why?
Winter, you are like an ice cream – as cold as snow
you are like an ice block – as cold as ice.
Can you find a tree and dress it with snow?
Why don’t you come?
Nikki L Year 4, age 8 Karitane School
Winter Poem
I stand in the middle of the court
I hear the sea
or is it the wind?
I see the seagull glide in the wind
I feel the rain
I hear the rain
Bella F Year 5, age 9 Karitane School
1. If you vote for the Children’s Choice books at The NZ Children’s Book Awards you and your school will go into the draw to win some books. A vote for The Letterbox Cat is a vote for Poetry! Voting form here.
2. Don’t forget I am on the hunt for children to pick a NZ author to interview. You pick – I try and set it up for you (class, reading group or an individual). It is a golden opportunity to do something special. paulajoygreen@gmail.com
3. I am on the hunt for children to review NZ books – any genre! paulajoygreen@gmail.com
4. Still time to enter Fourth fabulous Poetry Competition
You send in 12 poems in total from your school (an age range is an advantage but not essential).
There is no theme.
You can write any kinds of poems you like.
They get sent to The New Zealand Book Council not me.
Only winners will be notified.
Finalists and winners will be posted on the blog and on NZBC web site on Monday August 10th.
You need to send in one entry form with all the details completed.
Each poem must have child’s age, name and year.
Entry Forms here
5. I got some really cool notebooks at The LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. I have some to give away for this challenge.
It is the middle of winter, so time to write a winter poem. Remember real detail will make your winter poem sing.
Collect words first using your senses.
Collect things you do and see and eat.
What does it look like out your window in winter?
Does your poem sound good?
DEADLINE for your Winter-Poem Challenge: Wednesday July 1st
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 Winter-Poem challenge. Put in the subject line of the email please.
I will post my favourites and have cool notebooks for a poet (Year 0 to Year 8).
What a bonanza bunch of winter poems arrived in my email box. Thank you young poets. You made my day with your poetry magnificence. I loved the poems that used great detail to make winter come alive on the page. As I read your poems, it felt like I could not only see winter but also taste it and hear it too. And I loved the ripple of winter activities.
Bravo!
I have picked a few to share with you which means lots of magnificent poems didn’t get posted. They were all so good to read! I have also picked a few children to send a book. I picked children who have not yet received a book from Poetry Box. So some books that I love go to: Jesse (Bravo!), Gina (Reflections of a Solitary Hamster), Charlotte (The Reluctant Little Flower Girl, kindly donated by the author, Melanie Koster), Katy (The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer by fabulous Christchurch author, James Norcliffe) and Lottie (a beautiful Beatrix Potter notebook to fill with poems). I got carried away! I will have to restock my book box.
BTW If you spot a mistake in your poem I can change it for you.
First up a wonderful poem from Poetry Box regular, Daniel.
I love the short lines for this poem and the pictures that grew in my head.
Winter
On a cold day
I put on my snow boots
I am a scary yeti
I leave a trail of giant footprints
I walk to school
I am dragon
I have dragon breath
I leave a trail of steamy clouds
In the evening
I curl up snuggly beside the fire
I am a cat
Pretending there is no snow
By Daniel, Year 1, age 5, Adventure School, Porirua
Second up another Poetry Box regular, Ewen, This fabulous poem reminded me of a skinny wintry tree. This poem has terrific movement!
Winter
Soaking up
the atmosphere
of winter,
the icy road,
the bare trees,
icy fingers,
icy toes,
the rain
on the road,
the cosy fire,
the sneezes,
the breezes,
the snow.
Ewen W, aged 11, Year 7, Cobham Intermediate School, Christchurch
Phoebe’s poem has real atmosphere and you will discover there is something special about it!
As Winter Comes 2010
The days are wet, and cold, and windy.
The nights grow longer and longer.
When the night falls the wind howls
and rain splatters on your window sill.
You know that Winter has come.
All snuggled up in bed with hot chocolates,
blankets and hot water bottles.
You know that you are warm and safe
for this night, and another, to come.
Phoebe wrote this poem when she was about 7. But now she is in Year 7 and 11 years old. She goes to Saint Mary’s College in Ponsonby.
Benjamin shows acrostic poems can be fun. I love the lines he has chosen– juicy images and juicy words!
Winter
W Wet and windy Winter
I In the morning there is icy ice on the grass left by Jack Frost.
N Nudy trees on the side of the road and in the park.
T Toasty, warm fire in the lounge at nighttime when it’s cold.
E Extra blankets on your bed to keep you cosy.
R Rain making puddles on the ground.
By Benjamin M, Age 8 ½, Year 4, Homeschooled
Fendalton School in Christchurch has been busy writing fabulous winter poems with all kinds of moods and detail. I have picked a couple to post but I loved the winteriness of them all!
Winter is everywhere
Leaves are falling,
trees are sleeping
through the long cold winter months.
Frozen lands everywhere.
The sky is grey and sad.
Lottie Mortlock Age 8
Winter morning
Snowflakes falling like little stars
Loving families cuddling by the fireplace
Mum’s cooking up little storms
Frozen lakes sparkle in the sunlight
Little ice crystals hanging from trees.
Lily Greenwood Age 8
Keeping warm
Squishy snow freezes my bitter feet.
Icy land covers my view of the mountain.
Inside fire flaming
hot cocoa spills over my winter gloves.
I feel it burning through my tingling fingers.
Marshmallows melt in my mouth
hot cocoa hmm… delicious.
Emily Smith Age 8
Winter poem
I awake to frost
tingling on the brim of my roof.
Crisp, crunchy ice everywhere.
I dress warmly
to play in the winter snow.
Outside I shake the icy trees
crispy snowflakes fall.
I catch them on my tongue.
They melt in my mouth.
Arnika D Age 8
Year 5/6 students from Maungatapu Primary in Tauranga have been exploring winter in poetry. They hunted for great words and great detail. All the poems stood out for me (they crackled with winter energy) but here are couple to share.
Winter Wonderland
I love winter
All day, funny movies
Sipping hot creamy milky cocoa
in my onezie
slurping up steaming chicken noodles next to the heater
my face a pink glow
Out the misty foggy window white peppermint grass
A howling wind moaning, groaning
That’s why I love winter
Kaley G
Winter
Winter has come again
as the light dies in the freeze
Furious rain drives in
My nights spent sipping
creamy hot chocolate
Watching golden embers
Aroma of hot buns
and pumpkin soup from the kitchen
My mouth waters
The cat sleeps in a ball of fur
purring like an idling car motor
Looking forward to soccer season again
And the game tomorrow
Michael D
Winter
Snuggled up alongside the fire
Cradling a cup of soup while
Rain pounds against the window
like it wants to grab me
And toss me out into the raging storm
The fire crackling
as the logs tumble down
with a shower of sparks
I take a sip of the warm delicious soup
With the comfort of the fire
feeling secure from the fierce storm outside
Samuel C
Year 3 and 4 students at Golden Sands School in Papamoa sent in a fabulous bunch of poems that were very wintry and also had little stories running through them. This was a favourite.
The wind was howling through the croaky rusty windows
The wind scattered into my bed like a ghost
The wind slowly crept all around the house to make it freezing
The wind quickly dashed upstairs
and that was the storm.
Jesse O Year 3
Wind
Wind struck
Massive drops fell from the sky
Smashing against the windows
Rain smashed the concrete
All the dogs in the neighbourhood barked
Wind whacked the tramp over
BANG!
The kennel fell apart
Cooper B Year 3
The Stormy Night
The wind whirls around outside
Boom! Boom! the trapdoor banged open and shut.
The wind howls like a wolf
in the chilly night.
The wind smashes me over with its strength
and doesn’t let me go
Outside the trees brush against the fence.
Max K Year 4
Wind War
War!
The wind factory is making cloud ghosts
They’re shooting water bombs at the ripped earth.
The flat grass walls shoot trees that wiggle around the grass walls
Like spears protecting Mother Earth.
In a school is where war begun
In the school there is a boy who wrote this poem
That boy is me!
Kaleb E Year 4
From Mangatangi School (near Miranda/ Mangatawhiri)wherethe students shared my poem, ‘White sheep, white sheep,’ and Wordsworth’s cloud poem to inspire them. I loved all the different directions these poems took with clouds. Such a joy to read them all. I have picked two to post that I especially liked.
The Cloud
I see a cloud
Looking like a wild horse
Galloping through
The wild wind
Leading a pack of airborne horses
I’m thinking of the freedom
They get, one day I’ll be
Part of that same pack
Of wild horses
Flying and gliding through the
Gina, Aged 10, Year 6
Teddy Bear Cloud
I jump in the rainy
From the stormy cloud above,
thunder, booming
wind, howling.
I’m shivering.
I want to go inside.
Thunder’s stopped booming,
wind no longer howling.
I think I’ll stay
outside,
under this teddy bear shaped
Tamara, Aged 10, Year 6
Charlotte has used the senses beautifully to sparkle in her poem.
Senses of Winter
Winter looks like grey clouds, lightening flashing, brown leaves, muddy ground and bare trees.
Winter sounds like rain pattering on the roof, strong winds howling and thunder crashing making our dog bark.
Winter smells like my woolly blanket and clothes all clean after they get washed in Softly.
Winter feels like freezing ice and with the fire lit it feels cosy warm with my blanket too.
Winter tastes like my Mummy’s Chicken Pie with hot Apple Pie and ice cream for dessert.
By Charlotte M Age 5 1/ 2, Year 1 Home-schooled
From Ohaupo School some poems that showed how a handful of words can make so much happen in a poem when the words are as carefully chose as these.
Winter
Thunder, lightning
Raining, pouring, freezing
Grey sky,
Deep freezer.
Bodie, Year 7
Winter
Winter blows in,
macpac jackets being worn, and umbrellas opening
on a rainy , cold day
with dogs wearing coats, and wood burning.
Sophie, Year 6
If you look out the window or walk down the street
how do you know it’s winter?
Show me winter in a poem with the details
of what you see and hear and feel.
You might like to add an eye-popping simile.
Take a winter poem photo
or a winter photo poem.
DEADLINE for your Winter-Poem Challenge: Thursday June 12th
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 Winter-Poem challenge.
I will post my favourites and have a book prize for one poet (Year 0 to Year 8).
At the weekend I wrote a winter poem and I invited you to do the same.
It is now officially winter. I love winter because there are lots of things I love to do and wear (and eat!) in the cold months—and they are not always gloomy months.
Yesterday was the First of June and I did have a swim in the middle of my beach run and it was cold but it just amazing. Tingling fun.
Go on the hunt for winter words and show me all the things you love about winter. Write a poem without using the word love but show me why winter is special.
Play with the order you put things.
Listen to the sound of each line.
I will give you some more tips tomorrow!
DEADLINE for your Winter-Poem Challenge: Thursday June 12th
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 Winter-Poem challenge.
I will post my favourites and have a book prize for one poet.
Some students in Year Three at St Ignatius Catholic School in Auckland sent in some winter poems, but in a way that surprised me. You get to see what they have written and you also get to hear what they have written. I loved hearing them read aloud. I haven’t picked one winner of the winter-poem competition …. I have picked the whole class.
Read and hear their winter poems.
Thanks to Scholastic I am sending the class a copy of the wonderful Blue Moon Bird by Sabrina Malcom (2010). Do write and tell us what you think of the book. The language is delicious.
Imagine you are making a hut in winter.
What will it be made of?
What will you take into the hut?
What will you wear?
My Winter Hut
My winter hut is made of blocks of ice
and bits of wood and old books.
I have to wear three jumpers
and my red coat to keep warm.
I have a box to sit on.
It is really windy.
I might read one
of the books.
You have a go! Send your winter hut poem to paulajoygreen@gmail.com Include your name, age, year and name of school. Include your teacher’s name and email.
When you are writing your winter poem you can go on a winter hunt, a winter hunt, a winter hunt.
What do you see in winter? Think of FIVE things.
What do you do in winter? Think of FIVE things.
What is the weather like in winter? Think of THREE things.
See if you can find FIVE fabulous WINTER words to put in your poem.
Pick a WINTER day to write your poem about. Put some of your WINTER words in your poem.
Try writing a poem with no more than twelve words or try writing a longer poem.
Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com Include your name, age, year and name of school. You can include your teacher’s name and email.
Poetry Box 