Week 1

Over the next few weeks you are going to be poets.

Task 1

Please read the poem below. Discuss with an adult what you think this poem is about. I would then like you to put actions to this poem as you say it. Are you able to learn this poem so that you don't need the words in front of you? Remember to use expression when saying or reading it. Can you make some lines louder than others? Once you have rehearsed saying it and with your final actions, please ask an adult to video you and send me your completed performance. I look forward to seeing these.

Instructions for Growing Poetry-by Tony Mitton

Shut your eyes.

Open your mind.

Look inside.

What do you find?

Something funny?

Something sad?

Something beautiful,

mysterious, mad?

Open your ears.

Listen well.

A word or phrase

begins to swell?

Catch its rhythm,

hold its sound.

Gently, slowly

roll it round.

Does it please you?

Does it tease you?

Does it ask

to grow and spread?

Now those little 

words are sprouting

poetry

inside your head.

Task 2

Do you know a poem that you would like to share with your class? Could you find a poem that you would like your friends to read? Please use your keyboard skills that you have learnt in computing to type your chosen poem up. If your home devices have Word or Publisher on them, please type your poem up on one of these. You will be familiar with both of these as you have used them in computing. I look forward to reading your chosen poems and to see the wonderful computing skills that you have remembered.    

Week 2

Task 3

Please read the poem below and answer the questions about it.

The Marrog by R.C. Scriven

My desk's at the back of the class

And nobody, nobody knows

I'm a Marrog from Mars

With a body of brass

And seventeen fingers and toes.

Wouldn't they shriek if they knew

I've three eyes at the back of my head

And my hair is bright purple

My nose is deep blue

And my teeth are half-yellow, half-red.

My five arms are silver, and spiked

With knives on them sharper than spears.

I could go back right now if I liked-

And return in a million light-years.

I could gobble them all

For I'm seven foot tall

And return in a million years,

Wouldn't they yell if they knew,

If they guessed that a Marrog was here?

Ha-ha, they haven't a clue-

Or wouldn't they tremble with fear!

"Look, look a Marrog"

They'd all scream-and SMACK

The blackboard would fall and the ceiling would crack

And teacher would faint, I suppose.

But I grin to myself, sitting right at the back

And nobody, nobody knows.

Questions

1. What do you think that a Marrog is?

2. Which phrase in the first verse suggests that The Marrog is tough?

3. Why doesn't anyone notice The Marrog if he is described as being seven foot tall?

4. The poet uses lots of adjectives to paint a picture of what The Marrog looks like in the reader's mind. Can you write down three of the adjective phrases that the poet uses?

5. Have a go at drawing The Marrog from the description. Please send me a photograph of you finished picture.

Week 3

Task 4

I would like you to create your own alien/monster. You can either draw this or use your Design Technology skills and make your alien/monster out of objects and materials that you have at home.

Then brainstorm as many details about your alien/monster.

Next create your own poem about your alien/monster following the rhyming scheme of the first two verses of 'The Marrog'. You can write one or two verses about your alien/monster. There are a number of very useful rhyming dictionaries online for children to use.

I look forward to meeting your aliens/monsters and reading the poems that you write about them.