Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
Tips for learning poetry by heart www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/offbyheart/
~ Alligator by Grace Nichols ~
If you want to see an alligator
you must go down the muddy slushy end
of the old Caroony River.
I know an alligator
who’s living down there.
She’s a-big. She’s a-mean. She’s a-wild.
She’s a-fierce.
But if you really want to see an alligator
you must go down to the muddy slushy end
of the old Caroony River.
Go down gently to that river and say
‘Alligator Mama
Alligator Mama
Alligator Mamaaaaaaa.’
And up she’ll rise
but don’t stick around
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
BBC©2008
~ The Way Through The Woods By RUDYARD KIPLING~
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.
Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods…
But there is no road through the woods.
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
~ The Pig By Roald Dahl ~
In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn’t read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn’t puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found,
Till suddenly one wondrous night
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, ‘By gum, I’ve got the answer!
They want my bacon, slice by slice,
To sell at a tremendous price!
They want my tender juicy chops
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great peace of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And Piggy, with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grizzly bit
So let’s not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland.
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Schools
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
~ Daffodils By William Wordsworth~
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
Mary Had a Little Dog by Bruce Lansky
Mary had a little dog.
Its fur was black as night.
And everyone that Mary met
The dog was sure to bite.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule.
The dog bit Mary’s teacher’s leg,
So they threw her out of school.
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
Uncle Dave's Car by Helen Ksypka
I pleaded with my Uncle Dave
to take us for a ride.
My sisters grabbed a window seat.
I sat right by his side.
He zoomed across a garden
and knocked some hedges down,
then barrelled over sidewalks
in a busy part of town.
He zipped along a winding road—
a siren made him stop.
My uncle got a ticket from
a very angry cop.
At home our mother asked us,
"Did all of you behave?"
We answered her, "Of course we did."
(Except for Uncle Dave!)
~ The Owl and the Pussycat By Edward Lear~
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are.’
Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
‘Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?’
Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
Schools
~ Leisure By WH Davies~
WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Off
~ The Tyger By WILLIAM BLAKE~
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Cou ld twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
Wh at dread hand? & what dread feet?
Wh at the hammer? what the chain?
In w hat furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dar e its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?©2008
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
~ A Red, Red Rose By ROBERT BURNS~
O, my luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.
O, my luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!
O, I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!
Mary had a little pet by Judith Natelli McLaughlin
Mary had a little pet.
Its fur was black as night.
It followed her to school one day,
Which gave the kids a fright.
It made the teachers shout and scream,
It gave them such a scare.
For Mary didn’t have a lamb—
She had a grizzly bear.
Old Mother Hubbard by Bruce Lansky
Old Mother Hubbard
went to the cupboard
to get her poor dog a bone.
But the dog couldn’t wait,
so when dinner was late,
he ordered a pizza by phone.
Buttercups and Daisies by Mary Howitt
Buttercups and daisiesOh the pretty flowers,
Coming ere the springtime
To tell of sunny hours.
While the trees are leafless,
While the fields are bare,
Buttercups and daisies
Spring up here and there.
Off By Heart ~ Key Stage Two
This is a guide, please feel free to learn one or any other poem, nursery rhyme or song. When you recite it say the name of the poem
and who it is by before recalling the poem in a strong confident voice – you could even add your own actions or props! Have fun!
~ Macavity – The Mystery Cat By TS ELIOT~
Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime— Macavity’s not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!
Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.
Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!
He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—
Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!
And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it’s useless to investigate— Macavity’s not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away.
You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.
Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who, all the time,
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!
Off By