NATIONAL POETRY DAY
THURSDAY 8 OCTOBER 2015
primary classroom resources
National Poetry Day, 8 October 2015, is a nationwide celebration of poetry: a day to think of a
poem and brighten life by sharing it. Everyone is invited: everywhere the starting point is you.
This year’s theme is Light, so let poetry shine from the nation’s streets, shops, trains,
playgrounds, schools, airwaves through events, chants, songs, parties, happenings,
conversations, broadcasts, tweets and spontaneous uncontrollable outbursts of verse.
Use the hashtags #nationalpoetryday and #thinkofapoem to share your celebration in
pictures, words, music and film.
National Poetry Day is 21 years old this year: it is run by the Forward Arts Foundation, a
charity that celebrates poetry and promotes it as part of everyday life. We award the
annual Forward Prizes for Poetry and publish the Forward Book of Poetry, an indispensable
anthology of the year’s best poems.
These teaching resources, on the theme of Light, are produced by Forward Arts Foundation
and its partners for National Poetry Day 2015. They are available at
www.forwardartsfoundation.org
Susannah Herbert
Executive Director, Forward Arts Foundation
Conception and production
by Thirteen Ways
Illustrations throughout by
Matthew The Horse
www.matthewthehorse.co.uk
L is for Listen
L
is for...
Listen
In small groups find a bright space to sit in – if the weather is sunny, maybe you can go
outside? Take it in turns to read this poem aloud to other members of the group.
What is the poet describing? How do you feel if you have to go to bed while it’s still light?
What sounds does the poet hear in this poem?
Bed in Summer
Activity
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
Sitting in the bright light, close your eyes for five minutes and listen to
the sounds around you. What can you hear?
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
By Robert Louis Stevenson
from A Child’s Garden of Verses
(Puffin, 2008)
Children playing?
Birds singing?
Traffic?
What are the loud noises?
What are the quiet sounds?
When five minutes are up, note down on this page the different sounds
you heard and how you felt to be wrapped up in the sounds of a bright
day. Do this without speaking to others in your group – this helps you
keep the sounds and feelings fresh.
Then turn this page over and at the top of the page put:
“I shut out the light on a sunny day and…”
Following this opening line, write your poem about a sunny day that
doesn’t describe what you see, but what you hear and feel.
Primary
An activity by the Scottish Poetry
Library for National Poetry Day
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
I is for Illuminating
I
is for...
Illuminating
Read the poem aloud, allowing children time to think and discuss the poem after reading.
What do they like or dislike? Does it remind them of any personal experiences or other poems
they have read or heard?
Re-read the poem to allow children to savour the language. Discuss the meaning and the
feelings the poet has created. How has he done this?
The Light
Performance
We live
for the light.
As the poet suggests multiple voices
with his use of we, how could this be
performed as an ensemble piece?
Explore and experiment with different
effects and techniques such as
performing in a round, with different
children taking different parts in the
poem; either solo or in smaller groups.
Take children outdoors to experience
natural light and consider how this
compares to the artificial light indoors.
Allow the children to perform the
poem using actions, dance, movement,
music and props as they wish to create
a visual performance to reinforce the
meaning of the poem and language.
The same activity could be repeated in
a dark den or darkened room to
compare and contrast how children
without the light. (Be mindful of any
children who may fear the dark).
Activity
Use the vocabulary generated in the
previous activities to support children
in composing their own poetry in
celebration of the light. You may wish
to explore different poetic styles to
help shape their thinking e.g. free
verse, an ode, a kenning, a shape
poem, an acrostic poem. Collect the
children’s poems together and other
light inspired poems to create your
own class anthology.
Like flowers,
our heads
ever turn
where it’s bright.
We yearn when dark
for the planet to spin,
for the light to return
and for life to begin.
Without it,
we wither.
We sleepwalk
through winter.
Primary
Moon, tell the sun
to spark out the night.
We need to be loved,
be touched by the light.
by James Carter, 2015
An activity by the Centre for Literacy in
Primary Education for National Poetry
Day
www.clpe.org.uk
Take strips of paper to note words,
phrases and sentences to describe the
light; what it does and how it makes
them feel. Display these prominently in
the classroom for all to see, share and
discuss.
Why is natural light so important?
How does it make them feel?
How is the light different across the
seasons?
G is for Gravity-Defying
G
is for...
Gravity-Defying
Create a poem by using this physical writing game to explore the world of light and flight.
The game is a playful way for young writers to create and contribute words for each other’s
poems.
What you need
A4 plain paper and pens
Space to move around
Balloons, bubbles and feathers (if
possible) – if not then imagination
will do!
Class Discussion
As a class, think of how each of the
items listed below move in the air. If
you have balloons, bubbles or
feathers to hand then demonstrate
how they float.
Primary
An activity by Mandy Coe for The
Poetry Society, for National Poetry Day
www.mandycoe.com
www.poetrysociety.org.uk
balloon
bubble
kite
feather
dandelion
dust
seed
bird
snowflake
mist
Pick three examples and think about:
What sort of movements they make?
What they look like?
Where might you see them?
Activity
Choose one of the objects, or
think of your own
Write your name and the name
of your object at the top of an A4
sheet of paper
Fold your sheet into a paper
aeroplane and throw it up high
Now, pick up someone else’s
plane and unfold it
As quick as you can, write one
word related to whatever subject
is printed on the top of the paper
When the teacher calls, fold, refold the plane. When the teacher
shouts, fly, launch it into the air.
Continue to write, fold, fly with
everyone adding a word to every
plane they find. But… no one can
repeat what is already written on
the paper! Your teacher will help
by calling out a category for each
new word such as: a colour, a
movement, a shape, a noise,
something shiny, a time of day or
night, a texture, a short question.
After ten throws, each plane is
returned to its owner to unfold
and study their ‘gifted’ words.
Writing
Create your own poem. The title will
be the name of your object, and then
see how many of the ‘gifted’ words
you can include. Here is a start-line if
you need one:
“Up into the light you…”
Your poem does not have to rhyme.
But as you draft your poem you could
repeat a refrain between every two or
three lines (a refrain is like a chorus).
Your refrain can hold rhyme inside
itself. Here’s an example:
“Quiet as midnight, loud as daylight”
Read more
The following poems, by young
poets, look at similar ideas and
objects. What do you think of them?
Moth, by Eleanor Kendrick
The Arctic Tern’s Prayer,
by Mary Anne Clarke
Snow, by Karina McNally
H is for Haven
H
is for...
Haven
This poem imagines building a home of your own. Which place do you go to that makes you
feel happy or inspired? Where do you escape to when you need time to yourself?
Often, the lights inside the home, and inside ourselves, seem to shine the brightest. Do you
ever get a glowing feeling from being inside your own space, like there is a light inside you
that you can switch on as well?
Havens
Two chairs, a draped sheet, a broom
My garden house, outside but in
By myself, warm and cosy
A glow not seen by anyone else
Reading books under cover of kitchen table
A world away, imagination in flight
Blanket shields the exits
A torch lights up the words
In woods with fallen branches, I drag and build
All leaves and twigs and pretend to see
Fairies, elves, invisible, wandering free
Floating dandelion clocks, in sunbeams
In havens built from mud pies, twigs and trees
In havens built from duvet covers, pillows, brooms
In havens built from chairs and sheet, never quite complete
You sit undiscovered, but find yourself
by Rachel Sambrooks
Inspired by Little Houses by Angela Topping
Primary
An activity by Apples and Snakes for
National Poetry Day
www.applesandsnakes.org
Activity
Make a list of 10 things you can find inside back home or
outside to make a house
Now choose your 5 favourite things from your list and
make a house of your own using those 5 things
Try writing four lines about it, something like:
Rachel’s Room
A broom, a duvet and a table
Makes my den in the living room
The broom props up the door
And a tray slides out for food
Can you draw a map or picture of the house from above?
Use an A3 sheet of paper on the floor so you can sit or stand
on it.
Write your poem on the map. Can you add more lines now?
How does it make you feel? What can you smell? Hear?
See?
Ask visitors to come to your new home, invite them in and
read your poem to them. Visit all your friends’ houses and
hear their poems too.
Do you think you could make your house for real when you
get home?
T is for Ten
T
is for...
Ten
In this extract from a longer poem, the poet Christopher Smart talks about 10 things he
notices about his cat, and he thinks about how the cat keeps watch against the darkness of
the night with his ‘electrical skin and glaring eyes’ until the Sun returns in the morning.
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry (extract)
An activity by Poetry by Heart for
National Poetry Day
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God up-on his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider him-self.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having considered God and himself he will consider his neighbor.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glar-ing eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
www.poetrybyheart.org.uk
by Christopher Smart, 1763
Primary
Activity
Look at the 10 things this cat does
(starting from ‘For first he looks
upon his forepaws to see if they
are clean’), try to learn these ten
lines in a group and have a go at
acting them out.
Now think of another animal or
bird which is active at night (e.g.
owl, badger, fox, bat, hedgehog)
and list 10 habits that creature
has. Maybe you could watch a
video of the animal for ideas.
Consider how the creature would
feel about the night, and then
about the coming of the sunlight
again in the morning.
Write your ideas as a poem, being
inspired by the way Christopher
Smart sets out his poem and
starts his lines. Again, you could
learn your lines, recite them and
perhaps act them out.
You can listen to this poem by
visiting The Poetry Archive.