Making Poppies with Pa

 

I traced the outline:

5 perfect petals

on the shiny red metal sheet.

 

Pa used the tin snips

snip, snip, snip

to carefully cut around the shape.

 

Together we hammered the petals up

one at a time.

“It looks like a leaky cup!” I laughed.

 

Then I sprayed

one puff of black

into the flower’s centre.

 

Pa attached the wire stem

and handed it to me

like it was a long-stemmed rose.

 

But when I carried our poppy outside

and proudly placed it in the new-turned dirt

Pa began to cry.

 

He knelt down so I could hug him tight

then whispered through his tears,

“I hope you never know what war really means.”

Kristin Martin

kristin@kristinmartin.net

 

Teacher Notes by Jeanie Axton

Read this poem to the students then get them to make poppies.

On each leaf write words that relate to Remembrance Day.

Display the poppies then ask the students to write down one word from each persons poppy.

Can they write a poem with the words they have collected?

Write and Share

Here is a poppy template