This was submitted by a teacher in Queensland Lisa McKibben on behalf of her student Julian Schirripa.
Category Archives: Australian children’s poetry
“The Lion King” by Toni Newell
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The Lion King
A lion
Is known to be tough,
But cheated by family,
Is certainly rough.
The rough and the tough,
Come together to be,
Simba, the lion cub,
In this touching story.
The loss of his father,
Is devastating,
And the guilt served by Scar
Convinces him,
To leave The Pride Lands,
And a new life begin.
He meets new friends,
Along the way,
Who come under threat,
On this particular day.
Nala, his past love,
Has them in her sight,
But Simba intercepts,
And saves their plight.
In love again, from her he hears,
What Scar has done,
And they decide to return,
To where it had all begun.
He challenges Scar,
With the support of his friends,
In an effort to reclaim Pride Lands,
But Scar does not give in easily,
With the Hyenas he takes his stand.
They fight a battle and Simba wins,
When Scar begs for his life,
And offers to betray the Hyenas,
Who are now in strife.
Simba agrees on the condition that,
Scar leaves Pride Lands forever,
But Scar has one last thrust at him,
Which ends up not being clever.
He survives the fall and stands to meet,
The Hyenas who overheard all,
And Scar thus meets his maker,
Leaving Pride Lands once and for all.
Simba and Nala now return,
Accompanied by their friends,
And reclaim the reign of the kingdom,
Where this story almost ends.
But the real end to this story,
Which makes it more the merry,
Is Simba and Nala sharing their news,
Showing their new cub to the assembly.
“Dizzy Disney” by James Aitchison
Leave a commentDizzy Disney
The Lion King got Tangled
in Cinderella’s hair,
while Pinocchio’s long nose
tripped Mulan on the stair.
Beauty and the Beast came down
to see what was the fuss,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
said, “please do not blame us!”
Aladdin called for silence,
The Little Mermaid cried,
Sleeping Beauty couldn’t sleep,
but Pocahontas tried.
Bambi ran Into the Woods
and hid behind a log,
and Dumbo was Frozen when
The Princess kissed a Frog.
“Im mad about …..” by Katherine Gallagher
Leave a commentI’m mad about . . .
I’m mad about honey
that’s runny and funny
I’m mad about cheese
that grows on old trees
I’m mad about chilli
that’s spice-cool and silly
I’m mad about eggs
and rainbow-striped veg
I’m mad about jam
on speckled green ham
I’m mad about pepper
the hotter the better
“First Fruit” by Stephanie Boase
Leave a commentFirst Fruit
There’s a custard apple growing
On the custard apple tree!
The first fruit ever it bore.
I’ve watered and mulched
Since we planted it there
Two years ago, maybe more.
So oft have I searched
For flowers and form;
A sign of a first fruit, fair.
But naught did I find
But a flower or two
That very soon wasn’t there,
Leaving nothing to show
But leaves, and so
I’ve waited as seasons slipped by.
When, to my disbelief
Hiding behind by a yellowing leaf,
On the end of a drooping twig, I spy
A fist-sized, first fruit, fair!
Perfectly formed and ripe to eat,
A custard apple growing just for me.
The first of many yet to come.
Thank you, thank you
Custard apple tree!
“WHOSE VEGIE IS WHOSE?” by James Aitchison
Leave a commentWHOSE VEGIE IS WHOSE?
If your name is Elsie Babbage,
You’ve no choice — just eat cabbage.
If your name is Arthur Ellis,
Pick green beans from a trellis.
If your name is Roger Lovell,
Dig vegies with a shovel.
If your name is Charlie Cato,
You’ll only eat potato.
If your name is Betty Barratt,
You’re destined to eat carrot.
But if your name is Russel Proust,
Sorry — you’re stuck with Brussels sprouts!
“Absolute Zero” by Celia Berrell
Leave a commentMolecules and atoms all
vibrate to Thermo’s beat.
Their energy’s identified
by measuring the heat.
Like line-dancers they stay in form
and keep their solid state
when Thermo’s music’s playing cool
and doesn’t change its rate.
By turning up the temperature
they break-dance out of line
and move about as liquid to
our Thermo’s up-beat time.
And when it’s hot they leap about
like maniacs with jazz,
escaping from their dance floor as
they change into a gas.
The winter in New Zealand can
be beautiful with snow,
a solid state of water which
is icy H2O.
And as the sunshine heats it up
its molecules go hip
and melt into a liquid that’s
in puddles, pools and drips.
Now pour some water in a pan
and heat it on a stove.
You’ll see the bubbles forming
then escaping in their droves.
We know that’s steam or vapour
that is wafting from the pot.
You’ve witnessed water’s three-phased states
from freezing, warm and hot.
When solids change to liquid form
it’s called their melting point.
That temperature is different
for different elements.
Hot volcano temperatures
can melt Earth’s crusty rock
while Nitrogen on Triton’s only
found as gas or frost.
Elements and compounds can
exist in different phases,
solid, liquid or as gas.
It varies as heat changes.
And out in space those temperatures
can really be extreme
from freezing void to hottest sun
and all that’s in between.
But even in our universe
the coolest it can go
is measured as one Kelvin,
never Absolute Zero.
This name describes the temperature
where atoms fail to move.
If Thermo turned their music off
they couldn’t even groove!
“Monster Veggies” by J.R. Poulter
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Veggie Monster – teacher notes –
Activity – Class debate on “Advertising and Prime Time TV, Their Role in Demonising Vegetables”
Activity – Make up an advertising campaign to popularise vegetables. Research TV advertisements and prime time TV shows to see what sort of food is promoted and how. I can think of one popular TV soapie, which has its cast eating pizza and drinking beer in most episodes. What does this say to young viewers.
Note what sort of advertisements come on between 4.00pm and 8.00pm, the time many children, families and young folk would be watching TV. How might you use your campaign to change this?
Activity – Make up recipes with vegetables as the main ingredients – they must be delicious enough that YOU would want to eat them! If there are any vegetarians in the class, ask them to be a consultative panel and to judge the result of the class cooking attempts to make veggies into taste tempting foods!
Activity: Australians have ‘adopted’ vegetables from all over the world.
Create a world map and paste labels bearing the names of common vegetables used in Australia on their countries of origin.
Activity: Are there vegetables that are native to Australia? Study the foods grown and gathered by various Aboriginal groups. If possible, invite a local indigenous leader to discuss with the class the native foods they used and how they prepared them.
“THE OLD JEWISH QUARTER IN KRAKOW, POLAND” by James Aitchison
Leave a commentIt is raining in Krakow.
In Kazimierz the stones are weeping.
These old streets once knew steel and boots.
Bewildered children watched men with
beards and braided locks shuffle by.
Death rode in their eyes.
The streets lament their passing.
Who will pray in empty synagogues?
There was hope in Lipowa Street.
A man named Schindler ran a factory.
And at the Eagle Pharmacy,
kindness.
Put a stone on a grave.
Shalom.
Australian Children’s Poetry 