Four Legs
Four legs and a tail –
it could be a dog.
Four legs and a croak?
That’s a frog!
Four legs and a hump –
it must be a camel.
Four legs and fur?
It’s some kind of mammal.
But four legs and a mane –
long legs for trotting,
strong galloping legs,
and a tail for fly swatting?
That’s easy now,
I know it of course!
That four legged friend
is a horse.
MY UNCLE’S HORSE
My uncle had a Clydesdale,
He’d traded for a pup,
He took him down to Flemington,
To run the Melbourne Cup.
The crowd they were all laughing,
And even stewards too,
No one believed as uncle did,
Just what his nag could do.
The horses all were at the gate,
And champing at the bit,
And as the barrier went up,
The field, they had a fit.
They’d never seen a horse like that,
They frolicked on the ground,
No matter what the jockeys did,
No other horse was found
To run against the Clydesdale,
As he went round and round.
So uncle’s horse, he won the race,
And the shiny Melbourne Cup
To the North, was taken up.
The Clydesdale never raced again.
And almost always had for sup.
A manger full of oats and grain.
Girl on a Bolting Horse
The horse’s head forward, not surrendering,
the girl vertical in the stirrups
the black sky gathering steel.
Wind slicing the hair from her face,
the dark curve of herself going faster —
the blur of her brothers, standing transfixed;
she, holding her breath, bone-afraid
and flying . . .
©Katherine Gallagher
(from Circus-Apprentice, Arc Publications, 2006)
Flying Gallop
Before Eadweard Muybridge
came along
most painters painted
their horses wrong.
When galloping, galloping
at great speed,
legs of their steed?
We can hear when they gallop
and gallop at pace
there’s a break in the sound,
like their feet are in space.
So we know from this galloping
galloping sound,
there’s a time when all hooves
are NOT on the ground.
Like a carousel horse
with its legs all-stretched-out,
most artists made horse-legs
the wrong way about.
Then Muybridge’s movie
closed the affair.
Horse-legs are TUCKED
when all in the air.
Perched high on a horse,
we can’t really tell
as it’s hard to see where
a horse’s legs dwell.
And a galloping gallop’s like
flying as well.
So let’s soar on a horse
on a carousel!
Inspired by The Horse in Motion movie by EadweardMuybridge 1878
http://100photos.time.com/photos/eadweard-muybridge-horse-in-motion
Fred, Ted and Ned.
I have a mate whose name is Fred.
“I’d like a verse,” is what he said.
So I sat down with sharpened lead,
and penned some lines that end in ‘ed’.
I wrote about a horse named Ned,
whose owner’s name was Mister Ted.
He built that horse a fancy shed;
He shod him, groomed him, kept him fed.
Ned had a rug of crimson red,
embroidered with a golden thread.
He wore that rug when Mister Ted,
last Sunday rode to church to wed
his girlfriend who had bravely led
an army – she had battle cred!
Then after vows they quickly sped,
along the road in wooden sled.
The sled was pulled, of course, by Ned.
The reins were held by Missus Ted,
while Mister Ted laid out a spread
of cakes and biscuits, jam and bread.
But now this verse must end dear Fred,
I’ve no more ‘eds’ left in my head!
Teacher Notes by Jeanie Axton
Common word families in English are: are: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk.
Many of these are included in Nursery Rhymes.
Jack be nimble as seen below uses ack and ick
Lesson Idea
1. Put the common word families on cards and turn upside down on the floor
2. Students choose a card and brainstorm as many words as they can in that word family
3. Students then have a go at writing a rhyming poem similar to today’s poem
4. Give the poem to another student to make suggestions on improvements
5. Edit and the present to the class
THE SHARK IN THE PARK
I heard a shark bark
One night in the dark;
It was in the park,
(But just for a lark).
There in the moonlight,
Its teeth pearly white,
It gave me a fright
That terrible night.
Stop making a din!
You’d better come in,
And don’t flap your fin
At my garbage bin.
THE OILY OCTOPUS
An octopus observed some ooze upon the ocean.
‘Is it olive oil or toxic poison potion?’
He asked a nearby oyster who looked a little off.
She was a tad opaque and she then began to cough.
‘What is this oily ooze – its odourous and odd?’
The octopus opined to a nearby orange cod.
‘It’s all atop the ocean tide.’ The cod replied offended.
If this continues on, our organic lives have ended.
Baby Shark Remix
Baby shark,
Do do do do do do.
Baby shark,
Do do do do do do.
Baby shark,
Do do do do do do.
Baby shark!
Watch that net,
Do do do do do do.
Watch that net,
Do do do do do do.
Watch that net,
Do do do do do do.
Watch that net!
Swim away,
Do do do do do do.
Swim away,
Do do do do do do.
Swim away,
Do do do do do do.
Swim away!
Back to Mum,
Do do do do do do.
Back to Mum,
Do do do do do do.
Back to Mum,
Do do do do do do.
Back to Mum!
Never safe,
Do do do do do do.
Never safe,
Do do do do do do.
Never safe,
Do do do do do do.
Never safe!
It’s your home,
Do do do do do do.
It’s your home,
Do do do do do do.
It’s your home,
Do do do do do do.
It’s your home!
Growing Teeth
That wily smiley crocodile
when basking in the tropic sun
won’t care two hoots about his teeth.
One breaks – he’ll grow another one.
The scary shark has teeth galore.
Three thousand stored inside his face.
He won’t get sore if one falls out.
A spare tooth simply takes its place.
The terrapins and turtles each
have zero teeth within their head.
They crop and bite the sea-grass with
a sharp and horny beak instead.
A human has two sets of teeth.
The first grow while we’re still quite young
yet start to fall out one by one
as adult teeth push through the gums.
But that’s the lot. We grow no more,
no matter how antique we get.
So better keep them clean and bright
unless you want a plastic set!
Australian Children’s Poetry 