Tasty Moon
In Heaven’s oven
the moon is a chunky pie
sugar-coated and crusty,
as plump as a donut,
as dimpled as a dumpling —
Good enough to eat.
Dianne Bates
Tag Archives: Dianne Bates
Leaves by Dianne Bates
Leave a commentLEAVES
Leaves have thousands of brothers and sisters
Leaves jostle and elbow one another
Leaves wave at the sky when it’s breezy
Leaves batter window panes on windy nights
Leaves have veins but never get varicose veins
Leaves never have to go on diets
Leaves abandon trees in winter and gather in piles in autumn
Leaves sizzle like steaks on a barbie when there are bushfires
Leaves make friends with fruit
Leaves are McDonald’s for hungry koalas
Leaves hate kerosene and matches.
© Dianne Bates
Poetry in the Classroom
Leave a commentToday’s blog is aimed at teachers of primary and secondary students; it offers ways in which you might like to use this blog site or otherwise employ poetry in your classroom.
- Research and find poems from poets listed in the A to Z of Australian children’s poetry and then give a class presentation
- Check out at least one of the poetry website links on the blog site and tell the class what they found
- Enter poems they have written into children’s competitions listed on the site
- Write an email – or a letter – to one of the poets listed on the blog site
- Write a poem and submit it to the site as the Poem of the Day
- Invite a poet – or a community leader – to visit your school to read and/or recite poems at your school assembly.
- Ask every child in your class to find a poem they love and create a class poetry anthology
- Organise a poetry read based on poems collected for the anthology
- Write a class acrostic poem using the teacher’s surname
- Talk about free verse and read a verse novel to your class
- Make a collection of poems displayed on the site (from the A to Z of poets) and from the Poem of the Day
- Display a Poem of the Day written by a student on the class noticeboard
- Find and share silly, short poems written by Anonymous
- For a class assembly item, have the class present poetry connected by a theme (for example: family, food, games)
- For a fun activity in class, have students talk to one another in rhyming couplets for a limited period
- Raid home, public and school libraries for poetry collections and anthologies; when it’s time for DEAR, have students read from one of the books
- After DEAR, each child share a poem they really liked
- Memorise and recite poems found on the Australian children’s poetry blog site
- Have class work together to write an article about poetry in their class and submit it to the blog site
- Have students find children’s poetry websites and blogs not listed on the blog site and submit them as links
Feel free to send in information about how you employ poetry in your classroom if you’re a teacher. Or if you are a student, send in your thoughts, too! Send to dibates@outlook.com
Greetings and Welcome
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Greetings and welcome to all poetry lovers visiting this brand new site!
Within two days of the Australian Children’s Poetry site going up, there were well over 2,000 hits, a fair indication of the interest nationally and internationally in Australian children’s poets and their poetry.
Thanks so much to all of you who have left congratulatory comments and offers of future support. There’s more to come, so remember to keep popping over, and do spread the word, please. (Don’t forget to contribute poems, articles, links, reviews and interviews, as well.)
The inspiration for creating the blog came about seven years ago when I was compiling Australian children’s poems for an anthology. While trying to track down poets’ contact details (to ask for permission and to offer payment), I soon found that most Australian children’s poets do not have an online presence. Why isn’t there a dedicated site, I asked myself when organisations such as the National Library of Australia were unable to locate one.
Believing that it if it’s got to be, it’s up to me, I began exploring the options for a website. I stopped short at a quote of $25,000 to build one. Then I found Helen Ross, a children’s author, who agreed to create a blog for far less money. Thank you, Helen! (When my funding application is approved, I will let the world know which organisation has given its much welcomed support.)
Meanwhile, the anthology I’d compiled was (finally) contracted, and Our Home is Dirt by Sea will be published by Walker Books Australia in 2015. Thank you, Sarah Foster, one of the few Australian publishers who give ongoing support to publishing children’s poetry.
I asked all contributing poets if they would like to leave their contact details with their biographies so that anthologists, festival, conference organisers and schools could apply to use their poems and/or to invite the poets to speak publicly, and to present poetry readings. I also asked them to provide up to three poems each to give a sample of their talents.
Poetry is a big deal in the UK where it is common for children’s poets to strut their stuff in schools, etc. And, too, although I don’t have statistics to support my claim, I believe there are more poetry collections and anthologies published there each year than here in Australia.
My aim is to put Australian children’s poetry on every map there is. Please help spread the word. And in the meantime, enjoy what’s on offer here and leave your comments. Thanks!
Dianne (Di) Bates
11/3/14
Australian Children’s Poetry 