Tag Archives: poems for the classroom

Casanova Can

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Casanova Can

 

Casanova caterpillar

Had a bold ambition,

He wouldn’t be a butterfly

(Though that was the tradition).

He’d seen the others growing wings

And didn’t fancy that,

Instead he’d shed some letters

And turn into a cat.

Cousin Costa chaffed him.

“It cannot be”, he said,

“Come on Casanova,

You’ve really lost your head.”

“I can! I can! I can!”

Casanova cried.

He could do most anything

If he only tried.

And when it was the moment

To weave his own cocoon,

Casanova said “Farewell,

I’ll be a real cat soon.”

And so with bated breath,

(It really was a thriller),

He wished away the e and r

And the entire pillar.

And then oh joy of joys

The time came to be free,

And life was so much lighter,

As just a C-A-T.

By Kylie Covark

Car Sick

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CAR SICK

 

Green

Our fast green car

Green world

Stomach churning

Head spinning

Spinning

The world turning

Upside down

Downside up

Around and around

Wheels rolling

Streets passing

Blurred buildings

Blurred faces

Blur blur blur

Ur…

Dad, stop!

I’m going to throw …

 

Too late.

 

 

© Dianne Bates

Warm and Fluffy

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Warm And Fluffy

 

The animals have hairy fur.

The birds have got their feathers.

These keep their bodies warm enough

throughout the chilly weather.

 

The fibres in those fluffy coats

criss-cross to form some air-holes

that can’t escape or waft away

because of all the hair-folds.

 

Their skin gives off some body-warmth.

Just like a radiator.

Their fluffy coats help keep that heat

as thermal insulators.

 

The warm air’s trapped inside the fur

to shield them from the outside.

The way that blankets on a bed

are cosy on the inside.

 

But if that fluffy coat gets wet

those air-holes fill with water.

Their body’s warmth escapes as that

wet coat’s a heat conductor.

 

The soggy fur clings to their skin.

No longer insulated.

And water makes their body cold

as it’s evaporated.

 

Any fluffy animal will

shake that water well away.

So if your puppy’s had a swim …

Watch-out for all that water spray!

 

 

When it comes to having a fluffy coat, it’s a good idea to shaking off any water, so as not to get cold.  Dogs are the best shakers!  I love the sound of their lips and soggy ears slapping their head as they do it.

 

by Celia Berrell

Feathers Fur or Fins with Teacher Notes

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Feathers Fur or Fins.

 

Vertebrates are covered

In spikes, feathers and scales

Most mammals wear fur

Skin covers humans and whales

 

With skeletons covered

In scaled skins.

Fish breathe under water

And glide with their fins.

 

With skeleton covered

In thick armored plates

Eyes and nose above water

The crocodile waits

 

With skeleton covered

In skin soft and cool

Tadpoles become frogs

In creek, river and pool.

 

With hollow skeletons

And fragile feather

Birds swoop and soar

In flocks together

 

With skeletons covered

In thick fur or fine hair

Bats, seals and elephants

Share earth water and air

 

Robyn Youl

 

 

 

Teaching Notes:

A basic introduction to Taxonomy – Vertebrates – Animals with Backbones.

The five classes of Vertebrates are introduced in this poem.

Verse 1. General introduction about vertebrates who have spines.

Verse 2. Fish

Verse 3. Reptiles

Verse 4. Amphibians

Verse 5. Birds

Verse 6. Mammals

Activities:

English:

* Writing Acrostic Poetry: The human spine has 33 Bones. Snakes have 200-400! Construct a human spine from card. Each child makes an individual vertebrae. (Google – labeled vertebrae) Names it and writes an acrostic on that vertebrae about a member of ONE of the five classes of vertebrates. String them together for a Class Backbone mobile.

Use a different color card for each of the five classes of vertebrates

Drama:   Dem Bones:

Emphasizes the magic boney structure of our skeleton!!

Creates body awareness.

With this old favorite students can enjoy a complete lower/upper body shakeout work out

Move each section of the body after each line. Example: after line one shake the right foot & shake the left foot

Chorus after Verse 1 Actions:

  • Only the lower body does the skeleton dance.
  • Students move freely to invent their own dance.
  • Moving in slow motion is a real challenge.
  • Students can pair and mirror image

Chorus after Verse 2.

  • Actions as for Verse 1.
  • Only the upper body does the skeleton dance

Final Chorus Repeat: The WHOLE skeleton dance.

Dem Bones is also the basis for Skeleton (Simon) Says. Skeleton says: Shake the foot bone/bend the backbone/shake the knee bone/shake the finger bones/nod the head bone etc

 

Chorus:

Dem Bones, them bones, dere my bones

Dem bones dem bones dere my bones

Dem bones dem bones dere my bones

Doin’ the skeleton dance

The foot bone connected to the leg bone

The leg bone connected to the knee bone

The knee bone connected to the thigh bone

The thighbone connected to the backbone

The backbone connected to the neck bone

The neck bone connected the head bone

Doin’ the skeleton dance

Chorus: Lower body only

The hand bone connected to the wrist bone

The wrist bone connected to the elbow bone

The elbow bone connected to the shoulder bone

The shoulder bone connected to the neck bone

The neck bone connected to the head bone

Chorus: Upper body only

Chorus Repeat: The WHOLE skeleton dance.

Humanities: Endless possibilities! Slots in well with any current ecology projects!

 

 

 

The Dreamers

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The Dreamers

 

Once a waddling goose and gander

On a search for something grander

Left their farmyard to meander

Down a stream.

Now the goose was named Cassandra

And the gander, Alexander,

With a new home by the water

As their dream.

 

They had found the farmyard boring

With the crows’ incessant cawing

And the sleepy dogs all snoring

Through the day.

While the river looked appealing

And it gave the pair a feeling

In their new home by the water

They would stay.

 

But the farmer had been boasting

Of the geese he planned on roasting

At a dinner he was hosting

For his friend.

So he searched in haste to catch them

And he speedily despatched them.

Thus the dreamers by the river

Met their end.

 

Monty Edwards

Fantastic Feathers

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Fantastic Feathers

 

Compared to fur or human hair

feathers are a smart affair.

As down, their fluffy unzipped form

of under-feathers, keeps birds warm.

 

But barbs and barbules, shaft and quill

hide clues to how birds fly with skill.

Their contour feathers, zipped and long

make wafting wings so light yet strong.

 

From dowdy mums to vivid males

with crazy crests and splendid tails;

for camouflage or bright display

feathers have lots of roles to play.

 

by Celia Berrell

First published in Double Helix (September 2015)

Reproduced with permission of CSIRO

www.doublehelix.csiro.au

 

Take Note: from pillows to pens, feathers have helped humans sleep well and become educated!  Recently we learnt that some dinosaurs were feathered too.  Compared to fur, feathers are fascinatingly complex and some are almost magically colourful.  I find feathers fabulously beautiful.

Poetry Prompt #40

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This week’s prompt is “Chickens”

A few ideas:

  • Why did the chicken cross the road?
  • Chickens pecking order
  • Feathers flying
  • The love of eggs
  • The noisy rooster
  • Hens brooding

 

Looking forward to your contributions.

Please send to: poemoftheday.jaxton@gmail.com

 

This week’s quote to ponder on:

“With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion”

Edgar Allan Poe

(An American writer 1809-1849)

 

Poem of the Day

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Silvery Riddle

I will give you a smile if you care to look up

but I won’t show my face on a dark, dark night.

 

I will rule over oceans as though they are slaves

but I won’t ever say if that’s wrong or right.

 

I will make a lake’s surface a silvery spread

but I won’t share my shine when the day is bright.

 

I will block out the Sun every once-in-a-while.

My Solar Eclipse is an awesome sight!

Celia Berrell

 

  • Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #36

Celia said: There was a Total Solar Eclipse over part of the USA recently.  Our Moon is 400 times smaller, yet 400 times closer than the Sun.  This precise difference makes them appear the same size from Earth.  When they line up perfectly, it can take our breath away!  Imagine what a riddle this event must have posed to people centuries ago, before we really understood the movements of the stars, planets and our silvery Moon.

Poem of the Day

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I wish

I wish I’d see a world at peace

With harmony, not strife and war;

Where we care for one another,

And nobody is sad and poor.

 

I wish my school would safer be,

No playground bullies anymore;

If we forgave each other’s faults

How happy we’d all be, I’m sure.

 

I wish I’d see our oceans clean,

Without pollution’s ugly blight.

I wish the whales would live and thrive,

I wish for coral colours bright.

 

I wish, I wish, for happiness

For everyone — especially you.

If you wish with me, fingers crossed,

We might just see our wish come true.

 

James Aitchison   
  • Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #35
   

Poem of the Day

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60 seconds

A lot can happen in 60 seconds and even more in a minute.

You can floss your teeth

and tie your shoes

or blink 12 times within it!

A hummingbird flaps 4,000 times,

there are 59 weddings

and 3 parking fines

(in Melbourne).

300 lightning strikes hit Earth.

250 mothers give birth.

5 earthquakes rattle the world someplace,

but have you ever wondered what happens in space?

 

For every minute of every day

there’s a cosmic supernova display.

Fireworks on the grandest scale,

a blinding, flashing starburst wail,

as 60 stars begin to implode

their cores superheating until they explode.

Imagine?

 

Who’d have thought there was that much power?

Makes me wonder what happens each hour.

Alys Jackson