Kate Williams

BIRDS bring our skies alive, and our parks and gardens, too. They set forests buzzing and rooftops twitching, and even keep us entertained in busy cities. In the autumn you see beautiful swirls of migrating birds making patterns in the sky as the prepare for their vast flight to warmer lands. Those sights alone are worth a poem!

There’s so much to say about birds, your young writers may need a starting point or feature to focus on, such as movement, shape, characters of different kinds, or the habits of one.

Then there’s the background to colour in – the sky, trees, lake or whatever. After all, you might be looking at anything from penguins to swans to sparrows to albatrosses – like the one at the top.

But a poem needs to be succinct. It’s not a story or a factual description, but a little, float-alone scrap of magic in its own right. Take a HAIKU, for instance – how could your class sum up their thoughts on birds in 17 syllables?? Here are some free bird haiku tips, ideas and starter frames to help (click for link, then click on ‘File previews’ above video image).

POEM TYPE

You might prefer something different, style-wise, and you’ll find some other ideas, including handy vocabulary suggestions to prompt for, if you scroll down from the link above. I’m afraid that’s the only freebie in the birds bunch, as they take time to think up and produce, but I keep prices as low as possible. You can get ideas just from viewing, and take off as you wish from there! (Other freebies available on other themes.)

WARM-UP TIP

Allow plenty of time for acting out – for being birds together, away from desks, preferably outside, weather permitting, before writing starts. This way you can instantly start drawing out ideas, firing imagination and stretching active language. Be graceful, streamlined birds taking off into the sky, tipping, tilting, flapping, cruising. Or be waddling, hissing geese or flapping, squawking ducks or hopping, tweeting robins, or spiralling birds of prey, in the …..? …..? sky.

Movement will also get the circulation going, giving brains a boost and burning off fidgets. Oh yes, and being a bird is fun!! At any age.

You may spot a bird or two in my upcoming book of animal poems, Squeak! Squawk! Roar! – publishing 9th January! Details here (click for link).

Happy birdy poetry session!

Kate