FIRE-UP FRIDAY
Tips and ideas to fire up your class of poets!
Today’s tip:
Get your class outside.
Never mind the weather – they’ll live!
Stretch legs and senses, stimulate circulation and imagination, shake off fidgets, blow away yawns.
NB You may like to take a notepad and pen to collect the children’s words out there.
Stepping outside will calm fidgets and nerves before writing, while also connecting with the world around them and kindling ideas to write about. Raining? A few cool splashes will add in well!
What to do out there? Jumps, arm swings, funny walks, traffic-watching, sky-gazing, whatever suits the setting. Take deep breaths and taste the air. Now prompt for observations, descriptions, and apt language.
Perhaps ask what sounds can be heard? What does the ground feel like under your feet? Compare and contrast textures around you – hard concrete, silky sky, rough tree trunks, soft, swishy grass, sharp step edges.
Build language as you discuss, inviting alternatives and accompanying imagery. If the steps are hard, perhaps they’re brittle, ungiving, painful. The sky might be as silky as a wedding veil, or heavy as a blanket.
If you have a theme in mind – say trees, sounds, mini-beasts, the season, or busy street, focus in on that now, collecting and expanding ideas. Jot some down to read back to the class afterwards, writing up a few of their words on the board.
The whole exercise could take just a few minutes – a rich few minutes!
With a clear theme, optional format and a suggested starter line, they’ll be ready to craft their poems. One or two worriers? Think up a verse together first and write it up as a guide.
Kate Williams 
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