Poetry in Motion

It's Wednesday, so I am over halfway through my week of teaching. I wish it had not been a week with so many evening activities, but these things cannot be helped. I got up really early and put some bolognaise sauce in the Slow Cooker so that we would have a meal ready later.

We had fun today with our poetry -  we started with From a Railway Carriage by R L Stevenson, then I read W H Auden's Night Mail.

We talked about what could be sen from a railway carriage, and then the class wrote poems about a journey into Leicester on the Park'n'Ride. [Poor deprived things - they don't ever get the chance to go on train journeys!]

At the end of the lesson, I showed them the GPO film [You can watch it here] of Auden's Poem.

The kids adored the rhythms and patterns of language - and at the end one child declared the film was "Well Cool" and another said her Grandad used to work on trains, putting coal into the engine!

Then this afternoon,as many of the Year Group were doing some singing, I had the "remnant" - so we looked at "The Owl and the Pussycat" and made illustrated mini-books.

Yet again, they could not believe anyone could learn poems by heart!

I also taught them Steph's mnemonic for spelling

"RHYTHM" -it

Really

Helps

Your

Two

Hips

Move

[Thanks for that, dear daughter!]

Straight after school, another funeral - then spag bol for tea - and then Sewing Club. The girls were all really sparky and enthusiastic tonight and the pile of items for their charity sale is beginning to build up.

I am totally exhausted, but feel very contented at the end of a long day of teaching, at school and then at church. I think an early night is in order.