ABSTRACT

Developing children's writing abilities boosts their confidence, creates enjoyment and relevance in the task and cultivates a range of decision-making and problem-solving skills that can then be applied across the curriculum. The Countdown series provides all the support you need in helping children to improve their prose, poetry and non-fiction writing.

This guide provides all the support you need in helping pupils to improve their poetry writing. Countdown to Poetry Writing is a comprehensive and flexible resource that you can use in different ways, including:

  • stand-alone modules that cover all the essential aspects of writing a poem, including word play, use of metaphor, rhyme and many others
  • countdown flowchart providing an overview showing how modules are linked and how teachers can progress through them with the pupils
  • photocopiable activity sheets for each module that show how to make the decisions and solve the problems that all writers face along the road from first idea to finished piece of work
  • teachers’ notes for modules, with tips and guidance, including how modules can be used in the classroom, links to other modules and curriculum links, and advice on helping and guiding pupils in their writing
  • a self-study component so that children can make their own progress through the materials, giving young writers a sense of independence in thinking about their work and offering built-in scaffolding of tasks so that less experienced or less confident children get more support from the resource
  • 'headers' for each module showing where along the 'countdown path' you are at that point.

In short, Countdown to Poetry Writing saves valuable planning time and gives you all the flexibility you need - teachers might want to utilise either the self-study or 'countdown' aspects of the book, or simply dip into it for individual lesson activities to fit in with their own programmes of work.

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 44|2 pages

–42 The origins of poetry

chapter 44|2 pages

What is poetry?

chapter 43|2 pages

The poetical eye

chapter 42|1 pages

Be yourself

chapter 41|3 pages

Noticing and questioning

chapter 40|4 pages

Stay calm

chapter 39|5 pages

–38 Have something to say/motivation

chapter 37|3 pages

Training the senses

chapter 36|3 pages

Sensory journey

chapter 35|4 pages

Sound FX

chapter 34|3 pages

Eat an apple

chapter 33|4 pages

Ways of looking

chapter 32|3 pages

Imagery

chapter 31|4 pages

Gathering the senses

chapter 30|2 pages

Less is more

chapter 29|2 pages

The three Ts

chapter 28|4 pages

Pundemonium

chapter 27|1 pages

Spoonerisms

chapter 26|4 pages

What – nonsense?

chapter 25|4 pages

Am I aloud?

chapter 24|2 pages

Syllables and stress

chapter 23|4 pages

Rhythm

chapter 22|4 pages

Alliteration and friends

chapter 21|3 pages

Rhyme

chapter 20|6 pages

Comparisons

chapter 19|2 pages

What’s the point?

chapter 18|3 pages

Shape poems

chapter 17|1 pages

–16 Alliterative phrases/kennings

chapter 17|2 pages

Alliterative phrases

chapter 16|2 pages

Kennings

chapter 3|4 pages

Three-step game

chapter 14|2 pages

Uni-verses

chapter 13|3 pages

‘Myku’

chapter 12|2 pages

List poems

chapter 11|2 pages

Counting poems

chapter 10|4 pages

Chorus poems and chants

chapter 9|3 pages

Limericks

chapter 8|3 pages

Riddles

chapter 7|4 pages

Haiku

chapter 6|3 pages

Worsery rhymes

chapter 5|3 pages

Genre poems

chapter 4|6 pages

–3 Blank verse/free verse

chapter 2|4 pages

Some other forms

chapter 1|2 pages

Tips for writing