On Thursday, 3rd October, we celebrated National Poetry Day with an exciting and creative challenge for the children. Mrs. King kicked off our Wednesday assembly with thunderous sounds echoing through the hall, setting a dramatic scene for the week. The children were captivated by an image of a lighthouse standing tall amidst surging waves and ominous skies. Inspired by this picture, the whole school was given the task of writing a poem based on the powerful imagery.

This week also marked the launch of Handwriting Heroes Week, where children can earn a certificate for showing significant progress in their handwriting.

In Year 3, we began our Thursday morning by collecting descriptive vocabulary, imagining what we might see, hear, feel, and wonder in the stormy lighthouse setting. I was incredibly impressed with the children's creativity and their eagerness to develop their ideas further. We used thesauruses to expand our vocabulary and worked collaboratively to gather words that we added to our class flipcharts. The children were encouraged to "magpie" (borrow) any new and interesting vocabulary they found for their own use in their jotters.

 

On Friday morning, I modelled how to structure and write a poem, thinking about the layout and how to bring the stormy setting to life using the rich vocabulary we had developed in previous sessions. Since it was also Handwriting Heroes Week, we paid special attention to our presentation. The children then set to work drafting their poems, carefully refining their ideas before writing their final versions in neat.

The enthusiasm and dedication shown by the children were remarkable. They were inspired by the sounds of crashing waves and bellowing winds, imagining what it might truly be like to be at sea. It was a joy to see how, despite having the same lesson input, each child's poem turned out to be completely unique.

Here are a few of the children's beautiful poetry (some children are still working on their final touches):

Well done to all the children for their creativity and effort this week. We can’t wait to display their poems and celebrate their beautiful handwriting!