The Nature of Rhyme.

The children in Year 2 are currently reading The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson as part of their literacy work. So this week in our Forest School the children were asked to create some nonsense poetry inspired by the book. They would then be asked to present their poems in a variety of ways.

Before going outside, we discussed the book and started to look at where the rhyming words often sit in a verse. Using a poem called Imagine as a starting point the children were encouraged to think up some rhyming words of their own, they practiced in class before setting off into the Forest School for some inspiration. They worked in teams to create their nonsense rhymes and once they had the first good draft, they were encouraged to repeatedly read their work aloud to make sure that it made sense (all be it silly sense).

They then made their snails and props for their poem using clay and any natural materials that they found around them. Once all creatures and props were completed and set them up in a “scene”, they then read out their poems to the class whilst their team used the props to act it out. The field was filled with the sound of children’s laughter all afternoon. The poems were then shared again back in class where the children decided on their favourite lines, which poems were more exciting and the difference that a range of vocabulary makes.

The poems will be written up in our Forest School so that other children can enjoy them and perhaps be inspired to write some poetry of their own.