Over the week, Year 2 have celebrated World Book Week, World Book Day and Poetry Week here at Monteagle. The children have been learning about the poet Benjamin Zephaniah and his famous poems. The pupils in Year 2 have read and comprehended some of Zephaniah’s poems from his collection of poetry in his Talking Turkeys book and Funky Chicken’s book. They have studied Nature Trail and created their own written and oral versions of the poem Nature Trail. They have then spent time carrying out a deeper study of his poem People Need People. Each class in the year group focussed on a section of the poem and performed it beautifully. The children upheld our Monteagle value of working hard, as they rehearsed and performed their poems. On the same day, the children had a visit from an author called Margaret who carried out a story telling session, where she shared her dragon story. She formed part of the audience who watched the poetry performances and she was truly moved by the children! The children demonstrated a powerful and passionate performance. They had spent time orally rehearsing their lines repeatedly and all children could remember these off by heart. They used expression in their voice when reading their lines to bring the poem to life. When using expression: they considered the following elements: pitch, volume, tone, emotion and pace. Classes had varied styles in which they performed their part of the poem, including incorporating the whole class, groups of children as well as fantastic learning partner performances. Children genuinely understood what performance poetry was and were inspired by Benjamin Zephaniah. For example, children used musical instruments on stage, just like Zephaniah does with his guitar. Once they had learnt their lines, they practised adding their own twist to make it their class version. For example, onomatopoeic sounds led and decided by the children in class. The final stage of practise was to include key features of a poetry performance such as actions, body language, positioning, hand gestures, facial expressions and projecting your voice to the audience. During the performance, children looked like they were enjoying it and after the performance they spoke about how great and proud they felt. Adults were very impressed indeed! To further add to our Poetry learning, this Monday the children will be taking part in a poetry workshop, which they are looking forward to watching and joining in on.
