A Writing Root for Poems from a Green and Blue Planet

Overview and Outcomes:

This is a 15-session Literary Leaf for Poems from a Green and Blue Planet, collected by Sabrina Mahfouz, covering all aspects of the Lower Key Stage 2 content domain. We thought this text would make a perfect text for a Literary Leaf because of the opportunity to study a broad range of poems collected under one the theme - Planet Earth.  Children will study the structure, rhythm and language choices of a variety of poets and prepare poems to read aloud and perform.  They will make comparisons between the characterisation and differing 'voices' of a hurricane and an earthquake, and explore nonsense poetry with Edward Lear.  There will also be opportunities to study poetry conventions such as personification, metaphor and rhyme.  

For this Literary Leaf, we have chosen to use a selection of poems based on the theme of water and the sea to tie in with the Writing Root for Shackleton’s Journey. The rest of the book can be read and enjoyed for pleasure if time is limited.   

Synopsis of Text:

This is a beautiful collection of poems which takes you on a journey around our wonderful green and blue planet, from mountaintops to ocean floors.  Organised into themes linked to different elements, poems are gathered under the headings ‘Sun shines’, ‘Wind blows’, ‘Water flows’, ‘Earth spins’, ‘Fire leaps’, ‘Life grows’, ‘Ice chills’ and ‘Moon rises’.  The collection includes both classics and newer creations in a range of forms from proverbs and haikus, free-verse to sonnets and rap to the Romantics.  Children and teachers will enjoy dipping in and out and exploring poems by familiar and newer voices. 

Links:

Planet, Earth, sea, water, weather