Transcript

QUEENIE: How great to see you here again at the Kids’ Poetry Club podcast. While we wait for Little Dazzy Donuts to start, I wanted to reminder you that kidspoetryclub.com contains YouTube videos of illustrated poems and a packet of activities based on this week’s episode. It’s all free. Okay … let the fun begin …

Let's have some fun 

with things that rhyme

welcome Kids 

it's poetry time!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Welcome back to Kids Poetry Club with me, Little Dazzy Donuts, and a massive thanks to Jack who is today’s STAR of the episode for reading out the introduction poem that you just heard. Remember that you can also be a STAR of the episode – just check out kidpoetryclub.com for more details.

I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun today because we're going to spend the next 15 minutes listening to three poems on this week's chosen topic - are you going to guess what the topic is? Plus, we have a brand new guest who will be phoning in, a riddle for you to work out, and Queenie promised to drop by the Club and so we’re guaranteed some fun. So, while I play our intro music, get wriggling around to find a comfortable spot ... I’m so excited! It's time for this week's Kids’ Poetry Club!

Music

Before we play "guess the topic of the week", let's start off with club registration. This is where you get to shout out your name and get a club point for being here. So, on the count of three, shout out your name so that I can hear you through your phone, computer, or radio.

Let the drum roll begin. Here goes …. One. Two. Three! ….. Excellent!

So, by any chance do you remember the topic from last week?  Just in case you don’t, here’s a little clue ….

SOUNDS

Yes, it was GOING FOR A WALK! And we heard fun poems about a four penguins going for a walk, about walking a path that’s shaped like a square, about a walk in a loop, and we also heard about a walk that came close to happening but didn’t.

So let’s see if you can guess this week’s topic. Listen carefully as I’m going to play you a sound, and let’s see if you can guess the topic. Here it comes ….

SOUND

So, did you guess it? I bet you did as this week’s topic is BEES!

SOUND

I’m sure you’ve seen bees buzzing around outside of your home, most likely visiting flowers. There are actually around 20,000 species of bee, including the ones we probably know of best, the honey bee and the bumble bee. The bees we see in our yards visit flowers for food, and to collect pollen and nectar, typically visiting 50 to 100 flowers on each trip. As they do all of this, bees are essential to ensuring that plants grow successfully around the world, and a lot of what we eat is grown because of the amazing bee.

In our first poem, we hear all about the saying, The Bee’s Knees. Have you ever been told that you’re the Bee’s Knees? Well, it means that someone or something is really excellent, the best. So, to be told that you’re the bee’s knees is like being told that you are totally awesome. But it does seem such a strange saying, and we hear just how strange in this first poem. But how’s it going to arrive? How would you expect a bee poem to get here? Well, here it comes.

SOUND

It came by plane! I suppose that it makes sense for a bee poem to fly here.

Now it’s safely at the Club, let’s hear our first poem. It’s called “Bee’s Knees”

“Bee’s Knees”

You say I’m the bee’s knees.

Oh, please!

How can it possibly be

that the best part of a bee

is the knee?

That makes no sense at all to me

when they fly so fast

and fly so far

to visit two million flowers for one single jar

of their wonderfully yummy, runny honey,

all of which makes it so funny

that it’s the knee that you think of

when you think of me.

Surely I’m as good as a head-to-toe bee!

SOUND

It feels to me like the poem is right. Bees are such amazing creatures, and it would be wonderful to be compared to a bee. Still, I think I’d like to be told that I’m as awesome as a whole bee, and not just a bee’s knee.

Hang on …. Do you hear that? I hear the sound of a motorbike! …. I wonder if this is Queenie arriving …

SOUND

QUEENIE Walking up: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, L, L, L, L

Hi Queenie! It’s great to see you here at Kids’ Poetry Club!

QUEENIE: Thanks, Little Dazzy Donuts … it’s fantastic to be here today!

I’m glad you popped in as I wanted to ask how your special short bonus episode went last week.

QUEENIE: Well, it went soooooooo well! I had such a fun time announcing the winners of the gray competition. I thanked everyone who sent in a poem, and I read out the three winning poems. Gosh, I like doing bonus episodes. I hope I can do another one again soon.

That’s all wonderful news. And you did okay at the Club without me?

QUEENIE: Errr …. Well …. Ummmm …..

Ah …. This could explain something. I’ve been finding eggs all around the Club over the last few days … and I can’t find the chicken anywhere!

QUEENIE: Yeah … well, I may have accidentally pressed that button there.

Which button where?

QUEENIE: The big red one.

The big red one labelled “Don’t Press”

QUEENIE: Yeah, that’s the one. I didn’t see the label until it was too late. I was looking for the intro music, and I may have accidentally pressed the chicken button by mistake.

Well, that explains everything. Perhaps you can stay behind after the Club, and we’ll try to find the chicken.

QUEENIE: A chicken search party! That sounds like fun. While you read more poems, I’ll so some internet searches on how to catch a chicken …. Oh my, I almost forgot two things …. I’ve brought a poem for you to read out … AND …. at school today, I was talking to my teacher about today’s topic of the Alphabet, and she said that she has the perfect riddle poem for you. Would you be willing to phone her so that we can hear it?

Of course. I’ve never spoken with your teacher, and I’d love for everyone at the Club to hear from her. That said, our topic this week isn’t the Alphabet! It’s bees.

QUEENIE: Yeah, I know. A’s … B’s …. C’s. That’s the Alphabet.

No, not the letter Bs. It’s Bees as in Buzz Buzz bees!!!!

QUEENIE: Giggle! Oh silly me! Can we call her up anyway? I love riddle poems.

Of course we can. Let’s first hear the poem you brought about Buzz Buzz bees, and then we’ll call her.

As you know, earlier, we had a poem about the saying “You’re the Bee’s Knees”. Well, this second poem is about another bees saying. This this time it’s when someone is told that they’re the Queen Bee. It’s a saying that normally means that someone is a leader, and it comes from the fact that each hive of honey bees has only one bee that lays all of the eggs needed for new bees to be born and keep the hive going. That bee is called the Queen Bee, and she has a really important role to play in the life of the tens of thousands of bees in the hive.

In the poem, we explore what happens when someone who wasn’t a bee was told that she was the Queen Bee. Let’s hear all about it in the poem, “Queen Bee”.

“Queen Bee”

A very nice person told me today
that I am the Queen Bee!
Which sounded a lovely thing to be told,
still something was troubling me.
I loved the thought of being a queen,
but the title was one I’d downplay
unless we agreed someone else was Queen Bee
and I’ll sit on my throne as Queen A!

QUEENIE: I liked that poem, Little Dazzy Donuts! It made me think that if I was actually a queen, then I’d be Queen Queenie! That sounds like quite a mouthful to say, and so I’m glad I’m not royalty. I’m happy to just be Queenie. So, can we call my teacher now to hear her riddle poem?

Of course we can Queenie.

QUEENIE: Her name is Rhyming Rita, the Poetry Teacher … and she’s so good at rhyming that she says everything in rhyme!

Okay, well let’s try calling her now.

PHONE RINGING SOUND

RITA: Hi … this is Rhyming Rita, the Poetry Teacher!

Hi, Rhyming Rita. It’s Little Dazzy Donuts at Kids’ Poetry Club. I’m here with Queenie, and she asked me to call you so that everyone at the Club can hear a riddle poem from you!

RITA: Oh, thank you so much for calling me up.

I’m so excited to be at the Club.

I find solving riddles so wonderfully gleeful.

Like the one Queenie solved about a pin and a needle.  

That’s right. In a recent episode, I read out Christina Rosetti’s poem called “A Riddle”, and Queenie solved it even though she wasn’t feeling very well!

RITA: I’m so proud of Queenie,

she’s such a great pupil,

and her time at your Club

certainly has my approval.

So, I thought to myself

it would be such a giggle,

if we gave everyone

yet another fun riddle!

You’re right, it would. Perhaps you could read one out now, and then we can give everyone a week to solve it. We’ll then give the answer out next week when Kids’ Poetry Club meets again.

RITA:

Okay then.

Here’s a riddle from Jonathan Swift.

that sits at the top of my poetry list.

Listen to the poem and then figure it out

what Swift wrote this poem to be all about.

We are little airy creatures,

All of different voice and features;

One of us in glass is set,

One of us you'll find in jet.

T'other you may see in tin,

And the fourth a box within.

If the fifth you should pursue,

It can never fly from you.

What a wonderful choice, Rhyming Rita! I love Swift’s poems … and, just in case those of you at the Club didn’t know, Jonathan Swift wrote the classic children’s book, Gulliver’s Travels about how a traveler got stranded on the island of Lilliput where everyone was just a few inches tall! Thank you, Rhyming Rita, for calling up and reading out Swift’s poem. Let’s give everyone a week to think about the answer.

RITA: Well, I have things I must do,

and places to be,

like marking homework

on poetry.

Thanks for chance

to visit the Club,

I’ll come back again

so we all can catch up!

SOUND (phone call ending).

Oh, gosh. Somehow we have made it to the final poem of the episode. Well, do you remember our topic of the week …. Yes, it’s Bees … and so far, we’ve heard a poem about The Bee’s Knees and one about Queen Bee. Well, this final poem is also about bees and a lot of other animals who we should all be thankful for.

But before I can read the poem to you, we need it to be delivered into the club. How do you think it’s going to arrive? Earlier we had a poem come by plane, which seemed appropriate for an animal that likes to fly. How do you think this final bee poem will turn up? Here it comes ….

Wow! It came by seagull! That seems another great way for a bee poem to arrive. Okay then … here’s our final poem of the week, and it’s called “Thank You” …

“Thank You”

I drink milk that comes from a cow,

others drink milk from a goat.

The sweater I wear is wool off a sheep:

it was once a lovely sheep's coat.

These animals help us every day:

even my honey it came from a bee.

Without them, I’d be cold in the Winter

and I’d have no milk to put in my tea.

SOUND

QUEENIE - Oh my gosh, Little Dazzy Donuts – that poem definitely makes me appreciate everything that bees do for us. Every time I eat something this week, I’m going to thank all of the bees that made it possible. Now, I noticed that your poem thanked a lot of animals, but didn’t thank the chicken. Is that because we’ve lost ours?

I’m not sure about that, Queenie – but we do need to find it … which means that, sadly, we have reached the end of our club time for this week.

SOUND

Don’t forget that there are lots of ways to join in with the club. If you go to kidspoetryclub.com, you’ll see a wonderful drawing by our Club illustrator, Dot Cherch, of the bees in today’s poems. You can also see the PodSnack video for the episode and download the episode’s PodPack of activities. They’re all free. Plus there’s information on how to send your poems and drawings into the club, and also how you can be the STAR of the episode who reads out our introduction poem. You’ll find everything you need at kidspoetryclub.com.

It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining me, Queenie, and Rhyming Rita the Poetry Teacher - I hope you enjoyed yourself, and hope you’ll be back for more next time the Club meets. Join us again next week when we’ll have a new topic and we’ll also hear the answer to the riddle read out by Rhyming Rita. Until then, stay happy and stay rhyming ... and before Queenie and I spend the next hour looking around the Club for our lost chicken, let's finish with our short goodbye poem.

We've had some fun 

with things that rhymed

goodbye Kids 

until next time!

This is Little Dazzy Donuts saying .... keep rhyming!!!

MUSIC

QUEENIE: Here, chick chick chick chick.