PodSnacks

Transcript

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. I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun 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? We'll also have a poem from a Club member – as usual, it’s from a listener just like you, if not actually you! 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 shout out your name. I’ve been practicing this week so I can do a good job of showing you how. Here goes ….  So, if you're here this week, shout out your name and you get a Club point for being here! 

Okay, so what's the topic of the week? Last week’s topic was animals – do you remember that? We had poems on flying pigs, a wise owl, and sheep in the bedroom. But what will this week’s topic be? Let me give you three clues and see if you can figure it out! Are you ready?

So, the first clue is that this topic rhymes with the word “bite”. Can you think of words that rhyme with bite?

Okay, so if you haven’t got it yet, and you probably haven’t, here’s a second clue. This week’s topic involves the moon and stars. Do you have it yet?

If not, here’s your final clue … this week’s topic is the opposite of day.

So, it rhymes with bite, involves the moon and stars, and is the opposite of day. Have you guessed it? YES – this week’s topic is the Night Time!

Our first poem is about something you can do just before you fall asleep at nighttime, and also just after you wake up in the morning. When I was a kid, so when I was Really Little Dazzy Donuts, I had a toy bear called Tinga. I’d hug Tinga really tight as I fell asleep. But, when I woke up in the morning, she was always somewhere else – sometimes under the pillow, sometimes under the sheets, sometimes Tinga was even on the floor. I assumed that Tinga waited until I was asleep, and then wandered off to have some fun around the house … and, when Tinga came back just as I woke up, she forgot where to be.

That got me thinking about what else might wander off in the night! This first poem answers that question, and is called “Each Morning” …

I wake up each morning,

and check that everything’s right,

just in case a part of me

wandered off in the night.

When I woke up this morning,

I counted my toes,

I counted my fingers,

and I counted my nose.

I counted my elbows,

I counted my tummy.

I counted my knees.

I know that sounds funny.

It totalled 26 when I counted last night.

If I count 25, I’ll be in for a fright.

If I count 27, then a new thing has grown,

and for sure a doctor will come

to see me at home.

I suggest you count too,

when you go to bed,

and you start with your toes,

and end with your head.

It’s the best you can do

to check everything’s right,

and that nothing gets lost

when off wandering at night.

Isn't that a curious thought - the idea of parts of your body going off to have fun while you sleep. Perhaps your legs go for a walk, and your eyes go to watch television, and your tummy eats ice cream. If you think that could happen, why not count all of your body parts before you fall asleep? You can then check that they’re all there in the morning.

Now, do you remember our topic of the week? Yes - it's night time. The first poem was about something we can do before falling asleep. So what's the second poem about? It’s actually about something that comes out at night, and shines brightly – yes, it’s the moon.

You’ll have seen the moon up in the sky on nights when it’s not cloudy. Sometimes it’s a big full moon, and is a complete circle. Other times, we see part of the moon – like half of it, or just a small slice. It’s hard to imagine, but the moon isn’t like the Earth where we live. It’s dusty and rocky. There aren’t any plants or large oceans of water. It may also be hard to imagine, but humans have actually been to the moon! Wearing special space suits so they can breathe, 12 people have actually walked on the moon – all the way up there in space.

This second poem is about the Moon that comes out at night, and about the Sun that comes out during the day. In the poem, we imagine how tough it would be for Moon and Sun to be friends, when they’re out at such different times. Let’s see how they get around that problem in the poem called, “Moon”.

How could Moon and Sun be friends,

if one starts work when the other’s work ends?

Every evening, Sun would go down,

just as Moon shone over the town.

Then Moon would see us all through the night,

before fading away in the morning’s sunlight.

Until one day, when Sun went down,

but the sky was all black with no Moon around.

I watched for a while, but Moon never came,

just twinkling stars and the occasional plane.

I thought of Moon as I went off to bed,

and hoped she was playing with her friend, Sun, instead.

I love that poem - the idea that Moon can take the night off and can go play with Sun for a change. I wonder what they’d get up to together? Perhaps that’s something that you’d like to draw – a picture of Sun and Moon having fun. If so, you can ask an adult to email it to the club at drawings@kidspoetryclub.com. I look at every drawing that comes in, and I select a few to put on our website.

Talking of sending things into the club, we've reached the point where we hear from a listener who has sent in a poem to be read out. Today's poem comes in from Little Ronnie. Thank you, Little Ronnie for sending it in ... and it fits perfectly with today's topic of Night Time. The poem is about snails. Do you remember last week’s poem about a wise owl, and we talked about owls being nocturnal, meaning that they are mostly active at night. Well, snails are nocturnal too! Here's Little Ronnie’s poem:

Two snails decided to have a race

To see who would get first place.

But one found he couldn't slide well.

And so decided to take off his shell.

Thinking it would make him faster

And he’d become the snail race master.

But his performance proved very dullish

and he lost the race for being sluggish.

Did you groan at the end of that poem? I did because a snail without a shell is a slug, and in the poem the snail who took off his shell was called sluggish. That’s a lovely play on words, Little Ronnie. Thank you! You'll find it on the website together with all of the other poems chosen this week. Remember, if you want your poem read out, just ask an adult to email it for you to poems@KidsPoetryClub.com - I can't wait to read it.

Well, we have made it to our final poem of the week. So far, we have heard three poems all on the topic of Night Time – one about counting before falling asleep, one about the Moon, and one about snails.  So, what’s our fourth poem about? Let me play you a sound and see if you can guess?

Yes - it was the sound of birds. Our final poem is about birds, and the famous saying that the early bird gets the worm. This saying dates back over 300 years, and is used to stress that those who arrive first are more likely to be successful. In this poem, we explore what happens if the first bird into the garden gets the best worm for breakfast – what would all of the other birds do the following day? 

That question is answered in the final poem for today, which is called: Worms.

It may surprise you to know that the birds in your yard

are quite a competitive bunch.

They’ll fight over food any time of the day,

and especially at breakfast and lunch.

From a very young age, just out of the shell,

birds hear a message quite firm,

that the pathway to food and a very full tum

is to rise early and go get a worm! 

The trouble with the early bird getting the worm,

is there’s so many birds to be fed.

So once one leaves early to find a nice worm,

the others just can’t stay in bed.

It all started on Monday with a very keen bird,

who was up right before dawn.

In response, the others set an earlier alarm

to beat that bird the next morn.

Each day, the birds got up earlier:

at five, then four and then three,

and by Friday at midnight the birds were all up

with none left asleep in the tree.

Eventually the birds all looked at each other,

stood in the yard all the night,

and agreed it was silly waiting hours for worm,

and they went back to bed ‘til sunrise.

From that day on, the birds changed their approach:

there was an important lesson to learn.

That there’s a lot to be said to having breakfast in bed,

and eating cereal and toast, and not worm.

What a funny poem – the idea of birds staying in bed, and having a breakfast of toast and cereal rather than getting up early and heading off to get a worm! That whole scene was beautifully illustrated by Dot Cherch for the club's website. You can find it at KidsPoetryClub.com - just ask an adult to help you find it on the computer or a phone, and you'll see those birds, and you’ll also see a few wriggly worms too! Don't forget, I'd love to see your drawings too, so if you want to draw birds and worms, or perhaps the Moon playing with the Sun, or even Snails racing, just do that and ask an adult to email it into drawings@KidsPoetryClub.com. I'll look at every one that comes in, and will put a selection of them on the website.

Well, sadly, we have reached the end of our club time for this week. It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining - I hope you enjoyed yourself, and hope you will be back for more next time the Club meets. I'd love to see you here again. Until then, stay happy and stay rhyming ... and 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