Transcript

Welcome to the Kids’ Poetry Club podcast. Before the fun starts, here’s a quick reminder that all episodes come with free support materials. Just go to kidspoetryclub.com to see YouTube videos of illustrated poems and to download a pack 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 Ruby from Shoreline Washington, in the United States, who read out the introduction poem that you just heard.  

I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun today because we're going to spend the next 15 minutes listening to four poems on this week's chosen topic - are you going to guess what the topic is? Plus, Queenie is back with us for one of the poems, and so we’re guaranteed plenty of 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. How about I show you how …. Here goes …. Little Dazzy Donuts! So, on the count of three, shout out your name so that I can hear you through your phone, computer, or radio. Here goes …. One. Two. Three!

If you remember, our last topic was Dogs and Cats, and we had fun poems about being taken for a walk by a dog, about it raining all kinds of animals, and about a cat returning home to find the house all clean and ready to be messed up.

So let’s see if you can guess this week’s topic. I’m going to give you three clues – let’s see if you can work it out.

The first clue is a sound …. Let’s listen to and see if you can guess the topic.

If you haven’t guessed it yet, here’s your second clue …. It’s somewhere you can find a kid and also a fish.

Okay, if you need one more clue, here’s your third one … the topic for today’s show rhymes with the word Pool. Like swimming pool.

Yes …. Today’s topic is school, and our first poem was prompted by the second clue you just heard. The clue was “It’s somewhere you can find a kid and a fish”, and that’s because you’ll find kids in school, and you’ll also find fishes swimming in a school because a group of fish is called a school. So, how’s our first poem going to arrive? It’s a short one, and so it should probably be arriving on something small. What do you think? Could it be coming by motorbike … or perhaps on the back of a pigeon … or could it be coming by mouse? Here it comes!!!

Wow! It was in the beak of a crow who was riding a bike. Well, at least it’s here now. It’s only 32 words … so be careful not to miss it. It’s called “Pods”.

Peas and whales both grow up in pods.

It’s true, but it seems a strange rule,

when cows and deer both grow up in herds,

and fishes and kids are in school.

The poem mentioned pods, herds, and schools. But there are even more unusual names for groups of animals. For example, it’s a colony of beavers … a bed of eels … a band of gorillas … and a parliament of owls. I wonder what we should call a group of kids at Kids’ Poetry Club? How about a Rhyme of Kids?

Okay then Rhyme of Kids, it’s time for our second poem, and it’s about what happens when someone loses their balance at school. Have you ever lost your balance and fallen over? I’m sure you have. I remember falling over on ice … falling as I climbed up stairs … falling over by tripping on something on the ground. Actually, I’m surprised that we don’t all fall over more often, when you think about how many parts of the body are involved in helping us to stay balanced. It involves using your eyes, your ears, your bones and your muscles. With so many parts of you working together to keep you upright, it’s amazing that we’re not all just falling down all over the place. 

Let’s see how this poem will arrive. How do you think the poem will get here …. By ship … By plane … By sheep ….. ……  It got here by helicopter!!!! That’s a first for our poem delivery. Okay, now it’s here, let’s all hear it. The poem is called: “Balance”

I lost my balance at school yesterday.

I’ve looked everywhere but simply can’t find it.

I looked in the classroom.

I looked in the hall,

which was really quite difficult when I so easily fall.

Back when I had it, I could stand up quite tall,

but now I feel giddy and I don’t walk, I crawl.

It’s sad but I fall over with the gentlist breeze,

so please find my balance

for the sake of my knees!

The poem is right … if you lose your sense of balance, you probably would have to crawl everywhere on your hands and knees., and your knees would surely start hurting quite quickly. It would take forever to get anywhere, and just imagine everyone crawling around the grocery stores … and all of the shelves would have to be low to the ground because nobody could stand up! 

Hang on …. Can you hear that sound? What does it sound like to you? 

Yes … it’s a motorbike … which means that Queenie is arriving. For those who haven’t met Queenie before, she’s a friend of Kids’ Poetry Club and she pops in every now and again. Here she is ….

Hi everyone – it’s great to see you all at Kids’ Poetry Club!!!!

Hi Queenie – thanks for popping in. Where have you been?

Well, I was just at school – that’s why I’m late for the show.

I didn’t know you went to school.

Why, yes – of course I do!

So, what school do you go to?

I go to Rhyming School.

Rhyming School?

Yes – I’m in 3rd Grade of Rhyming School. It’s a lot more difficult than 2nd Grade. Back when I was in 2nd Grade, all we were doing was words that rhymed with the word tree.

Like what?

Like, Bee and See and Flea. 2nd Grade was soooooooooooo easy!!!! But 3rd Grade is much more difficult. I have to figure out what rhymes with other words, like the word Gray. And that’s impossible. I don’t know any of those yet, and I’m starting to think that nothing rhymes with the word gray. Kids – can you think of any words that rhyme with Gray? If so, can you shout them out so I can learn them? Anyway, what’s the topic for today?

Queenie, you do know that the word today rhymes with the word Gray!

Oh my gosh – of course it does. There I was saying that nothing rhymes with the word Gray! This is really helping me with my school homework – thank you!

Well, that’s funny because today’s topic is school. By any chance did you bring a poem with you on the motorbike?

Well, yes I did … here it is in my ballet bag.

Thanks, Queenie … and did you notice that the word ballet also rhymes with Gray and Today? Okay – oh my gosh, there’s another word that rhymes with Gray. Okay, let’s read our next poem. It’s called Opposite Day …

I decided today was Opposite Day

so ate dinner once out of bed,

and when I got dressed, I wore my socks on my hands

with a shoe balanced right on my head.

With a friend’s help, I walked backwards to school,

the front of my coat facing back.

I looked quite a sight with the hood up,

I could hear plenty but my world was all black.

I didn’t learn much from the teacher

as I’d only face the back of the room,

and the soup for my lunch was impossible to eat,

when holding the wrong end of a spoon.

Come evening time I was wearing

inside-out pajamas for bed.

I’m glad that Opposite Day only lasts for one day,

and that tomorrow will be normal instead!

No thanks for listening to the poem Little Dazzy Donuts … I’m happy that I have to arrive now.

Hang on … you’re doing opposite words, aren’t you Queenie. Let’s translate that … No thanks for for listening to the poem means thank you for reading the poem … and I’m happy that I have to arrive now means that you’re sad that you have to leave now. Is that right?

Yes it is … and I’m heading off on my motorbike now – I have to finish my homework by writing a poem that includes the word gray. Toodle Pip!!!! See you soon!!!!

My gosh, she leaps on to the back of that motorbike like she was leaping on to a bed! Okay, that was fun to see Queenie again. I wonder if we can help Queenie with her homework by making it this week’s competition topic. If you want to help Queenie with her homework and also stand a chance of winning a Kids’ Poetry Club prize, just write a poem that includes the word gray and  email it to poems@kidspoetryclub.com. I’ll make sure that Queenie sees all of the poems that you send in … and perhaps Queenie will even read out her favorite one in an upcoming episode.

Well, I guess that the time has come to read out of final poem of the show.  With Queenie working on her homework now, it’s apt that this final poem is about why someone’s homework wasn’t handed in on time.

Have you ever been late with your homework? Well, I bet that teachers hear all sorts of unusual excuses – about homework left on a bus, about homework ripped up by a dog, about homework that got all wet in the rain. I wonder what excuse we’ll hear in our poem.

First, of course, the poem has to be delivered. How do you think it will arrive? On the back of a horse …. In a car …. On a train?

Oh my, it was on the back of a wood pigeon. That’s a first!!!!!

Okay, now that the poem is here, let’s listen to it. It’s called “My Homework”

Dinosaurs ate my homework!

They munched up every word.

Now, there’s nothing left to show you.

Is that the strangest thing you’ve heard?

I must have written one thousand words.

Hang on … it was ten thousand or more …

when a group of hungry dinosaurs

just walked in through the door.

I ran screaming to my bedroom,

but left my homework on the floor,

and I heard those dinos eat and roar

with my ear pressed to the door.

They first ate all my essays,

then my science project too,

and for dessert they ate my math books –

there was plenty there to chew.

When finished, they gave a giant burp,

then left me all alone.

The sad loss of my homework being

the only sign they were in my home.

So, now you know why I’m asking,

given that all of this is true,

can I have an extra day of time

to get my homework back to you?

My gosh – the poor kid couldn’t hand in her homework because it was eaten by dinosaurs. I suppose that’s unlikely – but, you never know … perhaps a dinosaur could pop into your house and eat all of your homework. It certainly creates some fun pictures in my mind of what it would look like to see a dinosaur eating your homework. Perhaps that’s one that you’d like to draw after the show.

Well, sadly, we have reached the end of our club time for this week. Don’t forget that there are lots of ways to join in with the club. If you go to the Kids Poetry Club website, you can see the PodSnack videos for this episode and can download the episode’s PodPack of activities. They’re all free. Plus there’s information on how to send in your poems and drawings, and also how you can be the person who reads out our introduction poem for an upcoming episode. You’ll find everything you need at kidspoetryclub.com

It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining me and Queenie - 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!!!

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