Forward prize-shortlisted poet Hannah Lowe, who will be judging this year's Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition, offers her top tips to young poetry writers
Hannah Lowe, shortlisted for the prestigious Forward prize for poetry for her anthology Chick, will be judging the Foyles Young Poets competition. There's still time to enter!
1. Read!
Read lots of different poems, from books at school, home, the library, bookshops, or poems you find online. The Poetry Library in London and the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh are great places to start. Look at their websites if you can't visit them. Read poems for adults as well as for children. What do you like? What makes a good poem in your opinion? Read poems aloud so you can hear their sound effects and music. Learn a poem off by heart and see how you find reciting it from memory. More . . .
Now it's your turn. Write your own poem. Have fun, I always do.
A little change of pace from poetry to visual arts.
Who says you have to use a plain old brush for painting? Part of raising creative kids is setting them up to use items in new ways, to look at something and wonder, “What can I make with that?!” A great starting point is to expose them to simple projects likes these and create. Here are 39 different things you can paint with all with different painting activities for kids. Each item takes you to a full tutorial of a project where we used the specific tool. More . . .
After the painting is done, perhaps it will inspire a poem.
Spokane’s Kenn Nesbitt brings the nation’s kids the gift of poetry - Eli Francovich
Kenn Nesbitt has been named the children's poet laureate. [Photo: Jennifer DeBarros]
“For every line of poetry I have to think of 10 different ways to say it, to get the exact, best right way,” Nesbitt says. “Computer programming is the same way. You want to write code that is elegant, functional and concise and does what you want to do in the best possible way.” More . . .
Now it's your turn. Write your own poem. Have fun, I did.
Don't forget to share your poems with family and friends. And don't forget to edit, edit, edit.
Remi Goldrick, Eliana Sanchez and Emila Giovannini-Yarnell, from left, are three of the fourth graders at the Alice B. Beal Elementary School in Springfield who love to write poetry. (Mark M. Murray / The Republican)
Writing and Rewriting "She's In Love With The Boy"
Courtesy of taxi.com
Jon Ims is a superb craftsman and a wonderful teacher. His song, "She's in Love With the Boy" was the breakout hit single for a Nashville demo singer named Trisha Yearwood. It introduced her to the world and established her career. Breakout singles are the hardest to select. There's a lot of promotion money riding on them and the choice has to be a good one. The industry is littered with the broken bones of careers that, once hopeful, simply died when the first single tanked and the record company decided maybe the artist wasn't as exciting to the public as the company thought. The combination of the song and artist was inspired. More . . .
Do you remember, in maybe fifth grade writing class, when your teacher told you that all essays needed to answer six crucial questions? Storytelling is no different. The six crucial questions, five w’s plus one h, give you and your listeners the basic information required by most stories. Bear in mind, simply answering these questions will not make the story a great one, but it will give you a foundation to build on.
New poetry books for kids available during National Poetry Month
by KAREN MACPHERSON, Scripps Howard News Service
Nurture your children's instinctive interest in poetry with one of these great new books of verse, perfect for celebrating National Poetry Month in April. Read more in The Detroit News.
Happy National Poetry Month! All throughout April, we will interview poets about working in this digital age. Recently, we spoke with J. Patrick Lewis, the United States’current children’s poet laureate.
Lewis (pictured, via) worked as an economics professor for many years. The sighting of a moonbow (a white rainbow) inspired him to write his first children’s story. Read entire article published in Galley Cat.
Poetry for kids goes far beyond nursery rhymes and the wonderful works of Jack Prelutsky, Shell Silverstein, and Dr Seuss. Here is an anti-bullying PSA titled To This Day, narrated by Canadian poet Shane Koyczan and animated by dozens of animators each contributing 20-second segments.
NOTE TO NEWCOMERS This is Max Tell with my 11th writing game to give the poems you write for kids a unique personal flair and a bit of a bite. Teachers are invited to use these games to encourage their student to write poems of their own.
Note: A reference to 'poems' also includes songs. A reference to 'songs' refers only to song writing.
A special thanks to Sheree Fitch who inspired 'Koetry for Pids'.
Today's topic:
RHYME
Writing a poem with a repeating AAAA rhyme scheme.
This is Max Tell with my 10th writing game to give the poems you write for kids a unique personal flair and a bit of a bite. Note: A reference to 'poems' also includes songs. A reference to 'songs' refers only to songwriting.
A special thanks to Sheree Fitch who's workshop on writing more personal and exciting poetry for kids inspired the creation of 'Koetry for Pids'.
Today's topic:
A slight change of style: as you will notice, today's Goetry Pame is in the form of a video. I plan to continue with this video formant from now on. Click, read, write, edit, and share. Please click on more to continue.
Sites such as Movellas and Wattpd are seeing huge numbers of tees writing, reading, and sharing poetry. Alison Flood investigates the phenomenon and talks to some of the teens publishing their poetry on line.
This is Max Tell with my 9th writing game to give the poems you write for kids a unique personal flair and a bit of a bite. Note: A reference to 'poems' also includes songs. A reference to 'songs' refers only to songwriting.
A special thanks to Sheree Fitch who's workshop on writing more personal and exciting poetry for kids inspired the creation of 'Koetry for Pids'.
Today's topic:
A slight change of plans: I was scheduled to talk about Rhyme, but thought I would break the pattern and give you a different type of game today. First view my video below, The Knight The Dragon and the Librarian, then I'll tell you all about the . . .
MAGIC 'IF'
Let's say, you want to write a poem, but you're not sure what you want to write about. Try the MAGIC 'IF' game. This is how the MAGIC 'IF' game works. You ask yourself a question:
What if such and such were to happen? Here are a few examples: •What if a meteor fell from the sky? •What if an elephant sat on a tack? •What if your favourite toy turned into jell-o?
Game one: 1.Write a few 'what if' questions of your own. 2.Choose the one you like best. 3.Write a poem answering your 'what if' question.
In the case of my video poem above, I asked myself 'what if' a knight, a dragon, and a librarian were in the same poem? What would happen?
Now your turn, think of two or three characters who you would like in your poem.
Here are some examples: •A chicken, a duck, and a centipede •A boy, a girl, and a man-eating carrot •A giant and a worm
Game two: 1.Write a few 'what if' lists of characters of your choice. 2.Choose the list you like best. 3.Write a poem about your favourite 'what if' list of characters.
Don't forget to share your poems with family and friends. And don't forget to edit, edit, edit.
What poetry question would you like answered? Point of View? Rhyme? Something of your choice? Student questions are also welcome. Your comments below would be greatly appreciated.
Bye for now and see you soon. Have a great writing day. Max
This is Max Tell with my 8th instalment of writing exercises to give the poems you write for kids a unique personal flair and a bit of a bite. Note: A reference to 'poems' also includes songs. A reference to 'songs' refers only to songwriting. A special thanks to Sheree Fitch who's workshop on writing more personal and exciting poetry for kids inspired the creation of 'Koetry for Pids'.
For students grades three to eight will launch January 25th! Grand Prize winner receives $1,500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for a library of their choice + the 30 top poets will be published by Kane Miller Books in a free e-book!
DEADLINE: April 30, 2013
The winner of the Dare to Dream … Change the World Annual Writing Contest for Kids will make others’ dreams come true by earning $1,500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for either their own school library or a library of their choice.
This is Max Tell with my 7th instalment of writing exercises to give the poems you write for kids a unique personal flair and a bit of a bite. Note: A reference to 'poems' also includes songs. A reference to 'songs' refers only to songwriting.
This is Max Tell with my 6th instalment of writing exercises for professional and novice writers, those of you who are or would like to write poetry for kids.
Note: When referring to poems, I am also including songs. When referring to songs, I am usually focusing on the unique elements or qualities of songwriting.
In my last instalment, I talked about part one of Rhythm, and introduction.
This is Max Tell with my 5th instalment of writing exercises for professional and novice writers, those of you who are or would like to write poetry for kids. My apologies for not reaching my deadline last week. I will do better.
Note: When referring to poems, I am also including songs. When referring to songs, I am usually focusing on the unique elements or qualities of songwriting.
In my last instalment, I introduced you to the Basics of Writing Poetry: Rhythm, Rhyme, and Story. Today, I would like to focus more specifically on Rhythm. I won't be able to cover all that is important about Rhythm in one blog entry, so this will be an introduction as well. However, I will add a great deal more in subsequent blogs. As a matter of fact, most topics will be dealt with in small helpings, building slowly to a complete whole, so I will not mention this again.
RHYTHM: AN INTRODUCTION PART ONE
Have you listened to rain drip-dropping onto a roof or into a puddle? Have you listened to the clip-clop of a horse galloping, or a basketball being drib-dribbled?
Rythm, Rhyme, and Story Keep in clear and equal focus
This is Max Tell with his 2nd installment of writing exercises for professional and beginning writers for kids.
Note: when referring to poems, I am also including songs. When referring to songs, I am usually focusing on the unique elements or qualities of songwriting.
One cannot write a good poem for kids without rhythm, rhyme, and story. True or faults?
True.
Even the simplest poem for kids depends on a strong coordination between rhythm, rhyme, and a solid story.
But you might say, "There are some great kids poems that don't rhyme."
