Countdown to Poetry Writing: Step by Step Approach to Writing Poetry for KS2 »

Developing children's writing abilities boosts their confidence, creates enjoyment and relevance in the task and cultivates a range of decision-making and problem-solving skills that can then be applied across the curriculum. The Countdown series provides all the support you need in helping children to improve their prose, poetry and non-fiction writing.

This guide provides all the support you need in helping pupils to improve their poetry writing. Countdown to Poetry Writing is a comprehensive and flexible resource that you can use in different ways, including:

• stand-alone modules that cover all the essential aspects of writing a poem, including word play, use of metaphor, rhyme and many others


• countdown flowchart providing an overview showing how modules are linked and how teachers can progress through them with the pupils


• photocopiable activity sheets for each module that show how to make the decisions and solve the problems that all writers face along the road from first idea to finished piece of work


• teachers’ notes for modules, with tips and guidance, including how modules can be used in the classroom, links to other modules and curriculum links, and advice on helping and guiding pupils in their writing


• a self-study component so that children can make their own progress through the materials, giving young writers a sense of independence in thinking about their work and offering built-in scaffolding of tasks so that less experienced or less confident children get more support from the resource


• 'headers' for each module showing where along the 'countdown path' you are at that point.

In short, Countdown to Poetry Writing saves valuable planning time and gives you all the flexibility you need - teachers might want to utilise either the self-study or 'countdown' aspects of the book, or simply dip into it for individual lesson activities to fit in with their own programmes of work.

Module 44 The origins of poetry 4

Module 44 What is poetry? 6

Module 43 The poetical eye 8

Module 42 Be yourself 10

Module 41 Noticing and questioning 11

Module 40 Stay calm 14

Module 39 Have something to say/motivation 18

Module 39 Have something to say 19

Module 38 Motivation 21

Module 37 Training the senses 23

Module 36 Sensory journey 26

Module 35 Sound FX 29

Module 34 Eat an apple 33

Module 33 Ways of looking 36

Module 32 Imagery 40

Module 31 Gathering the senses 43

Module 30 Less is more 47

Module 29 The three Ts 49

Module 28 Pundemonium 51

Module 27 Spoonerisms 55

Module 26 What - nonsense? 56

Module 25 Am I aloud? 60

Module 24 Syllables and stress 64

Module 23 Rhythm 66

Module 22 Alliteration and friends 70

Module 21 Rhyme 74

Module 20 Comparisons 77

Module 19 What's the point? 83

Module 18 Shape poems 85

Module 17 Alliterative phrases/kennings 88

Module 17 Alliterative phrases 89

Module 16 Kennings 91

Module 15 Three-step game 93

Module 14 Uni-verses 97

Module 13 'Myku' 99

Module 12 List poems 102

Module 11 Counting poems 104

Module 10 Chorus poems and chants 106

Module 9 Limericks 110

Module 8 Riddles 113

Module 7 Haiku 116

Module 6 Worsery rhymes 120

Module 5 Genre poems 123

Module 4 Blank verse/free verse 126

Module 4 Blank verse 129

Module 3 Free verse 131

Module 2 Some other forms 132

Module 1 Tips for writing 136

Review 138

Looking back at your poem 139

Bibliography 141

Index 143