For anyone new to this blog, the idea is simple - each day my boys (Joshua - 9 and Archie - 8) choose a stimulus that drives the learning. We hope that you enjoy the blog and can take some inspiration from what we love doing - making learning as engaging as possible!
Honesty
Many children perceive honesty as just telling the truth, or not telling lies. The truth is, there is probably more to it that this. Perhaps an honest person would not do things that they knew were morally wrong - their conscience would guide them to doing the right thing. This fascinates me - is anyone truly honest?
English
Free verse poetry
In his poem, This Is Just to Say, William Carlos Williams apologises for something that he is, in fact, secretly glad that he did. In his poem, he apologises to someone (unknown) for eating the plums in the icebox, but the lines lack sincerity as he says, 'Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold.' You can read the poem here:
We began by reading the poem, which the boys loved, and then discussed all the things we could apologise for, such as eating things, breaking things, forgetting things, saying things, doing things, etc.
The boys were itching to get going so we all wrote at the same time and then enjoyed sharing our poems. Some ideas were real and personal (mine in particular - a real moment of honesty). The boys wrote some real and some surreal, but loved the idea of coming clean about a dark secret.
This Is Just to Say
This is just to say...
I popped it
It was driving me crazy
always in the way
bobbing about
carefree
unaware of the annoyance
it caused
the irritation
Forgive me
I know how
you enjoy to
hit it
flick it
bounce it
and constantly
tap
tap
TAP IT
I feel no remorse
I enjoyed it
plunging the knife in
and seeing
it explode
before my eyes
All that was left
was a withered
pathetic mess
the smugness was gone
I know you looked
high and low
I didn't tell you
I let the mystery
deepen
but now you know
and I am glad
© Jamie Thomas 2020
This Is Just to Say
This is just to say
it was me
I ate all the raspberries
and blueberries
they were tasty
This is just to say
it was me
I ate all the olives
they were too good to share
This is just to say
it was me
I took all the magazines
out of the shop
This is just to say
it was me
I left the baby
at the zoo
it just wouldn't
stop crying
so I left him there.
by Joshua
This Is Just to Say
This is just to say
I did it
it was me
I ate the refrigerator cake
it was tasty
and delicious
and yummy
it was definitely
too good
to share
This is just to say
I did it
it was me
I left the baby
at the lighthouse
but don't worry
I know where I left it
in front of the
old-looking lady
This is just to say
I did it
it was me
I ate all the blackberries
I said that Finley
ate them
but he didn't
and I'm not sorry
by Archie
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Do tune in on Monday, where we exploring:
MUD
My thanks to Pie Corbett, Julia Strong and the Talk for Writing team for inspiring many of the ideas explored in this blog.
This blog is copyright. All materials herein, texts and supporting resources are copyright to Jamie Thomas & Talk for Writing. They may be used to support children/staff/parents in home-learning ONLY and not for commercial gain or for training or sharing widely, in their original form or any variations. They must also not be shared online or on any social media platforms without prior permission.