Transcript

How great to see you here again at the Kids’ Poetry Club podcast. While we wait for Little Dazzy Donuts to start, I wanted to reminder you that kidspoetryclub.com contains YouTube videos of illustrated poems and a packet 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 Lila who is today’s STAR of the episode for reading out the introduction poem that you just heard. Remember that you can also be a STAR of the episode – just check out the Kids’ Poetry Club website for more details.

I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun today 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? Plus, we feature a famous poet, and Queenie is popping in to see us, and so we’re guaranteed some 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. If you’ve been to the Club before then you know that this is where you get to shout out your name and get a club point for being here. So, on the count of three, shout out your name so that I can hear you through your phone, computer, or radio.

Let the drum roll begin. Here goes …. One. Two. Three! ….. Excellent!

So, by any chance do you remember the topic from last week’s episode?  Just in case you don’t, here’s a little clue ….

SOUNDS

Yes, it was SPORTS! And we heard fun poems about a hedgehog bowling, about a tortoise playing soccer, and about a rat race that didn’t actually include any rats. So let’s see if you can guess this week’s topic. Rather than sounds this week, I have three clues to read out. Let’s see if you can figure out what the topic is. The first clue is that this topic rhymes with the word Foam. The second clue is that this week’s topic is where you live. Gosh … these seem difficult clues. Let’s see if the third clue helps us. The final clue is that the topic is the opposite of away. Well, all three clues seem challenging to me …. and so you deserve a massive cheer if you worked out that this week’s topic is Home.

SOUND

Our first poem this week is about small insects with six legs, and the name of that insect begins with the letter A.  Do you know what the poem could be about? Well, I bet you guessed that the poem is about ants!  It’s actually about ants in a home. Of course, ants don’t belong in a home. They belong outside, in nature. So, if you have ants in your home, you need to figure out a way of getting them out. In this poem, we hear of a particularly creative way of doing that, but it’s one the backfires a little.

But how’s this first poem going to arrive? As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, poems can arrive in all sorts of different ways. Let’s see how this first one is going to get here. Here it comes.

SOUND

Well, it came by train! What a wonderful way for a poem to travel.

Now it has arrived, let’s hear our first poem. It’s called “My Ant Problem”

“My Ant Problem”

It all started on Monday when I found a single ant

sat down on my kitchen floor.

We had a nice chat, and I explained he should leave,

and I politely showed him the door.

The next day, I walked down to my kitchen,

to find ten ants in a long line,

they were making their way to the fruit bowl,

with its oranges, lemons, and lime.

By Wednesday, it was starting to get desperate,

there were ants everywhere I could see.

I could tell that if any of us would be leaving,

the ants all thought it was me!

So, I got myself an anteater,

to vacuum them up with its snout,

and as soon as the ants saw him enter the house,

those ants were quick to march out.

What I’ve now learned about anteaters,

is that, when they come, they’re coming to stay,

and they seem quite a sociable creature,

as four more arrived later that day.

So, now I have a house full of anteaters.

They’re on all the couches and chairs.

There’s a few in the bath, and two in my bed,

and about twenty sat on the stairs.

It seems that I sorted my ant problem,

but I’ve replaced it with another, you see.

If anyone knows what clears anteaters,

please send those details to me!

Gosh … what a predicament! To have a house full of ants, and then to clear them outside only to find your house is full of anteaters instead! Ummm …. I wonder what clears a house of anteaters? What do you think???? What would you use to get rid of anteaters in your house?

Hang on …. I hear the noise of a motorbike! …. I wonder if this is Queenie arriving …

SOUND

QUEENIE Walking up: You put your right arm in. Your right arm out. In. Out. In. Out. And shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey …

Hi Queenie! It’s great to see you here at Kids’ Poetry Club!

QUEENIE: Thanks, Little Dazzy Donuts … it’s so great to be back. I’ve missed seeing everyone at the club. I’m actually popping in on my way back from the doctor’s.

You went to the doctor’s? Are you okay?

QUEENIE: Well, I went because I can’t stop doing the Hokey Pokey.

You can’t stop doing the Hokey Pokey?! What did the doctor say?

QUEENIE: He said that I’d soon turn myself around, and that’s what it’s all about.

Oh my … that’s such an awful joke Queenie!!!! So, did you really go to the doctor’s?

QUEENIE: Giggle. Of course not! I’m on my way back from Rhyming School.

Of course you are! How’s it going at school? Last time we chatted, you were working on words that rhyme.

QUEENIE: School is going soooooooooo well! This week, we’re hearing all about famous American poets who lived in the 1800s. That feels such a loooooong time ago. Were you alive in the 1800s?

(Laugh) No – I wasn’t. If I’d been alive then, I would be over 120 years’ old! But, you are right that the 1800s was such a wonderful time for poetry, with so many famous poets. Which ones have you been studying?

QUEENIE: Well, we’ve read a lot of poems, and I think that my favorite poet so far is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He wrote some lovely poems … plus, he has such an amazing name. I just can’t stop saying it …. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I wish my name was a cool as that. I want to be Queenie Wadsworth Longfellow!

Well, Queenie Wadsworth Longfellow, it turns out that your favorite poet, Longfellow, wrote a poem about home, and that’s our topic of the week. Would you like me to read it to you?

QUEENIE: Oh, yes please. But please don’t feel like you have to do it with an American accent, Little Dazzy Donuts. Even though it was written by an American, I’m fine for you to read it with your English accent.

Okay then. Here it is – it’s called Song, and it’s by the wonderfully named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;

Home-keeping hearts are happiest,

For those that wander they know not where

Are full of trouble and full of care;

       To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,

They wander east, they wander west,

And are baffled and beaten and blown about

By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;

       To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;

The bird is safest in its nest;

O’er all that flutter their wings and fly

A hawk is hovering in the sky;

       To stay at home is best.

QUEENIE: My, that’s such a lovely poem, Little Dazzy Donuts. I can see why Longfellow was one of the most popular poets of his ti,e. You know, we learned at school that he lived in New England … which is interesting because you grew up in Old England, didn’t you?

You’re right, Queenie. He did live in New England – which is in the North East of the United States. But, I grew up in England – which is a country in Europe. I don’t think anybody other than you has called it Old England.

QUEENIE: Well, I think I’m going to call it Old England from now on. Merry Old England! Oh gosh, is that the time? I’m supposed to be at home doing my homework. I better dash!!!!!!

Okay, well thank you for popping in. It’s always lovely to see you here at Kids’ Poetry Club!

SOUND

As Queenie jumps on her motorbike and roars off home, I’d like to remind you all that you can help Queenie with her homework by joining in with this month’s competition. It’s about writing a poem that includes the word “gray”. The kidspoetryclub.com website has all of the information – but you need to be quick as the last date to enter the competition is February 28th.

Now, before Queenie set off home, she left behind our next poem for today, which is on the topic of home!

This poem is called Baboon. Have you ever seen a baboon? They’re in a family called Old World Monkeys, and they mostly live in the continent of Africa. That means that it’s unlikely that you’ll see a baboon wandering around in your yard – unless you live in Africa, of course! In the poem, we ask what it would be like to have a lot of trees around your home, and looking into them every day in the hope that you eventually see a Baboon in them. That sounds such a wonderful idea! A baboon swinging away in the trees outside of my home. Let’s see is that actually happens in the poem called Baboon.

“Baboon”

Right behind my house is a big hill of trees,

without a single baboon!

It seems sad that the branches have no one to swing,

so I hope a baboon arrives soon.

I’ve written to Santa to ask for his help.

I wrote to my Senator too.

Surely one of them knows of a baboon that could come,

if just for a week, or for two.

Until that day’s here, I’ll look at the trees,

and picture a swinging baboon,

leaping from one branch to the next.

Oh, I hope that baboon arrives soon!

Wouldn’t it be great to see a baboon in the trees outside of your home? That sounds like a great poem for a drawing. If you want, why not draw a picture of baboons in your yard, or in the trees around your home. You can then send your drawing into the Club. The kidspoetryclub.com website has all of the details on how to send it in for me and Queenie to see.

Oh, gosh. Somehow we have made it to the final poem of the episode. How did that happen so quickly? I guess that we were all having so much fun!

Well, do you remember our topic of the week …. Yes, it’s Home … and so far, we’ve heard a poem about ants and anteaters in a home, a poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that encouraged us to stay home, and a poem about baboons in the trees outside of a home. Well, this final poem is also about trees – but these trees don’t have any baboons in them. These trees all seem pretty normal, except for one tree that isn’t.

Before I can read the poem to you, we need it to be delivered into the club. But how is it going to arrive? Earlier we had a poem come via train. How do you think this final poem will turn up? Here it comes ….

Wow! It came by chimpanzee! Here I was thinking that our topic of the week was Home, and it’s slowly turning in more of an ape theme with our baboon poem and our chimp delivery service. What a great way of having anything delivered – by chimpanzee.

Okay then … here’s our final poem of the week, and it’s called “Flat Dazzy” …

“Flat Dazzy”

Behind my home, you’ll see a tree

that defies the laws of gravity.

While others line up tall and proud,

one leans parallel to the ground.

It’s not growing up, it’s growing out,

and hovers now above my house.

So I’m waiting for the day that mighty tree

decides to fall and flatten me.

SOUND

Well, I definitely hope that tree doesn’t fall down and flatten me and my home. Just to be on the safe side, every time it’s windy, I’ll watch out of my window and make sure that the tree stays exactly where it is. If I see it falling, I’ll then run as quickly as I can in the opposite direction.

SOUND

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 kidspoetryclub.com, you can see the PodSnack video for this episode and can download the episode’s PodPack of activities. They’re all free. You’ll see a wonderful drawing by our Club illustrator, Dot Cherch, of the anteaters from the My Ant Problem poem that you heard in this episode. Plus there’s information on how to send in your poems and drawings, how to send a poem into Queenie’s gray competition, and also how you can be the STAR of the episode who reads out our introduction poem. 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. 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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