Whether poetry is enjoyed as a lively group activity or saved for quiet, one-to-one time, it can play a vital role in building children's vocabulary, their love and understanding of language and their ability to form pictures in the mind.
In her book The Genius of Natural Childhood, Sally Goddard Blythe emphasises the importance of absorbing information aurally. 'Matching auditory to visual mental images, and visual to auditory, is essential to processes of reading and writing,' she writes.
Reading poetry out loud helps to develop the 'music of language', she explains. 'This is the term I use to describe the tonal, rhythmic and phrasing of language, which contributes at least as much, if not more, to the meaning of words.
'Listening to language also helps to increase understanding by introducing new and more advanced vocabulary to children. They gain an understanding of the general meaning of new words from the context in which they are placed, and the intention implied within the context.'
Edward Lear's poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' provides an excellent example of how this works, says Ms Goddard Blythe. '"You elegant fowl" is clearly intended as a compliment to the owl, although the young child may not have previously come across the word "fowl". It stimulates the imagination to form images in the mind.'
While participating in poetry can include exuberant actions, it can also foster what Ms Goddard Blythe calls 'receptive stillness'. As she says, 'Rhyme and rhythm help to develop auditory discrimination - the ability to hear fine tuning differences between similar sounds such as f and th, s and f, b and d, m and n - which is important for reading, writing and spelling later on.'
BUILD A REPERTOIRE
Children's poet, author and former children's laureate, Michael Rosen, often visits schools and other settings to deliver workshops which are designed to get children and adults fired up about poetry. He says that the poems in his book Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy work well, and he often uses 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo'.
He believes that practitioners can create the best environment for poetry by integrating it into daily life and drawing children into the fun of participating.
'Ideally, the poems should be ones that the children can join in with and learn almost as you are reading/performing them,' says Mr Rosen.
'It's good to suggest that the poem is something you're going to learn together - "Let's see if we can learn this ..." Actions are good too, so that some of the words have actions attached to them. It's a good idea to think that what you're doing is building up a repertoire of poems, so that the children will get to know a series of them off by heart. To reinforce these, go back again and again to the ones they like.'
TALKING ABOUT POEMS
Enjoying poetry together is an inclusive activity and to ensure that all children contribute individually, practitioners will need to reflect on how they should prompt and respond in an appropriate way.
Mr Rosen says, 'We should be very careful that poetry doesn't have a message attached to it that says it's only for some children and not for others. Responses can be hard to get right, because we are all-knowing adults and it can often look as if we know best about a poem and the child knows less. We need to find an approach which favours the idea that no one can be wrong about a poem - there are only different ways of being right.'
He explains that there are various ways of doing this. 'You could get the children into small groups or pairs so that they can talk to each other. Give them a question like, does the poem make you think of anything else? You might need to be a bit more specific.For example, did the creepy bit make you think of anything? Make very sure, though, that these questions are open-ended and you're not controlling the answers.
'Get the children talking to each other and then call them back to the whole class to share their ideas. By validating what the children are saying and encouraging them to listen to each other, you can keep the discussion going.'
He suggests that practitioners could also quickly write down some of these responses and try to capture the children's exact words. 'This sends a message that literacy is connected to oracy,' he says.
EVERY WORD COUNTS
By thinking about the dynamics of suspense, surprise and humour, practitioners can maximise the impact of a poem.
'The trick is to always take things slowly, step by step,' says Mr Rosen. 'Every line of a poem has one or two "punch" points. This doesn't mean you have to hit them with volume. You have to think of ways of making that word or words really reach the audience. It might mean whispering them. It might mean leaving a pause before you say the word. It might mean doing a gesture to go with the word. Poems also have a flow to them - which in a way contradicts what I've just said!'
Parents and practitioners have an enjoyable task in introducing children to poetry and it's worth remembering that the poetic form is not just restricted to poetry itself but can be used across a range of literary media.
Sally Goddard Blythe says, 'Lullabies, nursery rhymes and songs are also poems, and stories can be told in poetic form. A A Milne's 'The King's Breakfast' is a good example. The rhyme and alliteration in poems make them easy to listen to and help to engender an enduring love of language.'
CASE STUDY: THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT
By Michael Jones, early years trainer and writer
Children from Rothesay Nursery School and Children's Centre in Luton were introduced to Edward Lear's 'The Owl and the Pussycat' as part of a week celebrating rhymes and songs from around the world.
Children at the nursery come from a wide variety of language backgrounds, and the aim of the week was to promote rhyming and singing as an important way of celebrating culture and boosting children's literacy skills, by developing phonological awareness through rhyme.
Ruth Rogers, the nursery teacher who led the week, chose the poem because it was a favourite when she was a child. 'My mother used to recite the poem when I was very young. I had an illustrated poetry book, and this particular poem held a fascination for me, even though it was nonsense,' she says.
Ruth recreated her childhood experience by sharing the poem with the children, using a book of illustrated verse. From this the children could see the various elements of the story, and together they made a pea-green boat from a large cardboard box, owl, pussycat and turkey masks, and a £5 note. Ruth added a sheet of blue silk for the sea, a jar of honey, and a real quince from her grandmother's garden.
After they acted out the story of the poem as a group, the 'boat' and its contents were left as a child-initiated imaginative play area. Some of the children continued to loosely follow the plot of the poem, including asking a turkey to help them get married, eating quince and honey, and holding hands by the edge of the sand.
However, most children went on their own adventures and used their own words to accompany their play.
So why choose to focus on a Victorian poem about nonsense, featuring phrases such as 'runcible spoon', 'elegant fowl', 'shilling', 'too long we have tarried', 'Bong-tree' and 'quince'?
Ruth feels that it is essential to enrich children's language. 'As part of the Every Child a Talker (ECaT) project, we had been looking closely at extending children's vocabulary. For example, we set up a clothes shop in our role-play area, so that all children would be able to name the many items of clothing they might wear - polo shirt, cardigan, tee shirt, blouse, and so on - and not just use the word "top".
'Likewise, it is important to expose children to language that is rich-sounding. Many nursery rhymes only have a vague hint of sense for children, but they love to recite and sing them. It gives them a feel for the language, as well as helping them practise using speech sounds and developing their rhyming skills.'
And like most of the adult population, Ruth still has no idea what a runcible spoon is!
POEMS FROM THE PAST
Comments by Sally Goddard Blythe
The City Mouse and the Garden Mouse by Christina Rossetti
The city mouse lives in a house;
The garden mouse lives in a bower,
He's friendly with the frogs and toads,
And sees the pretty plants in flower.
'Although this may seem old-fashioned, it is rich in the use of descriptive words so that use of the words "bower" and "flower" in two lines conjures up a fragrant environment invoking the senses in the reading experience.'
The Four Friends by AA Milne
Ernest was an elephant, a great big fellow,
Leonard was a lion with a six-foot tail,
George was a goat, and his beard was yellow,
And James was a very small snail.
'Recognising features of different animals and also using the same letter for the name as the category of animal is an early lesson in phonics.'
I'm Nobody! Who Are You? by Emily Dickinson
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
'This poem helps children to understand identity and shared experience. It also enters the "inner thinking" or logic of the young child.'
BOOK CHOICE
My Village - Rhymes from around the world collected by Danielle Wright, illustrated by Mique Moriuchi and with an introduction by Michael Rosen (Frances Lincoln). A touching and funny collection of verses from 22 countries, ranging from Iran and Russia to Samoa and Brazil, with each brought to life by the wonderful artwork of Mique Moriuchi. Original languages and phonetic versions are included, opening up lots of fun opportunities for playing with the sound and language.
Tiny Tim: Verses for Children chosen by Jill Bennett and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (Picture Mammoth). The poems in this hilarious collection were chosen for their immediate appeal to young children.
When We Were Very Young (Winnie the Pooh) by A A Milne and EH Shepard (Egmont Books). This is Milne's first volume of rhymes written especially for children. While the subjects sometimes refer to past times, the humour and simplicity of the rhymes hold their appeal to children today.
Everybody Was a Baby Once and other poems by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingram (Walker Books). Meet witches, snowmen, lizards and a host of favourite nursery rhyme characters in this joyful poetry collection for infants of every age.
Michael Rosen's A to Z: The best children's poetry from Agard to Zephaniah compiled by Rosen (Puffin Books). The very best of children's poetry picked by the very best of children's poets and a delight for readers young and old.
Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake (Bloomsbury Books). This title combines Don't Put Mustard in the Custard and You Can't Catch Me, both groundbreaking collections that went on to be best-sellers. Included is a CD of Michael Rosen reading all the poems. Quentin Blake's zany illustrations add to the fun of these rhymes, which deserve to be read aloud.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books). Follow the family's excitement as they wade through the grass, splash through the river and squelch through the mud in search of the bear. Literally, poetry in motion!
Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen and Arthur Robins (Walker Books). He's wild, he's wicked, he's Little Rabbit Foo-Foo! The bully-boy bunny likes nothing better than to ride through the forest bopping everyone on the head. Wriggly worms, tigers, no one is safe. But here comes the Good Fairy - and she is not amused!
The Genius of Natural Childhood by Sally Goddard Blythe (Hawthorn Press early years series, £14.99). See page 20.
