Poetry workshop at St Lawrence School

I’ve just spent a wonderful hour in a poetry workshop with children in year two or Lime Class at St Lawrence School. We workshoppped seven of their poems about the rainforest –a topic they have been studying this term. Having visited the Rio Negra rainforest in 2011 it was great to set their poems in a context I had experienced and to introduce them to the ways of a poetry workshop.

So the poets read their work and we displayed it on screen –it was good to be able to do this because their words were accompanied by pictures and had often been written by a team of children. Then, as for all workshops, we commented on what we liked and what we thought might help the next draft of each poem. Finally the poets told us how it felt to have their poem discussed.

They all participated so well, identifying rhyme and rhythm, commenting on helpful structure and joining in a chorus of the best sounds in each poem.  We finished with one of my poems about feeding dolphins on Rio Negra and a promise that  I’d return another day to look at their poems about tonight’s sleepover.

A really good way to be involved with the School.  Off now to lunch at The River Cafe with friends from my student days –looking forward to good food and catching up chat.