A Little Fox, A Lot of Imagination!

Perfecting Our Poetry Skills

This week in our writing lessons, we have been tucking into a brand-new book that is already inspiring some fantastic writing!

Our new text is Leila and the Blue Fox by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, an author we are already familiar with after exploring Julia and the Shark during Book Talk last year.

We began by looking closely at the beautiful description of the fox on the opening page, which became the inspiration for our very own poetry. The children were challenged to begin each verse with:

“She is not just a fox, she is…”

From there, their imaginations took over!

Using figurative language, the children explored how they could bring different features of the fox to life. From her needle-like teeth to her triangular ears, her silent paws to her magnificent bushy tail, we thought carefully about how similes, metaphors and expanded noun phrases could paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.

Of course, wonderful poetry does not simply appear on the page! There was plenty of planning, editing, spellchecking and improving along the way. We also spent time identifying the writing tools we had used and thinking carefully about our word choices. After all, in poetry, every single word matters and has the power to create an image or evoke a feeling.

Finally, it was time to publish our finished poems into our writing books.

And... MY WORD, are we impressed!

The children have worked incredibly hard and, even better, they are so proud of what they have achieved. Seeing that pride makes their fantastic finished pieces even sweeter.

But don’t just take our word for it! Have a look for yourselves and see the wonderful poetry our talented Year 6 writers have produced. We think you’ll be just as impressed as we are!

Leila and the Blue Fox Poetry