Written by Brian Moses and Roger Stevens, ex-teachers who now visit primary schools to perform poetry and lead workshops, this book is packed full of imagination-stretching ideas to ignite the spark in all children, whether they be more able or less able writers. The book includes over 70 poems to inspire pupils, written by children who've taken part in the author's workshops along with examples of work by the authors and other professional writers. These poems act as stimuli to demonstrate to pupils what good looks like and will inspire them to create their best writing. With activities to develop both poetry and prose, this book is an essential toolkit for primary school teachers. The prose activities explorecharacter-building, adding conflict and suspense and creative ways of developing dialogue. The poetry activities not only teach pupils poetry techniques such as similes, metaphors and personification - they also show them that any subject can be exploredthrough poetry. With this book on your bookshelf, you will never be short of ideas.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION; GETTING STARTED: POETRY AND PROSE; Redrafting - Some essentials; Response partners; The Teacher's input; Cliches; Use of adjectives; warming up - Some useful techniques; Make your confession; Total mega embarrassment; Feeling frightened; Crossing the river; Poems for two voices; Dreams; Strange hobbies; A special place; Your worst journey; Pirates; Teacher for sale; Freestyle writing - Imagine a person; GETTING MOVING: MAINLY POEMS; People and situations - Characters from the past; Phantom figures - On ghosts and spirits; Take an idea and s-t-r-e-t-c-h it - Similes and super creatures; Making the familiar scary - Writing a performance piece; I've forgotten something - Revealing a cache of memories; Place names - What's in a name?; Positives from negatives - Making a silk purse; About Noah's Ark - Don't miss the boat; Creature encounters - Springboard for a story; Amazing facts about animals - Outlandish but true; Pick and mix - Learning by example; From the Celtic - Of the big and powerful; The power of simplicity - Locust tree in flower; The power of metaphor - What would I be?; A sense of loss - Focus and feelings; Shorts - Good and bad; That's nonsense; The Sound of Music; Beginning, middle and end; Serious issues - Share a date; GETTING AHEAD: MAINLY PROSE; Creating a character - Am I realistic?; Creating a setting - The hills are alive; Plot - Cinderella plus; Dialogue - Trapped in a lift; Descriptive writing - You need hands; A room with a view; Who sleeps in a room like this?; Conflict - Is there trouble brewing?; Point of view - From short journeys; Suspense - Fantastical phobias; More about cliches - As red as a colour; The magic garden; All cut up about cliches, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds; Presenting, performing and publishing; ENDWORD; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX OF POETRY AND PROSE; SCHOOL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS