Screen-free Friday

 Today was screen-free Friday at school, so we read books, got read books, listened to books, climbed a mountain, played Lego and drew.

A Poetic Preamble

Lots of people (me included) have said they don't like poetry. But I reckon that, if you approach a new topic from lots of different angles, you can find something within it to enjoy.

This is part of what our flexi day is about. When we learnt about the Romans, we visited Roman sites, a Roman museum, read books about Romans, listened to audiobooks about the Romans, watched films about the Romans and, of course, played extensive games about the Romans (often featuring Mum as Boudica).

Ferdy at Watling St in Jan last year

This kind of immersion in a topic is a little tricky due to us being practically housebound. But when Ferdy's topic at school this week was poetic devices, we decided to try and use our Friday (after a bit of maths) to absorb ourselves in poetry.

Maths and poetry

The kids section on the Poetry Archive website is brill. You can look up poets who read their own poems aloud, but also poetic devices like alliteration. We spent ages taking it in turns choosing and listening to poems. Faves were: Dennis Lee's Alligator Pie, a poem he wrote whilst on a bike ride and a great example of rhythm; of course we had to listen to Michael Rosen but Gil chose lots of his poems for younger kids like Over My Toes and Where Does the Bounce Come From which we hadn't heard before and beautifully illustrate alliteration and onomatopoeia; and I chose some of the funnies like Spike Milligan's The Land of the Bumbly Boo (where Ferdy and Gil were pleased to hear that they never blow noses, 'do they wipe them on their sleeves like us Mummy?') and John Hegly's Blancmange (it's French and it's funny).

We then went out for an Alliteration Amble.

Gil made up a poem whilst we were getting ready.

Waiting
Waiting
Waiting

For Ferdy.

Anyone who knows Ferdy will have experienced this.

On our windy, wet walk, we realised how often we use poetic devices when we talk. Ferdy and Gil heard ROARING cars, saw diving ducks and ducks gracefully gliding across the water. Gil noted the splash and the rhythm of squelching in the puddles, Ferdy spotted secret spy birds and decided that ducks were quacking 'how are you, how are you'.

I do have to confess however, that Ferdy spent the rest of our walk insisting on telling me the names and skills of all the Ninjago characters. I expect there is way to make these poetic but I'll leave that to Ferdy.

Let's ask the kids

 I thought that this was going to be a blog about how this Friday we played a great game about arrays by using a wipeboard, a number sentence and some lego. Or about how we read and listened to lots of Michael Rosen's poems to aid us in learning about poetic devices (in times of need, we always call on Michael Rosen). Or about how Ferdy seems to have taught Gil to read without anyone really noticing.

But as we were on our way out to the woods with the wonderful Ickabog as our soundtrack, I was struck by how all the books that we read feature children who make better choices than adults, children who speak the truth and aren't distracted by politics or societal rules, children who are brave, strong and honourable because they feel it is the right thing, not because they are trying to impress someone else.

As well as the valorous Daisy Dovetail in the Ickabog, who (spoiler alert) against all odds persuades the Ickabog not to kill, this week we've read about: a boy who speaks to animals and saves a giant turtle from being eaten by greedy adults, little Stella Saxby who manages to escape being poisoned by her aunt by refusing to drink the tea which her parents politely and fatally drink, and Amelia Fang who aged ten teaches her whole family a lesson about friendship and loyalty. Even Biff, Chips and Kipper have been known be more insightful than their slightly hapless parents and teachers.

And when we were in the woods today, and Ferdy and Gil wanted to go off exploring with me (breathlessly) trying to keep up, I realised that these two haven't had much choice recently. Whilst the government and parents and teachers grapple with how to negotiate home learning and teaching and working, our kids just have to get on with whatever rules we set.

Ferdy proclaimed this Friday his best day ever because he and Gil led the way, and he and Gil decided where we should go. They didn't take the set path through the woods; we had to climb over branches, leap over the stream and crawl though a tunnel. Our walk even involved smashing lots of ice on the pond. Ok, it wasn't compromising with an Ickabog but was loads more fun than following the path.

Later on, Ferdy decided not to write a poem about a magic box as had been our (my) plan, but instead about a Naked Egyptian Mummy.

I love it.

And Gil decided to start a diary instead of writing out his new sounds.

So we will do the work, but we might do some of it the Ferdy and Gil way.