Natural functions
These two poems by Gabriel Fitzmaurice from A Giant Never Dies (Poolbeg,
1-84223-009-3) have consistently delighted children in primary schools.
The Hidden Art
Making a fart
Is an art.
The wind that comes
To your behind
Has a mind of its own
And its mind
Is set on blowing
And the pressure
Keeps on growing.
| So to make for quiet release
You hold it softly,
Then you ease
It slowly out between your cheeks -
If you’re lucky it won't leak,
and no one knows
you've made a fart.
That’s why farting
Is an art.
|
The Forty Shades of Green
In Granda’s time, he told me,
They’d no toilets anywhere -
They had to do their business
In the open-air
In orchards, fields and gardens
Where they would not be seen
And that’s the reason, and Granda says,
Why Ireland is so green. |
Whole class shared reading/writing | Whole class phonics, spelling, vocabulary & grammar |
What type of poems are these? (Humorous) Do they rhyme? Is the rhyme structured? Discuss number & length of stanzas. Do you like the poems? Why/not? | Change tense of ‘making’, ‘comes’, ‘growing’, ‘knows’. Make singular/plural - ‘toilets’, ‘orchards’, ‘fields’, gardens’. What does this tell us about the words - verbs/nouns? |
Click on the following links for Phil Doyle's complete Year 4 study unit: pdf; PowerPoint