Free National Poetry Day Resource

Schofield & Sims encourages schools to celebrate National Poetry Day with a free 'A Time to Remember' poetry resource.

On 2nd October children across the UK will take part in the 20th annual National Poetry Day. To mark this national event and to encourage more children to read poetry for pleasure, Schofield & Sims author and poet Celia Warren has written a free poetry resource for schools on this year’s theme of ‘Remember’.

The resource, titled ‘A Time to Remember’, takes inspiration from the Schofield & Sims A Time to Speak and a Time to Listen poetry anthology, and features three separate poems on the subject of Remember, each aimed at a different Key Stage, as follows:

• At the Sea-Side by Robert Louis Stevenson (Key Stage 1)
• The Toll-Gate House by John Drinkwater (Key Stage 2)
• The Sentry by Wilfred Owen (Key Stage 3).

Each of the three poems is accompanied by a page of supporting notes for teachers, comprising a brief introduction to the poem and advice on how to read the poem aloud, as well as with a range of engaging speaking, listening and writing activities.

Whether schools choose to use the resources now, or later in the year, there is a wealth of cross-curricular material to help pupils appreciate the breadth and depth of poetry. For example, the Key Stage 3 resource based on Wilfred Owen’s famous poem The Sentry could be used to teach pupils about the realities of World War One, while the Key Stage 2 resource, with its ghostly rider, could be used around Halloween.

Fittingly, the ‘A Time to Remember’ resource also provides ideal opportunities for learning poetry by heart, a key requirement of the new primary National Curriculum. Each set of teaching notes includes useful guidance on reading for meaning, as well as information about the use of rhyme and other poetic devices.

The free resource can be downloaded either as three separate pdfs or as a single pdf from the following page on the Schofield & Sims website: www.schofieldandsims.co.uk/NPD14.