More Festive Writing from Team Alex

A KIWI CHRISTMAS

A Kiwi Christmas sounds like crashing waves

it smells like a bbq

tastes like pavlova and ice cream

It feels like a hot summer breeze

and looks like a pine tree in the living room, as big as a Titan.

by Alex L age 10yrs

CHRISTMAS IS…

Christmas is having a tasty ham feast

It is everyone at the mall

It is unwrapping Christmas presents

Christmas is spending time with family

It tastes like sea salt in your mouth

It sounds like people screaming

It smells like roast pork

It is everybody not wanting the day to end

Alex C age 10yrs

The Dark Side of the Moon

 The Amazing Moon

            by Alex L (year 6, Russley School)

The moon is a basketball

frozen in time

the moon is sometimes blood red

it makes the sunset look even better

especially when there's clouds

the moon is the size of a tennis ball

when I look up at it

the moon is a mirror

reflecting on the sun

but the one thing that I want to know about the moon is

what's on the dark side.

The Iain Sharp Poem

If you were a parcel, what sort of parcel would you be? What kind of paper would you be wrapped in? Would you be tied with string, or ribbon, or tape? Would you fit through a mail slot? Perhaps you'd be a letter? What kind and in what envelope?

Iain Sharp is a poet who lives in Auckland. He wrote a really cool poem called The Iain Sharp Poem. He gives us a picture of himself through descriptions of things and actions. 

We each had a go at writing our own 'Iain Sharp' poem, using our own name. 

Here is a selection of the best of them from Team Awa Nui (Year 5 & 6) and Team Roto (Year 3 & 4).

Team Awa Nui

The Ollie Morris poem

I am a bright blue envelope with a yellow ribbon

I am a toy monkey waiting for a friend on the sheets

I am the sand running down the beach

I am a plane being flown into the cloudy sky

I am a fish swimming through the waves

I am a blade of grass on a rugby field
When I look in the mirror I see an army sergeant.

                                                                         

The Alex Law Poem

I am a package

and I'm the colour gold 

I am a honey-badger gun

in a middle of a war zone

I am a BMX track

with people jumping my jumps

(or trying to)

I am a Suzuki MX bike

in a super cross stadium

a jump away from victory

I am a mutt in a house

with my family

with everything I've wanted

I am a WWE super star

in the middle of the ring

doing my signature

When I look the mirror

I see

a famous BMX rider.

                                                                         

The Kim Schonert Poem

I am a big birthday card and parcel
with fairy wrapping paper
waiting to be opened

I am a teddy bear on a lonely shelf
waiting and waiting to be loved
by a family who loves me very much

I am a big green forest

full of colourful birds and animals

with crocodile’s and alligators roaming the habitat

I am a submarine swimming through the big blue

I am a piwakawaka flying through the incredibly big blue sky

I am a rainbow standing like a bridge

When I look in the mirror

I see me shy and scared

being new in class

with children that I don’t know 

  

                                                                         

The Farren Stewart Poem

I am a cocoa coloured box with a golden ribbon  
I am a toy puppy with one ear and a strawberry coloured bow
I am a high snowy mountain, white like a polar bear and shaped like a triangle
I am a jet ski zooming through the high waves with the motor roaring
I am a leopard racing through bushes after a gazelle
I am porridge getting sucked up into a sick wrinkly old lady’s mouth

When I look in the mirror I see brown hair and eyes

I see Farren Stewart

                                                                         

Team Roto (Year 3 & 4).

The Takeru Oki Poem

I am a skinny envelope

with a New Zealand stamp.

I am a race car

my colour is red.

I am faster than a toy plane.

I  can fly.

I am a dolphin

I am faster than a wave.

I am a soft pancake

with butter

and yummy.

I make a sloppy noise.

When I look in the mirror

I see

my beautiful face.

                                                                         

The Sophia Tan Poem

I am a big present

with shimmery paper.

I am a fairy godmother.

I am chicken wings with sticky rice,

and I am crunchy and crackly and crispy.

When I look in the mirror

I see a violinist.

                                                                         

The Sophia McMahon Poem

I am a box

I am rainbow coloured

and glow in the dark

with a gold ribbon.

I am a toy puppy

sitting on the bed.

I am a number 78 bus

travelling to the beach

at high speed.

I am a piece of sushi

with a double layer

with chocolate icing on it.

When I look in the mirror

I see a pop star.

                                                                         

The Josh Collins Poem

I am a parcel, a fancy box

with rings on it.

I am a Captain America soft toy.

I am a monster truck in big air.

I am a chimpanzee in a fight.

I am a bubbly bowl of rice bubbles.

I am a speed machine breaking the law.

I am a cliff being climbed.

When I look in the mirror,

I see Josh Collins.

                                                                         

The Jack McKay Poem

I am gold.

I fly and I sing ‘I believe I can fly

and touch the sky.’

I am a soccer boot

that kicks balls.

I am a motor bike.

I am a big black spider that bites to poison.

                                                                         

The Flynn Poulter Poem

I am a box

with a few stamps on the top.

I am a robot,

my sound is ‘beep’.

I am a jet boat,

I skid on some water.

I am a gorilla,

I am in New Zealand and I am eating a banana.

I am a bowl of Weet-Bix with sugar.

I am a crane

and I am digging up stuff.

I am a soccer field with people on.

When I look in the mirror

I see myself.

                                                                         

The Fergus Hollis-Barnard Poem

I am a ginormous cardboard box

with stamps.

I am a ginormous rocket ship,

I can fly over 1,000,000,000 kilometres.

I am a dragon with fire.

I am a bowl of crushed Ricies.

I am an electric sewing machine.

I am a crane with a big hook.

I am a sports field,

with a competition on.

When I look in the mirror

I see me.

                                                                         

The Charlize Fowler Poem

I am a rectangular box

of ballet shoes

in blue wrapping paper with a gold bow

with a stamp to New York.

I am a soft mermaid doll

with a rainbow

that glows.

I am a pink balloon 

with a sad face.

I am a duck with orange feet

and I sprint out of the water.

When I look in the mirror

I see a princess. 

                                                                        

The Cole Sutton Poem

I am a square box

I have gold wrapping paper

and a yellow tie

with a Russian stamp in the corner.

I am a sort of cat

I have black spots

and goldish-yellow fur.

I am soft and furry and I have got

cute eyes.

I am a leopard.

I am a big piece of meat.

My noise is squish,

munch,

crunch,

and at the end there is a Big

BURP.

When I look in the mirror

I see an astronaut.

                                                                         

The Kimberly Curry Poem

I am a sparkly fat purple parcel.
I have lollies that glow inside me
and a shimmery green bow.

I am a scary sparkly Monster High doll.

I am a magic rainbow bus
and I fly with food to schools

and deliver food.

I am a white-tail spider that

hides in a cave.

I am noodles

eaten with chopsticks.

When I look in the mirror

I see a beautiful little girl

looking back at me.

                                                                        

The Ryan Yoon Poem

I am a box wrapped with yellow paper

I am an airplane, I can fly

I am a whale, I can swim

I am a gorilla, I am strong

I am a plate of chicken nuggets

I am scissors

I am the earth

When I look in the mirror

I see me

                                                                        

The Josh Thackwell Poem

I am a brown cardboard box

with a few stamps.

I am a Madagascar penguin

flying through the air.

I am a jeep from the war

sitting in a garage.

I am a giraffe from Madagascar.

I love leaves.

When I look in the mirror

I see a future accountant.

                                                                         

The Cooper McMillan Poem

I am a parcel stuck with tape.

I am a rugby ball going over a post.

I am a STR Subaru.

I am a tiger eating animals,

I leap up and get them.

I am a sink full of mud.

I am a sports field.

When I look in the mirror,

I see an All Black standing there.

More Sound Poems

Here are some more sound poems, this time from Team Awa Nui.

Sound Poem 1

When I hear the waves

Crashing against the sand

I feel amazing

It makes me want to run

Like a cheetah chasing prey

They are guns being fired

They are strikes of lightning.

Sound Poem 2

When I hear the whistle

I feel pumped up

It makes me run

It is the call of the game

It is happiness.

both by Ollie Morris

                                                                          

Sound Poems

by Farren Stewart

When I hear the leaves
crunching between my feet
I feel alive and free inside
it makes me want to climb
like an excited monkey
they are the sound of crispy chips
it is an amazing experience.

When I hear footsteps down the hallway
I feel scared and frightened
it makes me want to hide
like an mouse hiding from a fox
they are hammers banging
they are drums thumping
they are my dad’s Bigfoot feet
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

                                                                          

The Sprints

When I hear the beep

My heart starts pumping blood 

around my body as fast as it can

I'm sprinting

I feel like a wolf hunting

Ready to pounce

I've come a long way

I can't turn around

I can't lose I'm in it to win it

the beep will let me go

if I go before it

I'll be gone till next year.

by Alex Law

                                                                          

The Fantail

by Kim Schonert

When I hear the fantail

I feel joyful

It makes me wonder  what I will be in the future

It is Hannah’s flute

It is my sisters’ recorder

It is a warm hug

Tweet tweet tweet

Metaphor Poetry

We studied Greg O'Connell's poem, My Grandad's Hands and noticed two things.

Firstly, that Greg used a lot of interesting nouns and verbs.

Secondly, he used metaphors* to describe his grandfather.

*Similes and metaphors compare two different things in a descriptive way. A simile uses the words 'as' or 'like' but a metaphor directly compares two things by saying one thing actually is the other.

We made a list of the nouns and verbs Greg used in his poem. Nouns (words that name a thing, person, place or idea) are the bones of good writing. Verbs (action or doing words) are the muscles.

Our writers chose a person in their own family as the subject for their poem. They then focussed on hunting for interesting nouns to create surprising metaphors to describe them.

My Brother's Smile

by Phoenix

My brother's smile

is a studded soccer boot,

his smell is a 

blooming flower.

His legs are tall goalposts.

His hair is a lion's mane.

He is everything to me.

My Brother's Attitude

by Alex L

My brother's attitude is like a monkey's.

His eyes are Minotaur eyes,

his hair is bark from an oak tree.

His laugh is thunder,

his voice is a frog singing in a blender,

but he's the best gaming partner 

in the world.

My Brother's Face

by Ollie

My brother is a monkey,

his eyes are chicken heads,

his ears are pointy swords,

his breath is a stinky garbage bin.

His hair is striking lightning,

his nose is a carrot,

and he is a fast cheetah.

My Brother

by Farren

His smile is a shining moon.

His eyes show blooming kindness.

His smell is a lime milkshake.

His hair is dark chocolate,

it is a black thunderstorm.

Caleb is a creative poet.

I love him.