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• This PowerPoint presentation has been created to be used in a S1-4 and KS3-4 assembly on National Poetry Day.
• While you may need to modify this presentation to meet the needs of your students, please note that Teach for Tomorrow does not endorse your changes that alter the presentation's content or original layout.

National Poetry Day

Assembly

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National Poetry Day

What is National Poetry Day and why should we celebrate poetry?

Image by Ravi Kant

National Poetry Day 2023

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• National Poetry Day takes place annually on the first Thursday in October. This year it takes place on 3rd October.

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• It is an opportunity for us to celebrate the power of poetry.

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• The theme for this year’s National Poetry Day is play.

Image by Pixabay

Word Association

What words or phrases come to mind when you hear the following word:

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play

Reflecting on Poetry

‘Poetry is play. I’d even rather have you think of it as a sport. For instance, like football.’

Robert Frost, poet

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‘Only in dreams, in poetry, in play do we sometimes arrive at what we were before we were this thing that, who knows, we are.’

Julio Cortazar, writer

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‘All poetry, at its heart, is playful. It’s doing unusual and playful things with the language, stirring it up’

Pattiann Rogers, poet

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How far do you agree with these statements on poetry?

Maggy and Milly and Molly and May

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In this video, Ben Smith reads E. E. Cummings’ poem ‘Maggy and Milly and Molly and May’. Listen to and read the poem, then reflect on the following questions:

1. What do you think this poem is about?
2. What does it reveal about how people engage with the world around them?
3. What do you think Cummings means by saying ‘it is always ourselves we find in the sea’?
4. Which line most resonates with you? Why?
5. How does this poem explore ‘play’?

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Play video on Youtube

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Word Play by Michaela Morgan

Is a playground

a ground

that likes playing around?

Is a sound idea

really

made out of sound?

Is a street dancer

a happy, dancing street?

Is a shipwreck

a ship

that is not very neat?

Is a butterfly

a fly

made out of butter?

Is a see-saw

really

a sharp sea cutter?

1. How does this poem play with words?
2. What does it reveal about the English language?
3. Which line most stands out to you? Why?
4. How can poetry be viewed as playful?

Write a Poem about Play

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Option One: Focusing on Play

• Think about something people do to play, describe it, reflect on different perceptions of it, and on what it can teach us about ourselves/the world.

Option Two: Focusing on Wordplay

• Create your own backronyms: turn existing words into acronyms by creating appropriate phrases that they could serve as acronyms for.
• E.G: GHOST = an acronym of “ghoul haunting our spooky town.”
• CAR is a backronym of “carrying all riders.”

Ideas:

Football

Books or reading

Games

Halloween

Beach

School

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Send us your poem for a chance for it to be published on our website or tag us on using our handle @teachfortomorrow.

Exit Ticket

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Take a moment to think about the following:

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National Poetry Day is important because

___________________________________________

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Poetry is playful because ________________

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I can write poetry to______________________

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#ChangeStartsWithMe

Big change starts in the classroom.

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