Poetry Presto! takes as its theme the magic of words – the idea that language has the power to make things happen, conjure up images and feelings, and bring ideas to life.
About the show
In Poetry Presto!, poets demonstrate the magic of poetry through inspiring and interactive spoken-word performances, encouraging children to participate through call-and-response and actions. The poets introduce the magic box – a box full of poetry magic tricks, including alliteration, simile, and metaphor – and ask pupils to listen actively to the performances, identifying where they spot any tricks in action. The poets also reveal their secret performance tricks, e.g. how to conquer stage fright or how to memorise a poem.
Key Stage / Year Groups:
- Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 and SEND
SEND Show Adapations:
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Flexible performance length, quieter versions. Participatory element can allow for non-verbal responses.
Relevant areas of the National Curriculum:
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English
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Lliteracy
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Oracy
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Resilience
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Wellbeing
About the pupil workshops
For the workshops, a poet will visit each class, equipped with a magic box. At first, the box is a source of creative inspiration: it is filled with questions to spark your class’s curiosity, short inspirational poems – including poems by young writers – and prompts that encourage them to take notice of the world around them using different senses.
Your pupils will learn how to respond to the prompts using imagery and descriptive language, each contributing their own lines to a class poem. At the end of the workshop, your class will perform their group poem together, using the performance tricks they learned in the assembly.
Workshop SEND adaptations:
- Flexible length of workshop, activities are adaptable to different levels of reading and writing ability.
Teacher twilight CPD
The CPD session is led by experienced poet facilitators. The session will demonstrate how teachers can use creative writing as a tool for encouraging collaboration and wellbeing, and boost teachers’ confidence in bringing poetry into the classroom. The CPD will outline how the project relates to the curriculum and to wellbeing and will introduce teachers to the methods and resources the poets will use.
This CPD can accommodate from 2 to 20 members of staff.
About The Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is the UK’s leading poetry organisation. For over 100 years we’ve been a lively and passionate source of energy and ideas, opening up and promoting poetry to an ever-growing community of people. Our education work creates talent development opportunities for poets, teachers, pupils, and emerging writers.
