National Poetry Day 2009

Not many people will have enjoyed National Poetry Day yesterday as much as I did! I was invited to spend the day with the staff and pupils of Sowerby Community Primary School in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Sowerby Community Primary School, North Yorkshire

The theme of National Poetry Day this year was ‘Heroes and Heroines’, so I began the day with a Buzzing! show all about my garden heroes and heroines.

After that, I got the chance to work with every class in the school (bar reception). The children wrote some fantastic poems! Take a look, for example, at this fabulous poem that Sunny wrote:

Sunny's poem, written on National Poetry Day 2009

The children at Sowerby are not only talented, they are quick workers too! Before I had left, I was presented with a big pile of  ‘Thank You’ letters, all of which were beautifully illustrated with minibeasts that had featured in my Buzzing! show. Here are a couple of examples:

'Thank You' letter from Ethan

'Thank You' letter from Millie

Aren’t they wonderful? I’ve greatly enjoyed reading every single letter, and send a big ‘Thank You’ in return!

This was my second visit to this lovely school. My first visit was last term during their ‘Nature, Nurture, Nutrition’ week, which celebrated the transformations that had taken place in the school grounds and in its food culture, thanks to Big Lottery and BBC Breathing Spaces funding.  They now have a wildlife garden and pond, a vegetable plot, an apple orchard, a copse, a wildflower meadow …  What an inspiring school, fostering a great love of nature. (I can also vouch personally for the tastiness of the school dinners!)

A beautiful mural at Sowerby Community School

Thank you to all the staff and pupils who welcomed me so warmly, and especially to the Head, Mrs Yendall. Her school is an uplifting place to be, with creative, enthusiastic, polite and happy pupils who made National Poetry Day very special indeed for me. I hope I made it special for them too.

STOP PRESS! I’ve since heard from the Head  that: ‘The children kept coming up to me telling me that we should have you back once a week!’ Well, that sounds like mission accomplished for National Poetry Day!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz – www.theBigBuzz.biz

Beautiful Lealholm!

The children of Lealholm Primary School in the North York Moors National Park are extraordinarily lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country.

The view from Lealholm Primary School

And I was extraordinarily lucky to be invited to spend a day with them yesterday.

Anneliese at Lealholm Primary School, North Yorkshire

After a Buzzing! performance for the whole school in the morning, the infants and I went on a Rhyme Time Ramble round their playground and field. The beady-eyed children spotted bees and a 7-spot ladybird and a painted lady butterfly, amongst other wildlife wonders.

Then in the afternoon, I revealed my Top-Secret Photography Technique to the juniors, and we all went outside to take photos. And what amazing photos these children did take! Photos of bees and flies and beetles and flowers and snails …

Here are a few of the photos that Mattie, Charlotte and Emma took. Aren’t they great?

All the children were very observant, and found a fascinating variety of creatures to photograph. Charles Darwin would have been proud of them!

Lord Deramore’s Science Week

Thank you to the staff and pupils of Lord Deramore’s Primary School in my own home village of Heslington for their hospitality last Friday. I spent the last day of their Science Week with them, and was very impressed by how much they knew about Charles Darwin and his discoveries.

I was also very impressed by the fabulous poems they wrote (and in some cases performed) during the course of the day about all sorts of minibeasts, including ants, bees, butterflies, dragonflies and beetles.

The whole school got in the poetry mood – including Teaching Assistant Jane King, who not only found my coat for me at the end of the day, but has also since written me a wonderful poem about it! Read on …

Anneliese has lost her coat!

Where it lurks, she’s no idea.
Gone forever is the fear!

Has it sprouted legs and walked?
To find it is her only thought.

Perhaps it flapped its arms and flew
-         is it hiding in the loo?

Maybe it has wrapped around
Someone else and ‘Gone to ground!’

Then she asked one in the know,
Who knew the very place to go.

“Look”, she pointed over there,
“It’s just been sitting on the chair!”

by Jane King
Many thanks, Jane!

Well done Word Wizards!

Congratulations to the highly talented Word Wizards of Ledbury and surroundings, who came along to my Word Wizard Workshop in the centre of beautiful Ledbury, in Herefordshire, last week.

These Year 5 and 6 children had been specially chosen to come along as they had shown themselves to be particularly talented with words. And so they were! They created great poems, some of which may be published in an anthology next year …

Many thanks to Fran Bradley, Coordinator of the Ledbury Poetry Festival ‘Poets in Schools’ scheme, for inviting me to come back to Ledbury and work with these children. Her help before, during and after the workshops was invaluable.

Coordinator of the Ledbury Poetry Festival

I first met Fran in July of this year, when she introduced our Buzzing! show at the Ledbury Poetry Festival. What an inspiring and dedicated lady she is, and how lucky the children of Ledbury and surroundings are to have her working to bring poetry and poets into their lives.

So, the question is: were my workshops a success? Well, here’s what Mrs Allard of the wonderfully named Much Marcle C of E Primary School thought:

‘A fabulous afternoon. The children loved it! You sparked their creative juices. Thank you so much.’

And what did Fran think of the workshops?

‘The schools were treated to a fantastic experience, as your approach was instructive, entertaining and totally inspiring. Quite an achievement … A memorable experience for the students.’

A memorable experience for me too. Thank you to all – children, staff, parents, Ledbury Poetry Festival staff – for making it happen.

Thank you St Oswald’s School

Thank you to the pupils and staff at St Oswald’s School, just down the road from me in Fulford, on the outskirts of York. They welcomed me very warmly into their community today, and I enjoyed seeing inside their fantastic new school building.

St Oswald's Primary School

First of all I performed my Buzzing! show for the whole school. Then a group of children performed a poem for me. It had a great ‘clickety clack’ train rhythm running throughout. I wish them good luck in their performance poetry competition!

After break I led a poetry workshop with Mrs Stinson’s Year 3 class, who discovered some great creatures – unknown to science – during the course of the morning. Well done to all of them!

Today’s school visit was special for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first performance I’ve cycled to – on my wonderful new electric bike. TheBigBuzz electric bike is called Bizzy Lizzy, and she is making it possible for me to get to all sorts of places I couldn’t get to before!

Bizzy Lizzy - theBigBuzz bike

The second reason today’s visit was special was that I was able to take in a sample Rosemary beetle for the children to see. I found this very beautiful beetle in my garden last Thursday. Andrew Halstead from RHS Wisley has confirmed that this is only the second Rosemary beetle ever to be recorded in York – and the only one ever recorded on my side of the River Ouse. Find out more

I asked the children at St Oswald’s to look in their gardens and see if they’ve got any Rosemary beetles where they are. I’m looking forward to hearing back from them!

I’d also love to receive feedback about today’s visit from any pupils or staff – so please, email me by clicking on ‘Comment’ or ‘Leave a reply’ at the foot of this blog post, or email info@theBigBuzz.biz  I look forward to hearing from you!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz – www.theBigBuzz.biz

National Insect Week 2008

So, how was National Insect Week for you? Here in York, theBigBuzz National Insect Week has gone on for a fortnight! (If you missed any of these events, then fear not! You can either listen to my poems on my Buzzing! CD, which is a recommended resource on the National Insect Week website, and/or you can catch a live show later in the year.)

So, my National Insect Week 2008 began early, on Friday 20 June, when I performed my Buzzing! show (in celebration of garden minibeasts) to more senior York residents at a local hospital. (Here I am chatting with members of the audience after the show.)

Then, the next morning I was entertaining somewhat younger York citizens at Copmanthorpe Primary School Environment Fair.

At this fair I acquired a new roadie: 2-year-old Roadie Raphael …

… who also decided to take part in the show itself!

“That was great!”
“What a wonderful show!”

On the evening of Tuesday 24 June, I went to a fascinating lecture on insect bio-acoustics (the sounds insects make), given by Dr Dave Chesmore of the Electronics Department of the University of York. You can find out more about Dr Chesmore’s fascinating research here. It was at this talk that I had the pleasure of meeting the former President of the Royal Entomological Society, and the force behind National Insect Week, Professor Chris Haines.

The next morning saw Dr Dave Chesmore up bright and early to be interviewed by Radio York about our joint National Insect Week event planned for that night: a Buzzing! moth night in York Cemetery.

At that event, I began by performing a special version of Buzzing! in the cemetery chapel. (Ably assisted by the unflappable Adrian Lovett, at the computer in the photo below – taken by Paul Rhodes.)

The show featured lots of moth poems and photos – including a world premiere!

“Captivating!”
“A really super show”

Then, once it was well and truly dark, we all went outside where Dr Dave Chesmore had set up his moth trapping equipment.

Enthralled, we were out until after midnight, and Dave caught and identified a total of 23 species. (Photo below taken by Paul Rhodes)

“A thoroughly enjoyable evening”

This joint event went so well that we are doing a similar Buzzing! Moth Night at Kew at Castle Howard on 20 September. (more details)

On Friday 27 June I was an invited speaker at ‘Creative York Revealed’, an event held at York St John University, organised by Creative York and hosted by C4C. So I was able to spread the National Insect Week word there too, and regale the audience with tales of my Berberis Sawfly larvae, which had hatched two days before. (This is the third year in a row that I’ve sighted them in our garden. This year I even saw – and videoed – them laying their eggs. Of which, more anon.)

Saturday 28 June was a Buzzing! plus Photography Workshop and Minibeast Hunt at York Environment Centre.

“Them voices what you did was right good!”
“It was delightful!”

We were blessed with good weather which meant that we could spend as long as we wanted outdoors after my show looking for minibeasts and taking photos of them. The younger children present were very enthusiastic bug hunters. They had particularly beady eyes and found young pond skaters in the pond …

… and all sorts of other tiny creatures, some hidden away in hard-to-reach places.

The older members of the audience spent their time photographing insects.  Here is Jacob honing his macro photography skills (photo taken by his mum Lesley):

And here is a beautiful photo of a hoverfly that Jacob’s Mum, “I think you may have got me hooked!” Lesley, took:

My last National Insect Week event of the fortnight came on Thursday 3 July, when I put on 3 Buzzing! workshops as part of Scarcroft Primary School’s Science Day, organised by NYBEP. I set off bright and early with all my National Insect Week stickers, pencils etc. for the pupils …

and also with two specimen jars of my world-first insect discovery, Berberis Sawfly larvae, collected that very morning from my garden.

Collecting Berberis Sawfly Larvae, 3 July 2008

Berberis sawfly larvae, from theBigBuzz garden in York, 3 July 2008

I was very impressed by how much the children already knew about scientific names etc., and by how much they learnt during each of my Buzzing! sessions. At the end, I gave each pupil a National Insect Week pencil, which I hope they will use to note their sightings of 2-spot ladybirds and Painted Lady butterflies, and to write up their ‘Close Encounter’ with an insect, and draw their invented insect. Details of all these surveys and competitions – which I told the children about in my workshops – are on the National Insect Week website.

“You could have heard a pin drop!” Year 5/6 Teacher
“The session was very informative, fun, lively and kept the children’s interest throughout. I’m sure they have learnt alot.” Year 5/6 Teacher

My National Insect Week ended on a real high. As I was leaving  Scarcroft School, a 10-year-old boy came up to me, completely unbidden, and said:

“You’re well good at poems, you are!”

What a great way to end a great 2 weeks!

I am indebted to the Royal Entomological Society’s Lesley Goodman Award for enabling me to put on these events. We had lots of great feedback from the shows and workshops, and I hope many of the residents of York will be taking part in National Insect Week surveys and competitions as a result.

And if you want to host a Buzzing! performance and/or workshop where you are, email me! I look forward to hearing from you.

World Premiere of Go M.A.D.! eco-musical

The pupils of Archbishop of York’s Junior School in York had a Global Awareness Week last week. I wrote them an eco-musical for the occasion, called Go M.A.D.! (Make A Difference). It’s about how we can all help prevent climate change by reducing our carbon footprint.
email me for eco-musical details

I spent Wednesday teaching the musical to Year 6 (Miss Minnit’s class and Ms Woolgar’s class). On Friday afternoon the children performed it as part of their Global Awareness Week Assembly.

Listen to a clip (mp3)

They received great applause from the rest of the school, and the many parents who had come along too. Congratulations to both classes and their teachers for learning and performing a whole musical in such a short time!

The Assembly also included a fashion show of outfits the children had made during the week from ‘rubbish’. Here is one of the fabulous outfits they created and modelled:

After the assembly, Denise Hall from the Energy Efficiency Advice Service in York was on hand to give everyone practical advice about how they can make their homes more energy efficient. She was giving out free energy-saving lightbulbs to people who signed up to reduce their energy usage at home, and telling them about grants that are available for loft and cavity wall insulation.

All in all the children learnt a great deal about they could help prevent climate change by reducing their carbon footprint. I take my hat off to all the pupils, teachers and parents involved in putting on such a great learning experience. And I thank Mr Green for having invited me to be part of it.

Kiera-Mae from Year 6 wrote a beautiful poem which summed up the theme of the week. Here it is:

Transport and litter
Sour and bitter
Wildlife and water
Should be saved they oughta
So let’s stop all pollution
And let’s save life extinction
If we work as a team
We’ll give the earth a clean
And stop climate change.

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz - www.theBigBuzz.biz

Composting congratulations!

Congratulations to Mrs Finn’s class at Archbishop of York’s CE Junior School, who gave the world premiere of the primary school version of Compost: the (mini-)Musical today! I taught them the musical last Tuesday, and they have spent the week practising it so they could perform it in front of the whole school in assembly today.

Their performance was greeted with great applause from all the pupils and staff. And rightly so, as they did fantastically well. And not only did they entertain the rest of the school, but they educated them too. After the show, Mrs Finn asked the pupils in the audience key questions about what you can and can’t put in a compost bin. And the pupils came up with all the right answers! So, Mrs Finn’s class are very good teachers!

Her pupils are going to perform the musical again – with an extra song I’ve just written – at their Harvest Festival celebrations coming up soon. So then parents will have the chance to be entertained and to find out all about composting too.

Read Compost! Thank You letters from pupils

Thanks to Dr Wannop, Archbishop of York’s school has a composting scheme in action, so pupils who are members of Gardening Club were able to go and see composting in action that very day.

Children’s photography

I was very impressed by how observant the children were who attended my photography workshop at St Nicholas Fields in York today. For example, Henry spotted and photographed a dragonfly, and Robert a Mint moth.

All the children learned how to use a tripod:

And Mums and Dads joined in too:

Here is James’ (age 5) great photo of chamomile flowers:

And here is a great photo Robert (age 8) took of a damselfly:

There are clearly some very talented budding photographers in York.

If you’d like to host, or bring your children along to, one of my photography workshops, then please get in touch (info@theBigBuzz.biz).

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz

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Thank you, Boyle and Petyt

I have just received a big parcel from the children of the Boyle and Petyt School in Beamsley, which I visited last month (find out more). The parcel was full of beautifully illustrated thank you notes, like these ones:

I really enjoyed reading these letters, and finding out which poems the children enjoyed the most. You can read all the children’s thank you letters by clicking on the following link:
Year 3 and 4 Thank You Notes, Boyle and Petyt School (pdf)

The children did lots of interesting work with their teacher, Mrs Bryant, after my visit. They illustrated some of my poems, and wrote some of their own too. They also learned some more about performing poetry. Mrs Bryant sent me some examples of their work, and I was very impressed by it.

So, congratulations to all Mrs Bryant’s pupils for their excellent work. And thank you for sending me such lovely thank you notes!

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