Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
Christmas Lights poetry writing and colouring sheets - 3 graded variations for Reception to lower Juniors.
Colour similes and description called for, with gaps to fill, e.g. -
"Christmas lights are ____ and ____.
They can be red, like ____ "
Harder and simpler versions included.
Fun, creative, educational, stretching literacy skills, imagination, colour awareness and pencil control, also teaching about Christmas celebrations and the dark winter nights.
This cat poem is fun and child-friendly. Follow this restless cat around the house, checking its food dish, checking window view, zipping upstairs for a look-around, then at last remembering the cosy sofa - ideal for a snooze!
This poem will inspire discussion, language-stretching, creative writing, drama, art, and physical movement, also nurturing animal appreciation.
FREE! Firework Night - an exciting, atmospheric poem by this author, a published children’s poet.
Read out, pin up, copy and distribute, use as a base for your class poem, draw from its vocabulary, imagery and poetic techniques for inspiration and examples.
So much to do with this poem!
See my many other fireworks poetry and colouring resources too.
This simple, punchy poem clarifies and celebrates the main colours - blue, red, green, yellow, orange, silver and gold, black and white, grey and brown. Pink can be added as a class contribution, following the poem’s pattern. It can be clapped, chanted, and presented with a display of colours, to help young children learn them.
Here’s a fun colour riddle for your class to watch and hear (also by me):
‘What Colour am I?’ https://youtu.be/JGKvOUDyXmk
Learning colours is easy with fun, snappy, rhymes, referencing familiar topics. Red, blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, silver, gold, black and white are all highlighted in these rhymes, with grey featuring too. An extra rhyme - Colourful Dragons - brings a whole bunch of them together. They can be read aloud, chanted and clapped together, enacted, discussed and added to.
Ideal for Early Years - Year 2, but also fun and thought-provoking for KS2 pupils.
Watch/listen to
‘What Colour am I?’
https://youtu.be/JGKvOUDyXmk
+
‘Rainbow Glow’ -
https://youtu.be/qAq3CfoRaaE
This beautiful autumn leaves resource contains a simple sample poem about autumn leaves, to read and share with class, a blank frame, and some sample words and lines to generate more poetry-writing ideas.
(See my other autumn leaf and woods resources for more ideas.)
My poem ‘Dragon in the Sky’ is a simple yet exciting and atmospheric poem, published in The School Magazine, Australia, who have also made a highly popular YouTube video of the poem.
19 lines. Upbeat ending. Offers inspiration and poetry-writing ideas for young writers. Supports dragon topic too.
These 7 simple stories are inviting to read, and simple enough for new readers to enjoy unaided, or with minimal adult support. Those just below this level will need a little help in sounding out words and making informed guesses to work out the words and follow the drift of the stories.
A mix of phonics and short, familiar words are used, with basic punctuation.
Large, clear print and light illustration help the reader along and add to the fun.
See my Phonics sheets, too.
Space recipe poem example, on space photo backdrop, plus blank writing frame on same background (2 sheets total).
This fun, fascinating poem was written by the author - a published children’s poet. It demonstrates key poetic techniques, e.g. simile, metaphor and alliteration, and stretches minds and language.
The blank writing frame is open to other styles of space poetry too, encouraging poetry exploration AND space exploration!
Supports poetry, literacy and space studies.
SEE ALSO, here on TES: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/recipe-for-a-night-sky-poem-to-read-12420912.
Releasing pandemic stresses.
The pandemic restrictions affect us all, and perhaps young people most of all. Writing down feelings and thoughts about lockdown life will help your class process and cope with them. This one-page guide offers ideas and example lines for you to present as prompts and starting points for individual responses. Tips for presentation are also provided.
The sheet demonstrates how ideas can be built into free-style verses or paragraphs, with one basic theme per verse/para. Both negative and positive viewpoints are offered, rounding off with a positive, upbeat approach to the pandemic lifestyle adjustments we’re all having to make.
In these emotionally challenging pandemic times, this rich array of writing spurs offers channels through which feelings can be released and shared. The five items comprise Pandemic Haiku Writing - with details, frames and examples, an upbeat poem about Coronavirus by the author to bring cheer and comfort, a Lockdown Acrostic Poem, with lists of words and phrases to prompt for as needed, and a Lockdown Writing Guide - example lines and verses expressing different viewpoints, with tips for teachers. A PSHE-focused poem frame is also included - ‘Emotions’ - with example poem to read out.
‘What Makes a Camp Fire Glow?’ and ‘Banjo in the Sunset Glow’ -
Two atmospheric, upbeat poems to inspire creative writing, stretch language and encourage friendship and community spirit.
Easy to read and listen to, yet rich in language and concepts.
The poems support poetry, literacy, outdoor learning, nature, and PSHE.
Published in The School Magazine, Australia.
This rainbow poem of mine has been published by The School Magazine, Australia.
It describes the varied, characterful colours of the rainbow, with a brief, rhyming word or phrase for each, summing up its character. Calming end, celebrating the beautiful merging and curving of the colours over the land.
Picture and coloured border.
Space topic and literacy are both enhanced with this exciting, fun activity.
The starry space photo has 8 gaps for inserting exciting, descriptive words and phrases about space.
A gap-free version of the picture is included for inspiration.
The supporting** Word + simile Bank** is for teacher use, offering handy examples and prompts.
I have many other space/literacy resources at my shop.
This attractive resource will stretch literacy skills and enhance ocean studies, as children think up words, similes or phrases to fill the ten writing gaps in the under-sea picture. An unmarked version of the picture is provided for inspiration. The Guide Sheet offers teachers a list of suggestions for prompts and examples, including adjectives, similes and flora and fauna (also described).
Great for: vocabulary-building, warm-up for poetry, description or story-writing, topic work (oceans, water, sea life, sea pollution, global warming, pirates, treasure, etc.); also for constructively filling any spare ten minutes.
Recommended for Yrs 2-6.
**A Sea monster writing sheet in 3 differentiated versions. **
Attractively illustrated and presented. Will excite and amuse the whole class,
The starter phrases about its appearance, behaviour and favourite food will get all pens rolling.
Supports literacy, seaside, ocean, myths and other cross-curricular studies, and unlocks creativity. See my Sea Monster Food writing sheet too****: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/sea-monster-food-fun-writing-sheet-guide-12114876 ****, plus many other seaside and ocean literacy resources.
Ten fun, simple reading and writing sheets with pictures.
Topics - from traffic lights to ships and sharks, from dogs to dragons, from cooking to Lego, and more!
Supports phonics and word recognition, handwriting, spelling, and motivation for learning.
Brings meaning to the written word for young children.
Five fun phonics writing sheets, illustrated, with simple words to sound out and write over. A range of familiar topics are presented, such as animals, weather and colours, with colouring opportunities too.
These engaging, meaningful sheets bring phonics and the written word alive for young children. All are home-made and used with pleasing results.
Teachers on Toast or Catastrophe Curry? What delicious, disgusting, dangerous, dreadful dishes will your class place on this alliteration-focused menu? Don’t worry, though, it’s for dragons only: humans aren’t allowed in dragon cafes - except on plates, possibly. A great end-of-term slot-filler, combining fun with literacy development, creativity, humour and the promotion of class-harmony.
Bright colours abound in this stack of simple colour rhymes and colour-linked pictures to shade in. Poems and rhymes can be chanted, clapped, sung, enacted and associated with available objects of the relevant colours.
Contents: 11 rhymes and 4 printable colouring sheets (robin, butterfly, autumn leaves, frog).
See my colour poem videos: