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.
**FREE! Autumn leaf picture to write inside and below, with colouring fun too.
**
’ Autumn leaves can be - ’
Describing words can be written inside the page-size leaf-drawing.
Encourage words such as - crispy, floaty, gentle, calm, red, gold (+ other colours), crunchy, delicate, twirly, crinkly, dry, wet, soggy, spotty, beautiful, colourful, torn, ripped, patched.
Text below picture - 'They are as colourful as __ ’
perhaps jewels, flowers, petals, treasure, fire, candles, fruit, strawberries or butterflies.
Supports creativity, vocabulary, seasonal work, colour work, art and design, and PSHE (calming and uplifting).
See my other leaf writing activities for all primary stages.
Snow is … This simple, one-line picture poem will tempt any emergent writer to have a go at a word or more to describe snow, especially if they’ve just been out in some!
Encourage with simple suggestions, such as soft, cold, fluffy, fun… For more adventurous writers, encourage interesting words like - smooth, gentle, swirly, floating, peaceful, pure white, white as icing sugar, calm, exciting, magical, twinkly, crunchy.
See also my harder version:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/snow-writing-ys-1-3-12466490
Charming hedgehog picture to colour, with woodland setting. Leaves, mini-beasts, tree branches and sunny sky. The hedgehog is smiling as it plods along the path.
To see my other animal colouring sheets, plus this one with a writing line below, please click the Search option.
Phonic short ‘a’, shown here in ‘cat’, with some extra little a’s to write over, too.
Your emergent writers will enjoy writing over the pale orange letters to make the word ‘cat’ twice over, and on the three extra 'a’s in their attractive red loops. They’ll love colouring in the charming, black/white cat picture, too.
For more, similar phonics activities, see my Phonic ‘o’ reading/writing sheets and my many other resources for sound/letter recognition and writing practice.
Fun in the Snow - this is a simple, 40-word story, lightly illustrated, about a boy enjoying the snow and making a snowman.
There is an extra page highlighting a few words from the text - in different colours for extra fun.
Engages young children, encouraging sounding-out and ‘have-a-go’ reading.
See my other stories and also Phonics sheets, for more simple, fun reading.
Birds in flight is a fascinating, exhilarating theme, ideal for the evocative mini-poem, the haiku.
This sheet provides 3 haiku frames, three haiku starter-lines, information about haiku and how they work, inspirational commentary on the theme, and tips for preparing your children to compose them.
Birds may sweep and swoop, tip and tilt, glide and cruise through skies of all sorts, perhaps catching the sun on their wings. What do they look like, up there against that crystal blue, peachy sunset or leaden cloud? Are they like darts, bullets, a swarm of bees, dancing butterflies or some other image? Where are they heading, how long is their journey and how do they know the route? Young, fluffy chicks are fun to write about, too, hop-skip-flapping off on their first, bumpy flight.
More haiku sheets here, on other topics.
This writing sheet features the letter and phonic ‘e’ in ‘hen’ and ‘red hens’, with attractive pictures to illustrate and enhance understanding.
Children can colour in the white hen, and also count the 3, adding the ‘1’ and ‘2’ given.
Supports phonics, handwriting, reading, spelling, numbers, adding, and also nature and animal studies. The colour red is also highlighted, supporting colour work, and fine motor skills are developed in the colouring.
If you like this sheet, see my others for different vowels, in my catalogue/shop. Click ‘newest’.
p, f and d are shown next to familiar pictures starting with their letters:
pig, fish, dog. The words are not written out, but just brought to mind, with meaningful association. Extra copies of the letters follow the pictures, reinforcing the link. Children can write over all the pale letters. Help them sound them out as they go.
See my other phonics sheets for young children, all attractively illustrated, some free.
Sh words to read and write, illustrated:
fish, ship, shark, shell .
Text in soft colours for over-writing. Lines below for re-writing, independently.
‘sh’ can also be over-written, at top and bottom of this full, A4 page.
Simple, attractive, motivating activity. See my other Phonics sheets for more sound-writing.
Beautiful, evocative eco-poster. Words - ‘Our World - in our hands’ - on natural scene of wild flowers.
Celebrates nature. Sends out gentle reminder to care for our natural world.
Will inspire children with the beauty and wonder of nature, and help them understand its vulnerability and our duty of care.
See my other ‘green’ and ‘eco’ resources too, many free.
FREE - DRAGONS writing resource!
Dragons are fun, exciting, and anything you want them to be. Children love to dream up their own dragon. This simple writing sheet offers a launch pad for actions and similes, and the GUIDE sheet provides a poem, ready-written by this author, a published children’s poet, to clap, chant and build together first!
Tips and extra ideas also included in the guide.
See also my many other dragon writing sheets and pictures here.
Seaside poetry writing on a fabulous seaside photograph!
Line starters for free, expressive writing.
Example sheet provided, to inspire ideas of all sorts.
Flexible for all ages and abilities, written or out loud.
Text:
In the sea’s sparkly blue I find…
In the sea’s soft hum I hear…
In the sand’s ______ I feel…
Metaphors, description, long or short responses, literal or imaginary -
all sorts are welcome here!
See also my many other seaside and ocean resources!
A poem (written by the author, a published poet), describing an autumn wood in metaphors. Blank frame in wood surround also included, for any style.
It’s a carpeted castle for hopping rabbits, for instance, and a climbing frame de-luxe for squirrels.
But the bright, warm, cheerful poem has a chilly ending.
Presented on a golden-red autumn wood backdrop.
Supports seasonal work, nature, poetry and literacy.
Attractive colouring sheet representing a hot air balloon with mum and child waving from basket. Supports fine motor control development, colour sense, floating concept, travel and transport topics, holidays, weather and more. **SEE ALSO: ** - BOAT ON SEA COLOURING SHEET - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/boat-on-sea-colouring-sheet-12096606
Fascinating creative opportunity for older/more able writers, depicting the sea as different entities or things. Format and starter lines for a sequence of verses are provided, with quality sample poem, written by myself (published poet) for the purpose. Tip: build up to metaphors by (1) discussing sea in different weathers, climates, times and seasons, enacting and sounding out; (2) elicit words and similes for the variations; (3) invite pupils to try taking out the ‘as… as’ or ‘like’ from their similes to form metaphors (e.g. ‘the sea IS a mirror’; (4) read the sample poem; (5) give out the frames and scrap paper for independent writers and let them write their own, personal versions.
See also my many other sea poetry frames in my catalogue, with sub-topics such as sea monsters, seabed mysteries, summer’s day sea, stormy sea and a pirate’s treasure map.
Football poetry support! A list of 14 rhyming couplets about playing football, for teachers and pupils. Use as prompts to spur further ideas or incorporate favourite couplets into a class rhyme. Humour, excitement, tension and exhaustion all roll about together in the mud here, with positive messages for losing teams too.
The sheet is illustrated with girl and boy footballers of different ethnicities, with space for further little sketches around the verses.
14 rhyming couplets depicting autumn leaves - their colours, movements and other qualities, often with imagery. Bare, winter trees also feature towards the end.
A handy resource for teachers and pupils to work from, spurring further ideas for poetry and prose creations.
See also my other autumn leaf resources.
I’m a published children’s poet, and experienced workshop leader for schools.
An imaginary castle can be any sort you like - fairy-tale pink or iron grey, for instance, so your children can have fun with this sheet, thinking what their castle could be like as well as thinking up effective similes for them. The two blank lines at the end are for totally free expression. Some children might like to add further similes, others might like to add a warning, or a comment about the castle’s inhabitants, or a rounding-off rhyme, or even a metaphor (the castle is a …). The example sheet can be read out to demonstrate the simile concept and trigger ideas. Recommended for lower juniors, and older writers as a starting point for individual poem-crafting.
Bring fun and laughter into your space studies with this two-page, quick-fire roll of crazy, snappy rhymes about aliens, rockets, stars and more! Most are couplets, with a few 4-line verses too, and all are bonkers! They’ll inspire variations and brand new rhymes from your class, boosting their literacy skills.
The rhymes are my own, and I’ve used some in my space poetry sessions.
TIPS for class rhymes - I recommend starting with “space”, eliciting a list of single words that rhyme with it to write below. Then fill up the line leading up to “space”, e.g. I saw an alien up in space, and finally think up a line to end with your rhyming word, e.g. She was doing up her lace. Have fun!
**SEE ALSO ** - PLANET poetry frame (Yrs 2-4) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planet-poetry-frame-ys-2-4-12018025 + Planet picture-poem frame (KS2) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planet-picture-poem-frame-ks2-guidance-sheet-11886984
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