APECS Press - News
LLANFAES PRIMARY SCHOOL
Margaret visited LLANFAES PRIMARY SCHOOL in Brecon, and talked to Year 6 about Myths and Legends
It was a wonderful morning on a very wet and windy day!
We talked about an American Indian Rainbow where animals lived, and the weird Tree Yggdrasil which held the Old Norse world together with its gigantic roots. They liked the picture of Gwydion coaxing the dying Lleu, half eagle half man from the oak tree.
Some of the children’s questions were hard to answer!
Why did the Norsemen think of using a Giant’s head as a heaven!
The children then wrote a class poem.
MYTHS
Myths make me think of…...
Dreams and Legends, Magic and Evil,
Ancient times, The World Beyond,
The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins,
Fairies and Dragons,
A Griffin – half lion, half eagle,
The Unicorn’s spirally horn,
Shining light and burning fire,
The Giant’s stinking breath
The Minotaur – half bull half human
The shimmering scale of a mermaid’s tail
The ice of Heaven and the fire of Hell
Medusa’s slithering snaky plaits
A never ending mythical magic.
“You’d better watch out in the night,
Or the slithering hair might bite!”
Celebrating National Poetry Day
The Caerphilly County Borough Council invited Margaret to take part in National Poetry Day with four other artists. They were given a remit to visit twenty schools in one day, reading, writing and talking about poems and word pictures with classes of children. The theme was Home.
It was a very full day! Margaret visited four Primary Schools at Blackwood, Gilfach Fargoed, Gelligaer and Llanfabon Infants School in Nelson.
The day began at 8.30. when Markham Primary School children invited all the artists for a ‘poetry breakfast’. Tea, coffee, cereal, toast, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit were provided by teachers and children and it was a fun way to begin the ‘poetry marathon’!
In all her schools, Margaret and her classes talked about word pictures in her books about people in their every day homes, knights in their castles, the Gwragedd Annwn in their home beneath the lakes, Twm Siôn Cati in his cave, the Celtic home of Rhiannon and fairies who lived underneath a farmer’s home. Then, the children and teachers, with Margaret, settled down to write their own class poem on HOME.
The four class poems are to be seen below, alongside one by Alun, who decided to write his own poem on Home!
NATIONAL POETRY DAY 2010
CHILDREN CELEBRATE THEIR HOMES IN SOUTH WALES
YEAR 6 BLACKWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL
Home is………………………………………..
Love, my atmosphere, my family.
Where the heart is, pride, my games, my comfort.
Sausage and chips, playing with friends,
Where the cool green fern grows wild on the mountainside,
Strolling through valleys, biking on Cwmcarn,
Where I put my feet up and rest,
Riding calmly on my horse, Toffee,
Where I walk Poppy, my dog,
My life and where I will always be,
Where my bubbling kettle meets my cups of tea.
GILFACH FARGOED YEAR 4/5
Home is……………………….
A family place where you can relax,
My bedroom where I play, Gilfach, a happy place,
A warm comfy bed, where I play on my trampoline,
Planting flowers, where I have my own garden,
Walking in Penallta Park, running free down the street,
Pizza and chips, fresh white paint on the living room wall,
The noise of children’s laughter,
When you open the door and smell Autumn coming,
A summer smell of fresh roses, lavender and clean linen.
YEAR 5/6 GREENHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL, GELLIGAER
Home is…………..
Warm and cosy, a place to be safe,
Friendly and peaceful, spaghetti Bolognese,
Gazing at the mountain view, listening to the sound of a swallow,
Snuggling up in bed at night, doing my maths homework,
Stepping out of doors on a summer morning,
Smelling the countryfresh breeze,
School and friends, arriving home after a long day, putting on my slippers,
Playing football on Claerwen playing field,
Turning off the light, snuggling up for the night.
YEAR 2 LLANFABON INFANTS SCHOOL
Home is……………..
Laughter with children,
Putting on my slippers, going to bed, drinking hot cocoa,
Brand new day at school, a healthy breakfast to keep me strong,
A warm snugly place, where you know you are safe,
Going out with friends, playing ball games,
Hide and seek, hopping, skipping and tag,
Steak and kidney pie with pastry on top, chips and gravy,
Writing stories for Mrs Swales, writing a poem on a dinosaur,
Coming home from school and jumping into a nice hot bubble bath.
ALUN’S POEM
Home is………..
Home is with Margaret and talking together
Home is our house and family
Home are the fields that I see from my window
Home is my garden where I grow potatoes, onions,
beans and flowers
Home is Margaret’s apple and blackberry pie –
with hot custard and very cold ice-cream
Home is where I have a special place – my office
Home is where I meet my friends
Home is Caerleon where the Romans lived 2000 years ago
and where King Arthur was crowned
Home is where I am learning to speak Welsh
Home is everything I love about life and living.
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