Let the Kids do the Talking
Last week I was fortunate enough to lead a number of groups from Brixington Primary School on sessions to explore the school environment gleaning inspiration for creative writing. This was part of an intriguing venture they are calling “Real men Read”, to encourage the students to take an active interest in books, words and writing.
Aside from the title of the scheme making me blush a little, I found the idea so compelling that I just had to get involved and I am proud to publish the fruits of our day in this column for you to enjoy. The sessions lasted about an hour, with three or four pupils joining me for an explore of the grounds followed by a creative writing session in the outdoor classroom, a space which couldn’t fail to inspire!
Handwriting, spelling and neatness was categorically put to one side for these sessions, the emphasis was about exploring language and transferring ideas and thoughts to the page. Suffice to say I was astonished by the results. Perhaps its because I don’t normally get to see young people develop a piece of writing – clipboards and worksheets are banned from my outdoor sessions! Whatever the reason, I was mightily impressed with the talent on show from these young people, all of which embraced the concept of the day and behaved impeccably.
Enough of my rambling, here’s what they came up with:
The slug’s eggs are like crystal-clear diamond; sticky like a wet lollipop, sucked and stuck to wooly jumper.
Crows are a black as the night sky, stalking the worms under the grass. Their beak is as sharp as the teeth on a saw, cutting through the turf.
Walking towards us while we’re the size of a pea, the spider’s face surprises me. Hairy, grey, honey brown and blue eyes.
Perhaps he wasn’t hungry, I’ve not been eaten, but that scary look scared me.
If you are out in the wild, or out for a walk you can look at tracks and see what animals you might find.
They show you where the animals been, where its going; they show you the way to explore. Tracks are nature’s signposts, if you are lost explore more.
Bug’s Life – the honey bee and me
Honey bees come in different shapes and sizes and they have fascinating colours. Their eggs are quite strange too, they look like green balloons.
Their honey in the nest looks like candle wax. So go and look for these amazing facts.
As we were out with James Chubb, we found a rare lesser stag beetle in a piece of log that was rotting away and we brought it to our log cabin and put it in a see-through container.
As we put it in the container t tucked its legs in and stayed so still to protect it and if a spider came up to it wont attack because it’s a vegetarian. So it will just work and carry on what it was doing.
The Lesser Stag Beetle
The lesser stage beetle is very slow, its nearly slower than a dead snail and that’s slow!
To protect itself from the cold, it would dig a deep hole in wood for its home. They could fly for miles, and two legs move at a time.
Slug’s eggs look like a ball of marble floor, shiny, glittering like the moon in the night sky. Precious like diamonds. So valuable they contain the slug’s future.
Cool, singing, muddy and hairy, lovely, fab, slow and long. Good fun, cuddled up deep in the wood.
Lesser stag beetles, they are slow, they are cool, they are the best.
Frogs
Frogs eggs are transparent like a crystal glass window. Frogs eggs are precious like a platinum ant. Frogs like to eat flies, my eyes glitter on frog eggs.
Like a hedgehog I the middle, curled up, the chocolate millipede.
Lesser stag beetle – 6 legs, sharp teeth, like 3 bodies wings crack in the middle, antenna that it smells with.
Birds singing in the wind, blackberries on the trees that the birds were eating. Good nature, worms make tracks which turn into dry mud. Worms make compost.
The leaves turned different colours because it is autumn, and the leaves fall off the trees. We wouldn’t have leaves if there was no sun.
If you out at a place and you see tracks of a mysterious beast, explore instead of wait and minibeasts could pop out of anywhere like a beetle, and not just any beetle, a lesser stag beetle.
Wind rushing, wind rushing is all I can hear from the highest branches where the leaves fall from the trees. I stomp through them as they gracsay. The sky is blue with misty cloud, filling autumn sky like blanket.