Westmorland Dales poetry video No. 1, Notes for Teachers (KS1)
Created in 2020 by Harriet Fraser and Rob Fraser of somewhere-nowhere

---

(Download video notes as a Word document)

We’ve put together this short piece for KS1 pupils as an inspiration to play with poetry in response to a tree that’s local to them. The film follows Harriet as she takes a short walk to an oak tree that she has been visiting most days during lockdown. Along the way she stops to gather ideas for a poem, and at the tree she spends time wondering what it might be like to be a tree - and how the tree will change as summer comes. The film shows her returning later to read a poem to the tree.

The film is 13 minutes long.

Use the video as you wish to. You may want to watch it with the children - or give it to them to watch all the way through. Or you may prefer to pause it along the way and talk about what you see, or ask the children what they notice, or what it makes you think.

Here are some suggested follow-on exercises to do after you’ve watched the film.

You can use these exercises with the following tips:

1 At first, spelling isn’t important: the first stage is to get your ideas onto paper, or your computer. You can tidy up spelling when you are ready to finish your poem.

2 Poems don’t have to rhyme! You may use some rhyme if you want to, but it’s not essential.

3 Read what you have written out loud. This helps you decide if you have chosen the right words. You will also hear the rhythm.

4 If you have an idea but can’t find the words, ask a friend, or your teacher, or someone in your family.

Exercise 1 Responding to the ‘Hello Tree’ poem - and finding a new poem

Try answering some of the questions in the poem as if you are the tree. Choose four words to answer each question and ‘gather’ these together for use in your own poem.

Here are some examples:
• What do you see?
• How does it feel to have roots in the earth - what’s it like down there?
• If a tree can hear, what does it hear?

Write a poem as if the tree is saying Hello to you, and telling you something about its life.

2 Say hello to a tree near you

Do you have a tree near your house, or near your school? Do you have a tree in your garden or the school playground? Is there a tree you pass when you walk to school? Can you see a tree through your window?

What can you see?

• Choose any one tree and spend some time with it, or watching it.
• Make a note of what you see.
• What do you notice about its shape?
• Is it short or tall?
• Does it have many branches?
• Does it have leaves? What colour are they?
• Is it moving in the wind?

What can you hear?

• Write down three or four things that you hear.
• Can you hear birds, or cars, or tractors?
• Can you hear the wind?

How does the tree feel?

• When you get to the tree, as long as it is safe to do so, touch the tree - gently!
• Press your hands against its bark, or touch a leaf. How does that feel?
• What does the ground feel like under your feet? Is it hard, or soft? Is there grass, or mud, or tarmac?
• Any of these things may come into your poem.

3 Your own mini adventure - to a tree

If there is a tree near you that you can walk to with a teacher or someone from your family, choose a dry day and visit the tree. Choose three places to stop along the way. Maybe you need to cross a road or, like Harriet, you may need to open and close a gate. When you stop, listen to the sounds around you and make some notes.

Write a poem about your short journey.

4 How do you feel?

The poem we’ve shared with you doesn’t talk about how Harriet feels. But you might be able to see from the video that she feels happy when she’s with this oak tree, and listening to the river. And she enjoys walking.

If you walk to a tree, how do you feel? Are you cold, or do you warm up? Do you feel calm, or happy? Do you feel sad? Write down three words that describe how you feel.

5 And finally … the dog

If you’ve watched this video and you’d like to write about the dog, go ahead! He doesn’t seem ever to walk in a straight line - and he usually prefers to run. His nose is about 400 times more sensitive than a human nose, so he can smell more than we could ever imagine. And then he uses what he can smell as a guide, like a map. What do you think he can smell?

His name is Guillemot, by the way, but we just call him Guilly.

Harriet & Rob Fraser
February 2021