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What is a poem?

A poem is a piece of writing that expresses a thought, an emotion or a story.

Poems can rhyme, use alliteration or have a rhythm, but they don't have to.

Watch: Writing a poem

Watch: Counting poem

There are many different types of poem. One type is a counting poem.

These poems contain some sort of counting, usually counting backwards from ten.

Watch this video to see an example of a counting poem.

Sentences

When you are writing anything (for example, a story or a poem) you need to group your words together into sentences.

There are a few simple rules you need to follow to make sure your sentences are clear.

1. Every sentence needs a capital letter at the beginning.

2. Every sentence needs a punctuation mark at the end, like a full stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).

3. Sentences also need to have a verb in them.

4. Sentences must make complete sense all on their own.

Watch: Buckle my shoe

Activity 1

Take a look at the incomplete counting poem below and see if you can add in words to complete it.

Once you've filled in the missing words, highlight the words that rhyme.

Jenny and her friend were searching Jenny's missing dog Spot. Whilst searching they found some interesting things.

They found seven baby bears

Sitting on rocking chairs.

They . . . . . . six beautiful bees.

Buzzing around the trees.

They found . . . . . . cool cats.

All wearing hats.

They found four . . . . . . pigs.

Playing happily with twigs.

They found . . . . . . tiny mice.

Who were pleasant and nice.

They found two slimy frogs.

Hiding under some . . . . . .

And they found one dog called Spot.

Who had missed them a lot.

Activity 2

Watch ‘The Five little speckled frogs’ video again. Do you know any other poems like this?

You are now going to create your own counting poem!

Think of an animal, bird or insect to write about. Maybe you could choose one from the image below?

Answer these questions.

1. What will your poem be called?

2. What will they be doing?

3. What will they do?

Now have a go at writing or singing your very own counting poem!