We all joined together for a fun and exciting assembly where we listened to his funny poems and songs, including a silly capybara song that he made up on the spot. Everyone enjoyed joining in and laughing together.

After the assembly, James visited several classrooms and helped us create our own poems. Picasso Class worked together to write a Kennings poem — a type of riddle poem where each line gives clues about something without saying its name, and a poem all about our teacher, Miss Jackson. James encouraged us to use colours and powerful descriptions to make the poem imaginative and interesting, and we worked together to share ideas and turn them into a creative piece of writing.

Here is part of the poem we created:

She’s a blaze of golden yellow,
She’s a burst of silver-blue.
She’s a silk scarf for a winter’s walk,
A sea of stars.
An ocean of calm,
A wave of infinite happiness,
A storm of sheer creativity,
She’s Miss Jackson.

The children had a wonderful time and were inspired to enjoy poetry even more. Lucca said, “I liked how we came up with all the lines in the Kennings,” and also described James as “really entertaining.” Jameson said, “I liked the line ‘She’s a burst of silver-blue,’” while Samuel said, “We would want a poet to visit us again because he was really fun.” Everyone agreed that it was a fantastic visit.