Ten Little Schoolchildren

Year 7 Poetry Unit - Ten Little Schoolchildren

10 little schoolchildren
standing in a line
one opening her mouth too far
and then there were 9

9 little schoolchildren
trying not to be late
one missed the school bus
then there were 8

8 little schoolchildren
in the second eleven
one twisted an ankle
and then there were 7

7 little schoolchildren
trying out some tricks
one went a bit too far
then there were 6

6 little schoolchildren
hoping teacher won't arrive
one flicked a paper dart
and then there were 5

5 little schoolchildren
standing by the door
one tripped the teacher up
and then there were 4

4 little schoolchildren
longing for their tea
one was kept in after school
and then there were 3

3 little schoolchildren
lurking by the loo
teacher saw a puff of smoke
then there were 2

2 little schoolchildren
think that fights are fun
one got a bloody nose
and then there was 1

1 little schoolchild
playing in the sun
whistle blew, buzzer went,
then there were none!

Tasks

1. Cut up the poem for pupils, put the extracts into an envelope, ask the pupils to reconstruct the poem. Teacher tells the pupils that there are 4 lines per verse, and every 2^nd and 4^th line rhyme.

2. When pupils have glued the reconstructed poem onto a piece of sugar paper, ask them to do the following annotations:

underline all lines that are repeated in each verse.
list all of the things that the school children did in a day.
each second line starts with a doing word: list them, and give the proper name for a doing word.
label any examples of alliteration (when two words in a line start with the same letter i.e. sizzling sausages).

3. Read and learn the poem in pairs. Create actions to go with each verse and then perform for the class.

4. Finally, make their own poem in this pattern about one of the following:

10 little disco dancers
10 little footballers
10 little pop stars
10 little teachers

Use this template to structure the poem, counting down from 10 to 1:

10 little ______________
_____ing __________ line
_____________________
and then there were nine .

NOTE: the words in Italics are only examples. You will use different words but they must rhyme, like line and nine or heaven and seven .