Poetry - ballads

In our writing sessions we have been learning about different types of poems. As a class we read "Mulga Bill's bicycle" by Banjo Patterson. We learnt that ballads usually rhyme and are based on a narrative (often folk-lore). We worked in small groups to come up with our own plot for our narrative.

As a group we then created our own ballad poem. Below are our first attempts at ballads that we came up with in our groups. We are still developing our sense of pattern and rhyme so some of our lines may not be spot on just yet.

GROUP 1:

There was a new girl at school today,

And when I met her I didn’t know what to say.

She had long hair up to her feet,

And freckles, to her, weren’t a big treat,

She walked to school, her head held high,

She felt that today she was going to die.

She didn’t fit in, not at all,

As her hair was long and she was very tall,

She met some girls, that were very nice,

They all smelt like sugar and spice,

They walked down to the netball court,

They decided all but one was too short.

The freckled girl stood up tall the ball in her hands ready to shoot she outstretched her hands and let the ball go,

Then a car came by and gave a huge hoot,

Everyone started to cheer as she opened her eyes,

A girl came up and gave her some sighs,

Then she announced that she was her best friend,

And that is my story, that is the end.

By Ella, Christian, Lauren and Angelina

Group 2

There’s a man called Bob

Who thinks he has a perfect job.

Then he gets in a fight

When he got fired, he was in a fright.

He finally told his wife

Then he got divorced for life.

He then becomes a sneaky spy

Then he drops from the big blue sky,

He didn’t do to well

Because he felt unwell

The boss saw him falling

So he started calling.

When the rescue team cane

The rescue caught him in pain.

The man called Bob

he wanted a job

at the fun local zoo

because he wanted to the rare blue cockatoo.

The sight was so amazing

It was like it was blazing

By Carlos, Thavisha, Alec, Kiasha and Mishka

Group 3

In Zlywood forest

The trees are strongest

Underneath the canopy

The trees live in harmony

Hear the sound of the ground

But don’t forget the roots bound

Hear the chainsaw crack the trees

Underneath the canopy’s

See the flight of the great blight

But remember the might of the mighty might

Trees falls like dominos

But if the fall to far they will break my nose

People protested and stoped it fast

Now we live in the past

We saw some birds they were very happy

They liked it a lot as they were very chatty

Now that is why the trees died

And that is where we lied

By Ben Boros, Davis Burke, Paige Tierney, Anna Renshaw and Oakley Paul.        

Group 4
To be added once edited

Group 5

There was an orca in the ocean that showed off his body motion, he hated buoys, nor did he like noise. He hated dolphins that were big and strong, he also hated dolphins that are very long.

On the very same day while he was on his way, he got stuck in some super old muck he yelled out and thrashed about.

Then a dolphin went past quite fast, then at last he saw orca, stuck orca was running out of luck, dolphin let him go and knew he was being a good foe.

By Eden, thommo, demi and James    

Group 6

There was a frog called Jack,

Who packed his sack on his back,

To watch Richmond play,

Would definitely make his day

What full of surprises that day would be,

But Richmond would have the ultimate key.

He tried to play footy with friends,

But couldn’t make it to the end,

He huffed and puffed but couldn’t play,

He thought that he did the mark the day,

He knew tomorrow was a new day.

Mr Froggy has told me how to play,

‘this is a great start to a new fresh day,

finally I’ve got a helper I should of done this earlier now I can do it,

I wont doubt my self a bit.

By Tom, Nelson, Palistha and Lena