London's Burning Poetry Performance!

This week, Maple Class took on a classic English poem with incredible energy, teamwork, and drama! We focused on the well-known round, "London's Burning," and turned our classroom into a stage for a magnificent performance.

We started by listening carefully to the poem. The children quickly picked up on the rhythm and the drama of the words, which describe the chaos of the Great Fire of London.

London's Burning! London's Burning!
Fetch the engines! Fetch the engines!
Fire, fire! Fire, fire!
Pour on water! Pour on water!

The main challenge for the children was to work in small groups to come up with actions for every line of the poem. We were so impressed with the level of collaboration and creativity! The groups came up with fantastic ideas! For lines like "London's Burning!", we saw children use big hand movements to show giant flames. For "Fetch the engines!", they pretended to pull ropes and drive fast vehicles. The best action might have been the intense splashing for "Pour on water!" Not only did they act, but they made sure their voices were clear and loud enough for everyone to hear. This is a crucial skill for performance and public speaking, and they absolutely nailed it!

Each group then took turns performing their version of the poem to the rest of the class. It was wonderful to see how differently each team interpreted the words. The children were fantastic at supporting and encouraging each other—even after the performance, they gave brilliant, thoughtful feedback to their classmates.

This lesson was a brilliant way to explore poetry by not just reading it, but by physically embodying the words. Well done, Maple Class, on a truly dramatic and successful English session!