National Poetry Day

As today was National Poetry Day, Year 4 spent some time practising poetry for performance. This including working on our use of tone, volume, intonation and actions to make our performances engaging for our audience.

We used the poem Pompeii, by Paul Perro. This links to our current topic of Romans, and to the Guided Reading books we have been learning about: 'Escape from Pompeii' by Christina Balit, and 'Pompeii' by Karen Ball. 

Pompeii, by Paul Perro

There once was a Roman city

And it was called Pompeii.

Disaster struck it in the year

79 Anno Domine.

Nearby there was a mountain and

Just in case you’re curious,

I will tell you the mountain’s name –

It was called Mount Vesuvius.

Except it wasn’t a mountain

It was really a volcano,

Something which the Pompeiians

Sadly, did not know.

One August night it spewed out fire,

Lava, rocks - volcanic.

The Pompeiians were all afraid

And ran about in panic.

The city was destroyed that night

With heat and bangs and crashes

And buried under hundreds of tons

Of volcanic ashes.

Pompeii lay lost and forgotten

For hundreds and hundreds of years

Until the 1800s when

It was found by engineers.

They dug the ruins out and now

It’s a tourist attraction today.

Every year millions

Visit ancient Pompeii.