The Alphabet of the Trees - A Guide to Nature Writing, by Christian McEwan and Mark Statman.

Sharing Poems by Bob Bibby and Sue Priest published by NATE. This book is a learning resource full of poems and activities.
The poems are drawn from a wide range of contemporary and traditional sources and thestructure is intended to provide teachers with three sets of poems andrelated materials for each term in Year 3 to Year 6. It links closely withthe text level requirements for poetry in the National Literacy Strategy at Key Stage 2 and is equally suited to use in Primary 3-7 classes in Scotland. In particular it contains writing, reading, speaking and listening activities on sense, and shape, concrete poems, performance poetry, word puzzles and humorous poetry, school poems, poems about feelings, haiku,cinquains, epitaphs, kennings, limericks and riddles. www.nate.org.uk Sharing Poems also comes on CD and cassette and can be photocopied.

Exploring Poetry 5 -8, by Jan Balaam and Brian Merrick
This book has Grown out of two years' shared work in the author's classroom and includes many poems including detailed suggestions
on how to use them and a includes a comprehensive book list. www.nate.org.uk

Exploring Poetry 8-13, by Brian Merrick
This book further develops ideas from the previous book. www.nate.org.uk

Poetry for the Early Years, by Angela Buckle Published by PCET wallcharts developed in collaboration with NATE.
Published by David Fulton. This comprises eight poetry posters providing a visual starting point for the class. They are accompanied by a guide for teachers which covers the main teaching points, activities are provided for each poem and copies of the poems which can be duplicated for pupils.

Rap It Up, by James Carter and published by Questions Publishing Company (2000)
This is designed for use within the Literacy Hour at KS2, in Primary 3-7 inScotland. The book consists of an anthology of rap poems, together with advice for teachers on reading, writing and performing raps, activity sheets and suggestions for workshops. Rap poems by a variety of authors are included. The raps represent a range of voices, tones and subject areas. They will provide teachers with many opportunities to use poems as models, to explore the form and content of rap poetry and to develop pupils' performance and accompaniment skills.

Mini Beasties, by Michael Rosen published by Firefly Books. This is a witty anthology of poems from around the world, combined with illustration which brings the 'beasties', to life.

We Animals would like a word with you, by John Agard published by Random House Children's Books Again, similar to the above combining poetry and illustration.

Exploring Scottish Seashores, by John Baxter and Fhiona Galloway. Environmental awareness for children

'Blue Sky, green grass' a day at Lawthorn Primary, by Gerry Cambridge and P6 at Lawthorn Primary School.

Scottish Landscapes, by Alan and Moira McKirdy. Environmental awareness for children.

Nothing But Heather! By Gerry Cambridge, nature poetry combined with the author's own photographs.

The Scottish Poetry Library

The Scottish Poetry Library is a useful source of support. They have other branches throughout the country in public libraries in Elgin, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Stornoway, and the Scottish Borders. Of particular importance is their children's section which provides a large amount of printed support material. The library also produces printed literature featuring lesson plans which can be used as the basis for creative writing lessons, and information about local poets who have experience conducting poetry workshops in schools.
The SPL is an important and valuable source of support when teaching with this program

Contact details: 5 Chrichton Close, Canongate,Edinburgh, EH8 8DT, Tel: 0131 557 2876 Fax: 0131 557 8393
Email: inquiries@spl.org.uk www.spl.org.co.uk
Opening times: Mon to Fri 11.00 to 18.00 Sat 12.00 to 16.00

Useful addresses

Scottish Book Trust,
Scottish Book Centre, 137 Dundee St,
Edinburgh, EH11 1BG Tel: 0131 229 3663
Gaelic Books Council,
22 Mansfield St, Glasgow, G11 5QP Tel: 0141 337 6211
Scots Language Resource Centre
A.K. Bell Library, 2-8 York Place, Perth, PH2 8EP
01738 440199
The Poetry Society
22 Betterton Street, London, WC2H 9BU
020 7420 9880
The Poetry Library
Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre
London SE1 8XX
020 7921 0943

Discovering Poetry Project Generic Worksheets
This 2 page Generic worksheet features in the Discovering Poetry Project and is available to be printed out and used as part of a literacy lesson. The worksheet is intended to provide a resource to assist with the teaching of the creative writing process and the writing of poetry in the classroom. Under teacher guidance the pupil is encouraged to choose and draw the subject matter in the space provided in Worksheet 2. Worksheet 1 assists in the creative writing process by guiding the child through a series of questions based on stimulating the 5 major senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. The objective is to use this process to generate idea's suitable for use in a poem written in worksheet 2. The lesson is complimented with the addition of real life objects such as bird hair, crab claws etc. The worksheet has been designed in conjunction with the Scottish Poetry Library and meets with their full approval. Please click below to download the worksheet: