Posted in Performances, Piglets (ages 7-11), Saddlebacks (ages 12-18), Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

We had fun on Saturday leading a ‘Words on Wheels’ trail in Hove Park as part of the Council’s Bike Week activities. Children had to ride round and find word clues and use them to write poems about cycling. Here are some of my favourite lines taken from all the poems that were written by wordy cyclists aged 3 to 15:
When I ride my bike I feel
as happy as camping
as fast as a jaguar
as free as a falcon
as happy as when my friends come over
as free as a horse
as happy as sunshine
as free as the first day on holiday
as free as a tiger
as fast as superman
as happy as Christmas
as free as a butterfly.
I am getting my very first bike in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait! Do you cycle? How does it make you feel? Leave us a comment.
Ella
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shadow play (crop), originally uploaded by ༺lifemage༻.
Posted in Everything else, Piglets (ages 7-11) | Tagged Bike week, poem trail | Leave a Comment »
stage door, originally uploaded by slimmer_jimmer.
Just a few weeks to go before we take to the stage at our second Open Mic night! With this in mind, the Piglets and Saddlebacks had some coaching from local performance poet Adam, whose stage name is Invokal. They picked up some great skills and top tips for keeping calm on stage, and then had a go at practicing what they’d learnt. The Piglets were performing a poem together, and the Saddlebacks had some time to scribble a few lines – with the instruction that they had to rhyme. Here’s the last verse of Sian’s poem about poetry and writing itself:
So keep writing,
Fairies,
Or Kids fighting,
Everything in your world
Put it on a page
Before your creativities are hurled
Unwillingly
Into the teenage.
A really interesting idea here Sian, to write about the act of writing. Perhaps some of you could give this a go.
See you on Tuesday,
Lucy
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Laura F and Piglets, originally uploaded by littlegreenpig.
Posted in Piglets (ages 7-11) | Tagged City Reads, The Book Thief | Leave a Comment »

Stealing isn’t a good thing, but borrowing is ok! This week, the piglets and saddlebacks were creating stories, tales and poems from pictures borrowed from Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief. You may have heard that his book has been chosen by City Reads so you might have spotted people around Brighton reading it. City Reads selects a novel for the whole Brighton community to read together over a couple of months, and puts on talks and events based around the book. This week, both groups studied the images from part of the novel, and came up with words, phrases and voices that would give them thoughts for their stories and poems. As ever, there were lots of imaginative and different ideas. After choosing certain pictures, everyone is now working on their very own little booklet which we will finish off next week. It will be great to see all the wonderful ideas that can come from looking at the same pictures.
City Reads also kindly gave the Saddlebacks some copies of The Book Thief to take away and read, a gift much appreciated by all. Make sure you don’t look at the picture story yet Saddlebacks!
So, watch this space for extracts from our stories next week. By the way, if a book thief came and visited you, silently creeping out with a book, which one would you miss the most? Post us your answers.
See you next week,
Lucy
Posted in Piglets (ages 7-11), Recommended books and resources, Saddlebacks (ages 12-18) | Leave a Comment »
Antique Children’s Books – IMG_4171, originally uploaded by greensh.
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Remember the great songwriting workshops before Easter with Omar? Well, here are the results!
The Saddlebacks:
She said my cape is fine
by
The Indestructibles
I’m not scared, I’m two foot tall.
I’ve got this far, I’m indestructible!
I’ll climb and climb, ‘til I reach the top.
I’m going to fly, I’ll never stop!
I’ll climb and climb, rung by rung;
I wish this ladder weren’t so long.
I can smell the sun, the sky is mine,
My cape is red, it’s a victory sign.
I wanted a new one, I said I’d whine and whine,
But my mum she says, she says my cape is fine,
She said my cape is fine, she said my cape is fine.
I’m going to jump, I’ll show them all.
I’m going to fly, I bet I look really cool!
I’ll tell my friends and mummy too,
And so I’ll jump, yeah that’s what I’ll do!
Flying, flying.
Falling, falling.
I wanted a new one, I said I’d whine and whine,
But my mum she says, she says my cape is fine,
She said my cape is fine, she said my cape is fine.
She said my cape is fine…
Piglets:
The Random Ballad
by
The Little Green Funklets
The mean little kitten on a xylophone
Called Neil Armstrong a nincompoop,
A nincompoop, a nincompoop, a nincompoop, a nincompoop,
He called Neil Armstrong a nincompoop!
The pig in a rickshaw turned and said,
“Yeah whatever mate, there’s an egg on your head.”
The kitten then went to Churchill Square
And everyone there was wearing flares,
Wearing flares, wearing flares, wearing flares, wearing flares
And the kitten said, “I don’t cares!”
The pig in a rickshaw turned and said,
“Yeah whatever mate, there’s an egg on your head.”
The mucky mucky dog ate the tamarind food,
The tamarind food, the tamarind food,
The mucky mucky dog ate the tamarind food,
The tamarind food, the tamarind food, oh yeah!
While Venetian hippies
Went to the Evil Aquarium!
The pig in a rickshaw turned and said,
“Yeah whatever mate, there’s an egg on your head.”
Very inventive I’m sure you’ll agree… Post us your comments on the workshop, or the lyrics.
See you next week,
Lucy
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The blog has been a little quiet recently, but we have been very busy!
Our workshops started back after Easter last Tuesday and we’re going to have Laura Atkins leading sessions for the next couple of weeks.
You can also find Little Green Pig taking part in The Book and the Rose Day celebrations this Sunday 26th April in Jubilee Square. As 23rd April is the anniversary of Miguel Cervantes’ death, we’ll be hosting a Don Quixote Word Trail for children aged 7 -11, so come and join in! We’ll be there 11am – 5 pm. Read more about the day on the Brighton & Hove City Council website.
Posted in Everything else, Piglets (ages 7-11) | Tagged Cervantes, don quixote, st george's day | Leave a Comment »

