: Feeding Frenzy
Trend task
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Approach: Independent Level: Year 4 and year 8 
access task
Focus: Poetry writing
Resources:Video recording on laptop computer,
4 “Things to think about” cards, 4 individual answer sheets

Plum video

Questions/instructions:

This activity uses the computer.

In this activity you will be writing a poem about seagulls feeding. Before you write your poem you will see a video which will help you to think of some good words and ideas.

Hand out individual answer sheets.
You can write your ideas on the page that says “Ideas” - but this is not your poem.

Point out “Ideas” page.

We’ll watch the video now, and you can try to write down some good words and ideas for your poem.

Click the Feeding Frenzy button.

Now it’s time to write your poem using your own words and ideas. You’ll be writing your poem on the page that says “Write your poem here”.
Point out page. Hand out “Things to Think About” cards.

››
Click here for exemplars

 

VIDEO SCRIPT:
You’re going to start this activity by seeing and hearing some poems.
You will notice that the poems have been written in different ways.
(Three poems displayed one at a time and read aloud. See poems below.)
In this activity you are going to write a poem.
To help you get started with your ideas, you’ll see a short video showing seagulls. As you watch the seagulls, try to think of some good words and ideas that you could use in your poem. The video will start now.

(Video of seagulls fighting over a parcel of chips.)
Now it’s time for you to think about your poem. Here are some things to think about: (“Things to Think About” card read aloud.)
Here is the video again. (Seagull video repeated.)
Feet
by John Parker

We can scratch
we can bounce,
we can cling
and run
and pounce.
On the ends of our legs,
we have hooves and claws,
waggling flippers,
furry paws –
we’re glad our feet
don’t look like yours!

Jet-Whales
by John Parker

I think that jetplanes
have tails
like whales.
Jet-whales surf waves of clouds
dive in jet-streams,
and swim the huge, high
oceans of the sky.
Sometimes they trail a white wake
as they make
their piercing jet-whale song.
Even when they’ve gone
I hear them singing,
singing strong and long,
strong and long.
Write a Poem
by Desna Wallace

Write a poem –
make it whistle,
make it whisper
make it whirl.
Write a poem –
make it happy,
make it hiss,
make it howl.
Write a poem –
make it spooky,
make it squirm,
make it squawl.
Write a poem –
make it yodel,
make it yelp,
make it yours.

% responses
2006 ('02)
y4
y8
Line form:
(followed poetic conventions)


consistently
9 (10)
26 (22)
mostly
16 (12)
26 (35)
somewhat
29 (28)
28 (29)
not at all
46 (50)
20 (14)
Sense of “feeding frenzy” conveyed:
extremely strong
2 (0)
11 (8)
quite strong
8 (6)
23 (24)
moderate
26 (20)
35 (26)
very little or none
64 (74)
31 (42)
Clarity and coherence:
very good
4 (5)
21 (18)
good
26 (18)
41 (39)
moderate
40 (42)
27 (31)
low
30 (35)
11 (12)
Appeal to wider audience:
(appropriate to share, read aloud,
relates to seagulls)

excellent/very good
2 (0)
14 (11)
good
16 (14)
33 (26)
moderate
34 (29)
34 (40)
low
48 (57)
19 (23)
Total score:




8–12
6 (3)
33 (31)
6–7
14 (12)
23 (15)
4–5
16 (17)
19 (25)
2–3
31 (27)
15 (21)
0–1
33 (41)
10 (8)
Subgroup Analysis:
Year 4

Year 8

Commentary:
On average, year 8 students performed much better than year 4 students on this poetry-writing task. There was a slight improvement between 2002 and 2006 at both year levels, and only a modest difference in the performances of boys and girls at year 8 level.
MID RANGE EXEMPLARS:
 

YEAR 4:     
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Title: Frensefedin

Secols (Seagulls) fight like cats and dogs
Secols fly like Plans (planes).
Secols Screch like cats and dogs
Swoms (Swarms) of Secols are fun to chas abawt.
Secols are fun I saye
Seagulls eat eney (any) food that thay see.

Title: Feeding Frenzy

There are some seagulls fighting
Over chips screeting grasping for
Their chips eating fast before
Others get Theirs scrething, gasping
Catching more and more jet planes
Coming for lunch. Chasing each other
The end

Title: thouth the cloud
I sort I saw a bird. But
it was a seagull down
it went thouth the clouds
he saw afest but he sort
it was a bread thousand
of bird flying down like a
rocket

Title: Yum Fish and Chips

Seagulls
Enjoying
All
Gustly
Ugly
Lumpy
Lush
Scraps!

Title: Seaguls squake

Seagulls Squake while
eating fish and chips
and munching down lunch
gulls from far and wide
use there beak to peak there
lunch, lunch, lunch.
learking around for more to eat
Seagulls Squake

YEAR 8:
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Title: Sighting Seagulls
Seagulls,
Seagulls as far as I can see,
Seagulls,
Seagulls are stealing food off of me,
Seagulls,
Seagulls are fighting,
Seagulls,
Seagulls are ready for sighting
Seagulls,
Seagulls can be pesky critters,
Seagulls,
Seagulls ate our fritters!
Seagulls,
Seagulls were biting my hand,
Seagulls,
Seagulls are in my band!

Title: seagulls

Squking seagulls
Eating wanting food.
Angre seagulls made with eatother
Get me food
Un pulite
Lunch I nead lunch
Lashing
Seagulls
Eating
Attacking
Tired
Intellingince
Nastey
Eluding

Title: Seagulls

Flying around like wild beasts of the sky
Skauking and screeching all over a warm meal
Fighting each other for bigger pieces.
Again and again they’ll come back for more
Only to find there’s nothing left.

Title: Sea guls feeding

As loads come flying down
Making lots of sound
Scraching for some food not to
Miss out
All just coming in crowding in
Grabing a couple of the chips
With there orange beaks then scram
Off the table then back for more

Title: None
irritating, hungry, noisy bunch
Always wanting a little crunch.
cawing, clawing squealing and talking
never actually doing much walking
Flying creatures in their feature
sometimes end up on a T-shirt
Tourists try to feed their bellies
but this is what happens on Teli.

HIGH RANGE EXEMPLARS:  
YEAR 4:    
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Title: Seagulls At Feed
Seagulls, Seagulls everywhere,
Screeching,
Squaking,
Squealing
A huge white cloud drops down
To rest
It swirls
Soars and
Snatches
It’s favourite meal is here
The noise meter reaches 100
A fight
A squabble
An argument
Then as if the leader called Up up and away
They left
Licking their lips

Title: Seagulls feeding
While seagulls are feeding
They screach
They squak, They scream like hawks
While seagulls are feeding
It’s nasty work
They fight
They snach
Like opening a hach

Title: Feeding Frenzy

Squarking constantly
Envy is what posesses them
Actually deserving of someones dinner
Greedy monsters sore and swoop
Untrained flyers always hungry
Lurking around staring
With their beady eyes
Lovely but always screaming
So demanding

Title: Scwoky birds

Segals scwork and scwork
They fly and dive all around
Eating all your lovely food
Flapping wings so big and strong
Hungry scavangers ripping paper
Strong beaks to eat the food
Not wipraining but so loud
As they weil aroud you head
And then get ready to dive and eat your food

Title: Seaguls Feeding
Seaguls
Squaking,
Screching
Scrambleing trying to get a bite to
eat.
Seaguls
Flapping,
Fighting
Figuring out the best way
to get to the food.
YEAR 8:
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Title: Sea Gulls
A cloud of white rolls in.
Lunging down sharply
Ruffled feathers attack
Gobbling despretely
Intense fighting, pleeding to eat
Food evaporates
Pudgy gulls trudge off.

Title: Feeding Frenzy
Savaging seagulls sweeping through the sky
Were wondering when is the first one gona die.
There fighting like mungruels all packed in a bunch.
There fighting for survival all over some lunch.
Im wondering why can’t they share.
But I can tell they don’t even care
Oh my gosh they are so rude!

Title: Squaking Seagull

As I look out towards the beach I see
Seagulls fighting for food
Fiesty seagulls squirming through trying to get out of the crowd.
Seagulls yodelling, singing there ear-piercing songs
Whirling round and round and round trying to get the food first.
I see seagulls pouncing on each other making the food there own.
Swarming through trying to see what the commossion is all about.
Visious, angry, hungry seagulls
Awaiting something more for there hungry stomachs
Embracing the adoring taste of fish + chips.

Title: Mine!
Mine! Mine! Mine!
They seem to say
As they strike again
And again,
Bouncing back
Like a ball and string
Wings flapping, flying
In and out,
No one wants to miss out.
The smell of Fish and Chips
Is clear in the air
There’s no stopping them now,
Now that they have,
Grabbed their chance,
Food is food,
And they want it,
Oh, they want it bad.
Mine! Mine! Mine!
They say,
Mine! Mine! Mine!

Title: Feeding Frenzy
Sitting, flying
Swooping diving
nipping each other for food
Packing, scratching
cawing and flapping
and being so awfully rude.
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