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Newsletter: SPROUTING GREATNESS

SEEDS TO SCENERY & Science Week

It’s never too early to write a poem about science! This year’s Science Rhymes poetry blog will be called AUSSIE FLORA-VERSE. Did you know some plants remember things?

Your successful poems about PLANTS (flora) will be published in time to celebrate Science Week (15^th to 23^rd August) and Australian Poetry Month. Download the pdf SEEDS TO SCENERY to help you get started and check out previous Science Week poetry blogs too, if you have time!

THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL

At least six of my Science Rhymes have been embraced by Educational Publishers in India to date. As textbooks ask many comprehension questions, when I received the Amity University Press request to include The Beauty of it All in their Year 7 School Textbook (Hummingbird 7), I blogged about my own thoughts on this poem.

Although Amity had agreed to supply me with a copy of the book, it didn’t arrive. When I emailed them earlier this month, they kindly sent images of the relevant pages. I was flattered to discover the student “homework” instructions included reading three more of my FAMOUS poems!

BRANCHING OUT

This year, I’ve been supporting Australian Children’s Poetry and its new Curator, children’s poet Linda Davidson. Helping with the Poetry Prompt blogs, I’ve been asking various artists and illustrators if they are happy to give ACP permission to feature one of their artworks as a Picture Prompt. This results in each artist having a few poems written about their art!

I’ve also branched out into non-rhyming short-form poetry! We hope having picture prompts and calls for simpler poetry formats (rather than predominantly rhyme) will encourage more submissions from children (via parents or teachers). These are certainly worthy ways of improving writing and literacy skills. And seeing your poem being shared with others is a wonderful feeling.

My first Short-Form Mid-Month Poetry Prompt on ACP was the Nonet. I first encountered these during an online course on Science Communication through Poetry with UK’s Edinburgh Napier University last year.

Bookshop

Thank you for your continued interest in Science Rhymes and for reading to the end! Previous Newsletters were sent out to friends, associates and contributors via MailChimp. It is now distributed via direct email (or JetPack subscribers).

Newsletter #42 will be out in September 2026.

Tagged: newsletter, seeds to scenery, sprouting greatness

Category: Newsletters

Posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 at 9:22 am.

Newsletter: START WITH A SPARK!

Homely Neanderthals by Celia Berrell

Home is where the heart is.
For modern man, it’s true.
But many ancient peoples
preferred to wander through.

Nomadic life was simple.
No need to tidy up!
Scavengers would follow
and eat our waste and stuff.

Neanderthals got chilly.
Fire changed how they behaved.
Four hundred thousand years ago
they’d set up homes in caves.

Home was where their HEARTH was.
We’ve found their signs and clues.
Still, many Homo sapiens
like wandering – do you?

Fire facts: Oldest fire-making humans & What is Fire?

PROJECT – AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S POETRY

Australian Children’s Poetry is working towards including quality poems by Australian Children as well as adult authors. Teachers & Homeschool Parents can submit up to THREE best poems in response to a Monthly Prompt. Enter your email address under the Follow Blog banner to receive Monthly Prompts and poems.

Successful poems will appear as: POEM TITLE by FIRST NAME ONLY at SCHOOL NAME & State/Territory. ACP will not publish or correspond on poems that are not submitted via an adult’s email address.

By submitting, parents & teachers are:

Confirming this is the ORIGINAL CREATION of the author(s).
Assuring us AI wasn’t used and nothing was plagiarised.
Giving us permission to publish and archive any accepted poem in the ACP online format.
Still retaining copyright for the author(s).

Send your submissions to Linda Davidson at:
ozchildrenspoetry@gmail.com

FEEDSPOT has listed its 35 BEST CHILDREN’S POETRY BLOGS for 2026.

AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S POETRY is #17 & SCIENCE RHYMES is #19!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November

That’s when we celebrated the completion of the book SCIENCE RHYMES IN THE SEA at CAIRNS AQUARIUM. Dr Hilary Whitehouse (my JCU mentor), Diane Finlay (SCBWI FNQ coordinator), Celia Berrell (author), Sokar Philpot (project mediator), Sharne Lilly (project-made-possible coordinator) & Elijah Roby (illustrator) recited their chosen poems to the fish!

FANGS FOR THE VIPERFISH

Elijah found a model of the weird and wonderful Viperfish at the aquarium. He admitted these silvery drawings had taken a long time to perfect, but had given him the greatest pleasure. Do you like their scarily sparkly toothy grins?

Meeting E.T. At Cairns Aquarium by Kaya 2018

This porcupine fish can change personality
From small, shy and cute, to puffed-up all-angrily.
Oh, E.T. you have such big eyes,
they make it so hard to say goodbye.
I wonder, have you met E.T?
If not, I think you’d better see me!
This porcupine fish melts hearts every day.
A Diodon Globefish and species of ray.
Oh, E.T. you have so much love to share,
In Cairns Aquarium, we can’t help but stare.