Whether your school is deep within the heart of Devon or in the big city of Manchester, an enjoyable introduction would be to take the recent Newsround Quiz: ‘ Do you know where your food comes from?’. After all, one in three of the children who took part in the British Nutrition Foundation survey thought that cheese came from plants… There are many inspirations for this book, but the importance of an early love of poetry is high on the list. As a child, Clare Morpurgo – who chose the 40 wonderful poems in the book – was encouraged by her headmistress to learn a new poem a week by heart. Michael himself had a mother who instilled a love of poetry by reading to him at bedtimes. participate in discussion about ... poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say (Y2) Wellington boots, affectionately dubbed “wellies” for short, have been a wardrobe staple since 1817. As time passed, their popularity boomed and so did the amount of styles they came in. From knee-highs to ankle wellies, unisex Wellington boots, and wellies for kids, there’s a boot for everyone. Wellies are must-haves - but not just to be saved for a rainy day! These boots are the perfect piece to complete your look for lots of different purposes and occasions. iii) Use of different media and papers, perhaps combining actual photos of children’s walks with illustrations

Each poem in the book has been carefully chosen by Clare and Michael Morpurgo to complement each part of the story.In the book we follow Pippa, who is visiting her Aunty Peggy, as she takes a long walk through the countryside, going where ever her Wellies take her. As the journey unfolds we experience the idyllic surroundings, rolling hills, village churches, farm animals grazing. We see the rich variety of wildlife and the different people Pippa encounters along the way. Whether you’re in Y2 or Y6, there are so many opportunities to explore and use this book for reading, writing and cross curricular work. There are 40 top-quality poems here and to rush through them would be such a shame. For me, this is an ongoing poetry appreciation project to be explored, worked on and celebrated throughout the year – culminating in the creation of pupils’ own poetry scrapbooks, which they will treasure and share for years to come. Pippa wanders through the Devon countryside, and her encounters with wildlife and people are complemented by poems from English writers

In literacy this book can be used when discussing poetry, poetry anthologies and how they are constructed. More specifically it can be used to highlight how poems present a key theme or idea; children can discuss how these poems are all linked. It can also be used to discuss the effectiveness of language, and how structure and form can affect the way in which words are received in a poem. Encourage the children to draft their stories around both the walk and the poems they have chosen. Techniques and narrative features taken from the original can be explored here: the colloquial style; use of the first person; Pippa’s attention to detail; the use of vivid description and figurative language, etc.

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Begin by introducing the book, the project and establishing your poetry environment. Read the introduction written by the Morpurgos, and ‘The Story of This Book’ (p92) – the final section which explains the origins of Where My Wellies Take Me.

Poetry under the National Strategies, though well intentioned, often ended up being squished into a small stand-alone unit, perhaps for Christmas (yes, that Christmas acrostic poem) or Mother’s Day (variations on I luv me mudder, by Benjamin Zephaniah) and there it stayed.Follow your map and begin reading Pippa’s story. The book can be used as a class reader, but the jump off points are endless. Literacy work on imagery, vocabulary, atmosphere can all be enhanced by the poems – you could even try diary writing as Pippa’s story has a strong first person voice throughout. ii) Pippa’s walk was a kind of holiday journal. Perhaps the children would like to choose somewhere they know well from one of their holidays to create their walk?