🏆 Odes KS2 | Celebrating People, Places & Things

Odes are poems of celebration and admiration — a way for children to express appreciation for something or someone special. Whether it’s an inspiring teacher, a beloved pet, a favourite place or even a much-loved packet of crisps, writing odes helps pupils use vivid description, emotion and imagination.

Through Ode Poems KS2, pupils can:
🌟 Explore descriptive language and figurative techniques
🎭 Develop performance confidence and voice
📝 Write with emotion, rhythm and purpose
🎨 Celebrate people, places and things that matter to them

👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.

📅 You can book me for:

In-person Poetry Days across the UK
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)

➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland

💡 What Is an Ode?

An ode is a poem that praises or celebrates something. Traditionally, odes have a formal structure and rich vocabulary, but in primary classrooms, the focus is on voice and feeling.

Children can write odes about:
🎒 Teachers and classmates
🐶 Pets and family members
🌳 Favourite places in nature
🍟 Food and funny everyday things

The key is to describe and personify the subject with enthusiasm.

👩‍🏫 Ode Example 1: Dreadteacher

(An Ode to a Fearsome Headteacher!)

Dreadteacher

I’m the one they dread to see
I hope you don’t get sent to me
My office door is always locked
The route to me is strictly blocked
I have a name that sounds of fear
In my domain you’ll disappear
To assemblies I sometimes come
Let’s face facts: I’m not much fun
My room they sometimes call a vault
I wander round just finding fault
A frown and stare that’s hard to measure
I’ll call your parents in with pleasure
I’m sometimes here, I’m sometimes not
You won’t believe the power I’ve got
You’ll know when I come in your room
A shout that fills your heart with doom
If SATS results don’t turn out good
I’ll break your bones and drink your blood
When teachers sigh and just can’t cope
Get sent to me
ABANDON HOPE!

💡 Activity ideas:

Tone and Character Study: Ask pupils to describe the “voice” of the Dreadteacher — is it proud, scary or secretly funny? How does rhyme and rhythm add to the persona?
Create Your Own School Ode: Invite children to write odes to other school characters — “Ode to the Caretaker,” “Ode to the Dinner Lady,” or “Ode to My Class Pet.”
Performance Challenge: Use expression and movement. Pupils can add dramatic pauses and “evil” laughter to bring the Dreadteacher to life.

🤠 Ode Example 2: Ms Conroy – The Teacher That’s a Part-Time Cowboy!

Ms Conroy – The Teacher That’s a Part-Time Cowboy!

Doesn’t own a car, she comes by horse
A rodeo in the staffroom of course
Deadly with a stapler, serious and mean
Quickest register you’ve ever seen!
Calls the headteacher ‘Sheriff,’ loves to slap her thigh
A dangerous look deep in her eyes
Finds a fault in everything you do…
Favourite board game? Buckaroo!

She’s a singin’ and a-strummin’ on her guitar.
She’s a cowboy teacher – Yeehaaa!

She likes to stare and likes to drawl
Drivin’ cattle in the school hall
Mosyin’ on the playground, boots all clinkin’
From her canteen she’s a coffee drinkin’
Lassoing the children, dreaming of the prairies
Shootin’ holes in the dictionaries
Fast as lightnin’, quick on the draw
Lights a campfire on the corridor

She’s a singin’ and a-strummin’ on her guitar.
She’s a cowboy teacher – Yeehaaa!

Born in the wilderness, people say
Can hear the head comin’ from a mile away
Doesn’t say hello, she says ‘Howdy!’
Ruthless when the kids get rowdy
Learned all her skills in the wild wild west
Tamin’ a stallion brings out her best
A dangerous teacher the children said
Job that she’s desperate for: deputy head!

She’s a singin’ and a-strummin’ on her guitar.
She’s a cowboy teacher – Yeehaaa!

💡 Activity ideas:

Sound & Rhythm Workshop: Listen for the poem’s internal beat — how do rhyme and repetition create a “country and western” rhythm?
Create an “Ode to a Hobby”: Pupils write odes about something they love doing — skateboarding, painting, gaming, gardening. Encourage funny exaggeration and repetition.
Drama Extension: Stage a “Wild West Poetry Showdown.” Pupils perform in cowboy hats with improvised props and accents.

🔗 Related: Teacher Poems KS2 | Funny Poems KS2

🧟 Ode Example 3: Spooky Teacher!

Spooky Teacher!

Lots to say
Bad hair day
Thinks she’s cute
Dodgy suit
Just appears
Loves your tears
Staring eyes
Spots your lies
Silent stare
Worst nightmare
Got no friends
Round the bend
On her phone
Likes to moan
Always late
Looks a state
Room’s a mess
Loves to test
Loves red ink
On the brink
Checks your tray
Spoils your day
Hands on hips
Lemon lips
Kept our ball
Wears a shawl
No reprieve

WISH SHE’D LEAVE!!

💡 Activity ideas:

Call-and-Response Performance: Use your method! One pupil reads each line, and the rest shout “Spooky Teacher!” in between. This adds rhythm and humour.
Sensory Writing Task: Ask pupils to list what their “spooky” subject looks like, sounds like and smells like — then turn those details into verses. Spooky Teacher Writing Framework
Visual Literacy: Pupils draw a cartoon of their spooky teacher, annotating how imagery and rhyme build mood.

🌍 Ode Example 4: Here Lies the Body of Planet Earth

Here Lies the Body of Planet Earth

Here lies the body of Planet Earth
That gave the human race its birth
With valleys green and oceans wide
For lack of care the Earth just died

Flowers withered, the sky turned black
And now those humans can’t go back.
Here lies the body all charred and burned
With lessons humans should have learned

Poisoned lakes and lifeless seas
There’s nothing left now save disease
The humans left it to its fate
And now they see it’s far too late.

💡 Activity ideas:

Discussion Starter: What might this ode be trying to teach us? Explore how emotion and imagery express the poet’s feelings about nature.
Science Link: Connect this to topics like climate change or recycling. Pupils can write Odes to Our Planet describing Earth’s beauty and fragility.
Performance Extension: Add atmospheric lighting or background music to create a reflective ending for an assembly. Here Lies The Body Of Writing Framework

🧠 Teacher Pedagogy Notes

Curriculum Links:

English: figurative language, poetic forms, performance
PSHE: gratitude, reflection, empathy
Science & Geography: sustainability, environment

Differentiation:

Support: write short four-line odes with a repeated opening (“O, great…”).
Challenge: write extended stanzas exploring imagery and metaphor.

Engagement:

Odes work wonderfully for assemblies or display work because they celebrate positive values and creative expression.

🌟 Final Thoughts

Writing Odes KS2 gives pupils permission to celebrate the everyday — from teachers to trees, from friends to fish fingers!
It’s a wonderful way to teach emotion, vocabulary and performance.