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Hamilton have produced books in printed and digital formats specially for children to read in small groups.
Using McGough's Happy Poems, children read and write poems about pets, treasures and magic pebbles. Grammar includes apostrophes and features of written standard English.
We recommend that you start with the core unit, the heart of this English block of study. This introduces key textual material and sets the tone for any further units you wish to teach. These can be selected on the basis of the needs of your class – look at the green icons to identify the unit’s particular focus: SPAG, Composition or Comprehension. Whichever units you choose, we suggest teaching them in order, as there is a built-in progression indicated by the numbering.
‘UNIT PLAN’ gives you a text version of all parts of the unit to use in your school planning documentation. ‘DOWNLOAD ALL FILES’ gives you that unit plan plus all of the associated documents.
Spoken Language
--Use spoken language to develop understanding through exploring ideas.
-- Participate in discussions.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations.
Word Reading
-- Read most words quickly and accurately.
-- Read aloud (poems), sounding out unknown words accurately.
-- Read most words quickly/accurately.
Comprehension
-- Listen to a wide range of poetry.
-- Listen to and express views about a poem.
-- Participate in discussions about poems.
-- Check that the text makes sense as they read.
-- Make inferences.
-- Ask and answer questions.
Transcription
-- Form lower-case letters of the correct size.
-- Start using diagonal/horizontal strokes needed to join letters.
Composition
-- Write narratives about personal experiences.
-- Plan or say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Write down ideas and key words.
-- Re-read what they have written to check for errors.
Writing poetry
-- Evaluate their writing with teacher or other pupils.
Texts
Happy Poems chosen by Roger McGough
Poems
(All in resources)
Tell it to the Dog by Joshua Seigal
Wonderful Worms by Celia Warren
Beetroot by Chrissie Gittins
A Smile by Jez Alborough
The Laughter Forecast by Sue Cowling
The Magic Pebble by Roger McGough
First Morning by John Agard
Additional poem (see resources)
Group Readers
Animal Upsets
Other
Beetroot (uncooked) to show on Day 2
Pebbles – one per child – for Days 3 and 4
Day 1 Teaching
Discuss favourite or familiar poems with the children. Read Tell it to the Dog by Joshua Seigal (pages 44-45) and discuss features and what sort of poems they like.
Activity
In pairs, they re-read Tell it to the Dog (see resources). They think about what they would moan about to their family pet and record this on the Moaning at My Pet writing frame (see resources). Some children write a sentence using different conjunctions.
Day 2 Teaching
Recite the first verse of Tell it to the Dog together. Then read Wonderful Worms (see resources). Discuss reading strategies especially for the pronunciation of the names. Pick a child’s name and ask the class to think of an adjective that starts with the same letter to create their own lines e.g. Ben Worm is bouncy and bubbly, Laurie Worm is lively and lovely etc.
Activity
Organise children into differentiated reading groups for a group reading activity. Most children have the poem Beetroot (see resources). Harder group has A Smile and The Laughter Forecast (see resources). Easier group has Animal Upsets Group Reader (see resources).
Day 3 Teaching
Pass around a pebble. Read The Magic Pebble p115 and then pass around the pebble again and each child says one thing they would like their magic pebble to do. Write each on a post-it note and display on the working wall.
Activity
Children hunt for their own magic pebbles. In pairs they brainstorm ideas they would like their magic pebble to do before recording these on the Magic Pebble Planner (see resources). Some children work as a group with an adult to do this.
Day 4 Teaching
Read the poem First Morning (see resources) and discuss how it makes them feel. Talk about the careful choice of words to create the powerful images.
Activity
Give children their completed Magic Pebble Planner (see resources) from Day 3 and they put their ideas together into their own poem. They write the last verse from the original poem as their last verse. Some children create a group poem and some children try and create 4 line verses with some rhyming.
Animal Upsets
Children will enjoy reading about the naughty things animals get up to (often without meaning to!). With its simple rhyming pattern this is great text to use when studying poetry and rhyme.
You can purchase printed copies of this Group Reader from Hamilton Education
Spoken Language
None for this unit
Word Reading
-- Continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent.
Comprehension
-- Listen to and express views about a poem.
-- Check the text makes sense to them.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Plan or say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Write down ideas.
-- Re-read to check their writing makes sense.
Grammar
-- Learn how to use both familiar and new punctuation correctly, including apostrophes for contractions and apostrophes used to indicate possession (singular).
Texts
Happy Poems chosen by Roger McGough
Poems
(All in resources)
Apostrophes by Roger McGough
In the Tree's Defence by A. F. Harrold
Three Good Things by Jan Dean
Additional Poems (see resources)
Presentations
SPaG PowerPoint: Apostrophes
Day 1 Teaching
Introduce the topic of Apostrophes using Roger McGough’s poem of the same name. Children learn how these can be used to replace missing letters. They look at a PowerPoint: Apostrophes, which provides teaching and examples, and say the missing letters in various contracted forms.
Activities
Children use sentences (Apostrophes for Contractions) in resources, and rewrite contractions in long-form and vice versa.
Day 2 Teaching
Teacher and children read together In the Tree’s Defence, a poem from the collection Happy Poems. Discuss the poem and then use it to remind children of how apostrophes can be used to replace missing letters in contractions. Use the PowerPoint: Apostrophes to teach how apostrophes can also be used to indicate possession.
Activities
Children complete a task which requires that that they distinguish words containing plural ‘s’ and those requiring an apostrophe as they indicate possession. They also write sentences containing a possessive apostrophe.
Day 3 Teaching
Read Three Good Things from the collection Happy Poems. Discuss this poem and compare it to the others read previously. Revise apostrophes using the PowerPoint Apostrophes. Explain that today children will use both contracted forms and apostrophes indicating possession in their own writing.
Activity
Children correct a text about three good things that a rabbit chooses by adding the missing apostrophes. They then produce their own short texts about three good things.
Apostrophes PowerPoint
Children learn about contractions, understanding how the apostrophe replaces missing letters. They then learn how apostrophes are used to indicate possession.
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers.
-- Ask relevant questions to improve understanding and knowledge.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations.
Word Reading
-- Continue to apply phonic knowledge.
-- Read accurately by blending the sounds.
-- Read aloud poems closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge.
Comprehension
-- Express views about poetry.
-- Discuss favourite words/phrases.
-- Listen to and express views about poetry.
-- Recognise simple recurring language.
-- Answer and ask questions: discuss understanding of poems.
-- Discuss favourite words and phrases.
-- Discuss the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known words.
-- Make inferences.
-- Explain and discuss their understanding of poems.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Proof read to check spellings.
-- Write about personal experiences.
-- Write poetry.
-- Write down ideas and key vocabulary.
-- Read aloud what they have written.
Grammar
None for this unit
Texts
Happy Poems chosen by Roger McGough
Poems
(All in resources)
Today I Read a Bus Stop by Kathy Henderson
Just a Book by Joshua Seigal
This Poem by Elma Mitchell
Dictionary Bird by Margaret Mahy
The Teacher's Gift by Steve Turner
Additional poems (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Read children Today I Read a Bus Stop p102 (see resources) and discuss what they have read today. Look at the features e.g. rhyme and rhythm. Display and go through the Possible Features of Poems (see resources).
Activity
In pairs, children re-read Today I Read a Bus Stop and then complete Three Challenges (see resources): 1. Underline the rhymes in the poem.2. Underline the part you think works best and discuss why this is. 3. Discuss and write a sentence saying why you like or dislike the poem.
Day 2 Teaching
Read Just a Book? P100 (see resources) and compare to Today I Read a Bus Stop p102 (see resources). Make a list of all the features they can see and discuss in more detail.
Activity
Organise children into differentiated reading groups. Most have Pencil World Comprehension Questions (see resources), Harder group have Just a Book? Comprehension Questions (see resources) and easier group have Voices of Water Comprehension Questions (see resources).
Day 3 Teaching
Read This Poem p90 and talk about its meaning. Then read The Dictionary Bird p96 (see resources) and discuss the word choice and use of onomatopoeia in the last verse.
Activity
Children write their own choice of words on The Dictionary Bird Feathers (see resources).
Day 4 Teaching
Read The Teacher’s Gift p10 and discuss the meaning and features of the poem. Compare this to Today I Read a Bus Stop p102 (see resources) in particular the rhyme and rhythm.
Activity
Children create their own poems about a teacher using their own style. They can choose a rhyming and rhythm structure using ideas from the poems they have looked at in the unit.
Spoken Language
-- Maintain attention/participate actively in collaborative conversations.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding through hypothesising and exploring ideas.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Participate in discussion about poems read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Plan or say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Write down ideas and key words including new vocabulary.
-- Re-read to check their writing makes sense.
Grammar
-- Use some features of written Standard English.
-- Understand and use grammatical terminology.
Texts
Happy Poems chosen by Roger McGough
Poems
(All in resources)
Don't by Barrie Wade
The Feeling of Having a Good Day by Joanna Limburg
May You Always by Paul Cookson
Yes by Adrian Mitchell
Snakestranger by Anon
Day 1 Teaching
Read a poem, Don’t by Barrie Wade, and use this to enable a discussion of the differences between written and spoken English, the use of contractions, missing words and slang, etc.
Activities
Children study a list of differences between written and spoken English and then write some sentences in spoken English, using the features of this form and basing what they write on a familiar poem.
Day 2 Teaching
Read two poems from the collection and use these to highlight the difference between informal and more formal ways of writing what is said. Study what is said by two characters: one speaking in Standard English and one in a more informal dialect.
Activities
Children use their understanding of the differences between colloquial (chatty) English and more formal Standard English to re-write sentences in the former style. They then write their own sentences using Standard English.
Day 3 Teaching
Children read two poems, one of which is written in dialect. Discuss how we have a wonderful variety of ways of speaking – a massive advantage to us all. Look at these differences, and also at how we can, when we want to, write things using what is often called ‘Standard English’. (Important: see notes before plan.)
Activities
Children re-write what the poem is about in Standard English. They then write a poem of their own in a similar format, but using Standard English.
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers.
-- Maintain attention/participate actively in collaborative conversations.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding through hypothesising and exploring ideas.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Recognise simple recurring language.
-- Discuss favourite words and phrases.
-- Listen to/express views about poetry.
-- Continue to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart.
-- Explain and discuss their understanding of poems.
Transcription
-- Form lower-case letters of the correct size.
-- Start using diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters.
-- Write capital letters the correct size.
Composition
-- Write narratives about personal experiences.
-- Write about personal experiences.
-- Write poetry.
-- Plan what they are going to write about.
-- Write key words and vocabulary.
-- Evaluate their work.
-- Re-read to check their writing makes sense.
Grammar
None for this unit.
Texts
Happy Poems chosen by Roger McGough
Poems
(All in resources)
Three Good Things by Jan Dean
A Feather from an Angel by Brian Moses
The Cupboard by Walter de la Mare
Day 1 Teaching
Read the poems: Three Good Things p24 (see resources), The Cupboard p26 (see resources), and A Feather from an Angel p122 (see resources) and discuss each. Look at the Possible Features of Poems (see resources) and discuss each of the features.
Activity
Children work in pairs and choose one of the poems above. They make annotations to show the features of that poem.
Day 2 Teaching
Display Three Good Things p24 (see resources) and re-read. Go over the Three Good Things Planning my poem (see resources) sheet and discuss possibilities for each section.
Activity
Children re-read Three Good Things p24 (see resources) several times and then they plan their three ideas in the Three Good Things Planning my poem sheet (see resources).
Day 3 Teaching
Display the annotated Three Good Things poem from Day 1 and re-cap the features present in the poem. Discuss how important word choice and style is when writing poems.
Activity
Children begin writing their own poems using their planner. They start their poem with the same opening line as the original, ‘At a day’s end I remember three good things.’
Day 4 Teaching
This part is kept short to allow time for writing. Briefly discuss editing and making changes to improve their poems.
Activity
Children edit and then write their poems in their best handwriting. They then take time to illustrate their poems.
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