You Will Need
Texts
Animal Poems compiled by Jennifer Curry
Poems
(All in resources)
Mother doesn't want a dog by Judith Viorst
Black Cat by Suzanne Elvidge
Claws by Tony Langham
Additional poems (see resources)
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Poetry
English Year 3 Summer Poems on a Theme
Animal Poems
Use animal poems to stimulate discussion and analysis. Study description, expanded noun phrases and adverbs. Use them in writing poems about endangered animals.
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.
Unit 1 Core: Read a variety of poems, compare and analyse features
(suggested as 4 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers.
-- Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge.
-- Use relevant strategies to build vocabulary.
-- Articulate and justify arguments and opinions.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments.
-- Speak audibly and with an increasing command of Standard English.
-- Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.
-- Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of listeners.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Read for a range of purposes.
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture readers’ imaginations.
-- Recognise different forms of poetry.
-- Ask questions to improve understanding of a text.
-- Listen to and discuss a wide range of poetry.
-- Check that the text makes sense, discussing understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context.
-- Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
-- Prepare poems to read aloud showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume.
Transcription
-- Increase legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting, ensuring that letters are evenly spaced.
Composition
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write, in order to understand and learn from its vocabulary and structure.
-- Discuss and record ideas.
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively building a rich and varied vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures.
-- Read aloud their writing to a group or the whole class.
Grammar
None for this unit
Teaching and Group Activities for Understanding
Day 1 Teaching
Children bring in pictures of pets or animals they know personally. What is the difference between poetry and prose? Using a resource, children are introduced to some features of poetry: rhyme, rhythm, repetition, format, vocabulary, etc. They identify examples of each feature in two poems.
Activity
They read a particular poem and go through it carefully with a partner to annotate the different features. They discuss different opinions of the poem.
Day 2 Teaching
Revise the different features of poetry discussed yesterday. Explore which of these children like – e.g. do some children prefer poems with a regular rhythm? Do some prefer free verse? Add to our list of useful terminology.
Activity
They read selected poems and identify features. They discuss whether they like each of the poems they read and give reasons for their preferences referring to the features.
Day 3 Teaching
Discuss which are children’s favourite poems and why. Read two poems together: Mother doesn’t want a dog, and Black Cat. Discuss which children prefer and why. Today they are going to select a poem to memorise. What features of a poem will make it easier to learn off by heart?
Activity
Children read and re-read a set of poems. They then select one to learn by heart, and begin this process by writing the poem out so that they have their own copy. They then recite their poem until they have memorised it or part of it.
Day 4 Teaching
Children read Claws with the teacher. Together they identify the features, and then focus on similes and metaphors, discussing the idea of comparison, direct and implied.
Activity
Children look at pictures of different animals and then use comparisons to describe these. They use similes and metaphors in their own writing.
Unit 2 SPaG: Tense: present and past progressive and perfect form
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
None for this unit
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss a wide range of poetry.
-- Participate in discussion about poems that are read to them.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write.
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally progressively building a rich vocabulary and a range of sentence structures.
-- Assess the effectiveness of their own writing and suggest improvements.
-- Discuss and record ideas.
-- Propose changes to grammar and vocabulary.
-- Read aloud their own writing, using appropriate intonation.
Grammar
-- Revise the progressive form of present and past tenses (Y2).
-- Use the perfect form of the verb in contrast to the simple past tense.
You Will Need
Poems
(All in resources)
Night Prowler by Jennifer Curry
The Fox's Foray by Anonymous
Useful Texts
Animal Poems by Jennifer Curry
Websites
For Day 1: Urban foxes from www.YouTube.com.
For Day 2: Friendship with a fox from www.bbc.co.uk.
Presentations
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
Teaching and Group Activities for Understanding
Day 1 Teaching
Show and read Night Prowler and discuss, asking if children have seen or heard of urban foxes. Share the video clip on urban foxes and briefly discuss. Display and go through the PowerPoint on simple present/past tenses and progressive form, doing the exercises.
Activity
Children work with a compatible partner to change sentences into the progressive form. They re-write each sentence, using the correctly matching tense and then adding additional clauses if appropriate.
Day 2 Teaching
Re-read the poem and then watch a short video clip. Children draft a poem in the same style as that read. Use the PowerPoint on Tenses to learn about the present perfect form of the past tense. Do the exercises as you go.
Activity
Children look at pictures and write descriptive sentences, using the perfect form. They revise how to form this and say each sentence orally before writing it.
Day 3 Teaching
Enlarge and display two poems: The Fox’s Foray and The Fox was running…. Explain that children will be writing their own poem, using the present progressive and the perfect form of the past tense. Identify both these tenses in the poems.
Activity
Children work together to compose 3 or 4 sentences about the fox using the progressive form of the verb in each. They then write 3 or 4 sentences using the perfect form of the verb. Children then work individually to improve their sentences.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Tenses Powerpoint
Revise simple past and present tense verbs. Look at the present and past progressive forms and how they are used to indicate the action is continuing. Learn how the present perfect form is used. Includes exercises to practise using these different forms.
Unit 3 Comprehension: Reading animal poems, comparing and creating an anthology
(suggested as 5 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Articulate and justify arguments and opinions.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments.
-- Ask relevant questions to extend understanding and knowledge.
-- Speak audibly and with an increasing command of Standard English.
-- Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss wide range of poetry.
-- Check that the text makes sense, discussing understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context.
-- Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
-- Recognise different forms of poetry.
-- Identify themes and conventions.
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture interest and imagination.
-- Prepare poems to read aloud showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume identifying how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning.
Transcription
-- Increase legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting, ensuring that letters are evenly spaced.
Composition
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary.
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write.
-- Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.
-- Read aloud their writing to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone so that the meaning is clear.
Grammar
None for this unit
You Will Need
Texts
Animal Poems compiled by Jennifer Curry
Poems
Message for the Mosquito who shares my bedroom by Pie Corbett
Pelican Pelican by Celia Warren
Escapades by Michaela Morgan
The Sloth by Colin West
Iguana by Paul Cookson
Mice by Rose Fyleman
Additional poems (see resources)
Websites
For Day 1: Make a simple book from www.YouTube.com.
Teaching and Group Activities for Understanding
Day 1 Teaching
Explain that, over the next week, children will create and publish their own anthology of poetry about animals. Each day they will read a variety of poems, discuss their features and select one to include in their anthology. Show the first set of poems and identify their features.
Activity
Children in a group share the poems and take turns to read each one in pairs. They discuss the features of each poem and each select one poem to write nicely in their anthology.
Day 2 Teaching
Display and read a poem. Discuss what it is that makes us like a poem. Display Why I like this poem best (see resources). Ask a child to choose a speech bubble they agree with. Have a discussion about the features which appeal to different children and why.
Activity
Again share the poems for the day amongst each group of children. They discuss the poems in pairs and each select one to write in their anthology. They must give a reason for their choice.
Day 3 Teaching
Enlarge and display Message for the Mosquito Who Shares my Bedroom from Animal Poems. Discuss its features and then display Mice. Have a discussion about which children prefer. Explain that today they will select another poem for their anthology and learn it by heart.
Activity
Children sit in groups according to poem chosen from today’s selection. They write their chosen poem in their anthology, using good handwriting. They recite their poem several times, silently or very softly, so as not to disturb others who are learning their poems.
Day 4 Teaching
Enlarge, read and discuss in turn Sloth and Iguana and Escapades. Each poems plays with language in one way or another. Talk about how this can make us see the animal in a new way.
Activity
Once again children choose a poem from a selection provided – all of these use language play. They write their favourite in their anthology. They need to make sure that they use the appropriate writing style to make the playfulness clear – e.g. writing text upside down, or using italics.
Day 5 Teaching
Enlarge and read Pelican Pelican from Animal Poems. Discuss the features of the poem – rhyme, rhythm, format. Put children in pairs. Say that each child has to make a note on their white board of their score for the poem out of 5. Discuss the basis for our scores.
Activity
Spread out the poems for each day on different tables. Children rotate around the tables in order. Each child must select two poems to write in their anthology and complete it. Make sure that they write both poems neatly and with clear handwriting. They do not want to spoil their anthologies!
Unit 4 SPaG: Identifying and using adverbs to modify verbs and adjectives
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond to others.
-- Articulate and justify opinions.
-- Participate in collaborative conversations.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss wide range of poetry.
-- Participate in discussion about poems that are read to them.
-- Recommend poems they have read to their peers giving reasons for their choices.
-- Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally progressively building a rich vocabulary and a range of sentence structures.
-- Assess the effectiveness of their own writing and suggest improvements.
Grammar
-- Use the terminology noun, verb, adjective, adverb given in Appendix 2.
-- Express Time, Cause and Place using adverbs.
-- Use and punctuate adverbs (adverbials).
You Will Need
Poems
(All in resources)
The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sheep in Winter by John Clare
Rabbit Poem by Pamela Mordecai
Additional poems in resources
Texts
Animal Poems compiled by Jennifer Curry
Websites
For Day 1: Secret Life of Farm Animals - cows from www.bbc.co.uk
For Day 3: Secret Life of Farm Animals - rabbit from www.bbc.co.uk
Presentations
SPaG powerpoint: Adverbs and how to use them
Teaching and Group Activities for Understanding
Day 1 Teaching
Show and read together The Cow. Discuss the poem. Share BBC video clip on the farmer who loves cows. Display PowerPoint on Adverbs Slides 1 to 10. Ensure that children understand that adverbs tell us something more about verbs. Rehearse how we can add adverbs to tell us HOW, WHEN or WHERE an action happens or an event occurs.
Activity
Children work with a compatible partner. Give out the Exercise sheet: Loving cows.
They work through the exercise, working with their partner to identify and add the adverbs, and to say whether they tell us more about time, place or cause.
Day 2 Teaching
Display and read the poem Sheep in Winter. Discuss how different this is from The Cow. Discuss features and take a vote on which children prefer. Display PowerPoint on Adverbs Slides 11 to the end. Ensure that children realise that adverbs can modify adjectives as well as verbs.
Activity
Hand out the Animal Adjectives and Adverb sheets. Children should have one each but can work in pairs. Children discuss each animal description. Some suggested adverbs are provided on the cards below the descriptions. But children can also think of their own.
Day 3 Teaching
Revisit slides 9 and 10 from the PowerPoint: Adverbs. Make sure children recognise how adverbs modify verbs. Then revisit slides 14 and 15 to rehearse how adverbs also modify adjectives. Show video clip 'Peter the rabbit has some unlikely friends' from www.bbc.co.uk and read together the Rabbit Poem.
Activity
Children read and enjoy 3 or 4 poems together, giving their opinion as to which poem they prefer and justifying it. They then work together to do an adverb search on some extracts from these poems.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Adverbs and how to use them PowerPoint
Understand how adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. Consider where to place the adverb in a sentence and learn how to punctuate correctly when using adverbs.
Unit 5 Composition: Reading animal poems; writing a poem based on those read
(suggested as 4 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Articulate and justify arguments and opinions.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments.
-- Ask relevant questions to extend understanding and knowledge.
-- Give well-structured descriptions for different purposes.
-- Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss wide range of poetry.
-- Check that the text makes sense, discussing understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context.
-- Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
-- Recognise different forms of poetry.
-- Identify themes and conventions.
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture interest and imagination.
Transcription
-- Increase legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting, ensuring that letters are evenly spaced.
Composition
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar.
-- Discuss and record ideas.
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally, building on a varied and rich vocabulary and an increased range of sentence structures.
-- Assess the effectiveness of their own writing and suggest improvements.
-- Propose changes to grammar and vocabulary.
Grammar
None for this unit
You Will Need
Texts
Animal Poems by Jennifer Curry
Poems
The Whale's Hymn by Brian Patten (see resources)
Additional poems (see resources)
Teaching and Group Activities for Understanding
Day 1 Teaching
Show The Whale’s Hymn from Animal Poems. Discuss this poem and children’s reactions. Remind children of the features of poetry from Units 1 and 3, and rehearse these. Show the other poems children will be reading today and discuss.
Activity
Set out the poems so children in a group can share them and take turns to read each poem in pairs. Display Features to look for where children can see it. They discuss the features of each poem with a partner, and each select their favourite poem to write out nicely.
Day 2 Teaching
Children discuss what made them choose the poem they wrote out yesterday. They refer to features. Explain that they will be writing a poem in response to this poem. So today we shall make some notes about our responses to our chosen poem – how it makes us feel and how it makes us see the animal in a new way.
Activity
Children work with others responding to the same poem, with several copies of that poem on each table. Use What do I feel? Prompt sheets (see resources). Encourage children to use it to stimulate their thoughts. They write a sequence of sentences responding to their chosen poem.
Day 3 Teaching
Today children will start writing their poem. Discuss which endangered animal or bird each child will choose. Agree the purpose of our poem. We will want it to affect the reader – to make them sad that this animal is endangered, and to want to help us protect it.
Activity
Display Helpful Words. Children start planning their poem. Stress that, at this stage, they are just writing ideas – phrases, descriptions. Encourage them to use expanded noun phrases and also adverbs in their writing. These help them to describe something exactly as they wish to. Each word in their poem needs to be carefully chosen.
Day 4 Teaching
Discuss how children felt they got along yesterday. Remind children that writing a poem is not quick or easy. We will need to have tried out several versions of each line. Today they will start with what they did yesterday and improve it. Stress that poems do not need to be long, but they do need to persuade the reader of the value of the animal or bird.
Activity
Children return to their poems from yesterday. They read these quietly but aloud to themselves. They make improvements to particular words or phrases. Once they are happy with their poem, they write it out in best, using neat, legible handwriting.