You Will Need
Poems
The Bug Chant by Tony Mitton (see resources)
Presentations
Grammar PowerPoint: Noun Phrases
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Poetry
English Year 3 Autumn Poetic Language
Animals and Weather
Read poems, exploring images created through language. Write and perform image poetry about animals and weather. Study noun phrases, prepositions for time, place, cause.
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: Introduction to image poetry; performance; expanded noun phrases
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken language
-- Speak audibly and fluently
-- Participate in performances
Word reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Identify conventions
-- Prepare poems to read aloud and perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination
Transcription
-- Write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher
Composition
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write, in order to understand and learn from its structure, grammar and vocabulary
Grammar
-- Learn the grammar in Appendix 2 (revise expanded noun phrases and key terms)
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Read The Bug Chant by Tony Mitton, first with expression and then in monotone. Identify key features of an image poem and how a performance can enhance or destroy the impact of these features.
Activity
Provide small groups of children with a few lines of The Bug Chant poem to memorise and perform. They should think about expression, articulation and pattern.
Day 2 Teaching
Explore The Bug Chant in more detail, looking at strong rhythm, regular rhyme, contrasts in descriptions and amusing images. Revise noun phrases: words which build an image around a noun. Model how to write stanzas for a Cat Chant poem that follows the same pattern as The Bug Chant.
Activity
Children compose their own ‘chant’ poem based on an animal of their choosing. They include powerful verbs, interesting adjectives and noun phrases.
Day 3 Teaching
Use Unit 1 PowerPoint: Noun Phrases to revise nouns and adjectives and explore noun phrases. Dictate some silly sentences for children to transcribe. They then highlight nouns, adjectives and noun phrases within these sentences.
Activity
Children add adjectives to given sentences and build expanded noun phrases.
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
Noun Phrases PowerPoint
This presentation revises nouns, adjectives and noun phrases, focusing on the building and identification of expanded noun phrases.
Unit 2 Comprehension: Exploration of images in poems; descriptive writing
(suggested as 2 days)
Objectives
Spoken language
-- Participate in performances
Word reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Identify how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary
-- Organise paragraphs around a theme
Grammar
-- Use and understand the grammatical terminology in Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately (nouns, noun phrases)
You Will Need
Poems
Daddy Fell into the Pond by Alfred Noyes (see resources)
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Read Daddy Fell into the Pond by Alfred Noyes and explore the contrasting images created by the poem. Note the use of adjectives and other powerful language. Model drawing a picture for the first stanza and get children to suggest adjectives and noun phrases to accompany the drawing.
Activity
Children draw a picture for each stanza. They discuss possible adjectives and noun phrases to annotate each picture.
Day 2 Teaching
Re-read Daddy Fell into the Pond, as a class. Encourage children to practise their expressive delivery. Explore how poetry can be re-written as prose and model writing a paragraph for the first stanza.
Activity
Children transcribe further stanzas into prose, incorporating adjectives, noun phrases and additional information.
Unit 3 SPAG: Prepositions for time, place & cause; noun phrases, creating characters
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken language
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding
Word reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Discuss understanding and explain the meaning of words in context
-- Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s imagination
-- Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words
-- Identify conventions
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Build a varied and rich vocabulary
-- Discuss and record ideas
-- Create characters
Grammar
-- Use prepositions to express time, cause and place
-- Use and understand the grammatical terminology in Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately (nouns, noun phrases, prepositions)
You Will Need
Poems
Lone Dog by Irene McLoud (see resources)
Presentations
Grammar PowerPoint: Prepositions for Time, Place & Cause
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Read and discuss the form, structure and impact of Lone Dog by Irene McLeod. Note the use of powerful language and identify any unfamiliar words. Use dictionaries to find the meanings of these words.
Activity
In pairs, children re-read Lone Dog and identify words and phrases that build up the image of the dog. They check unfamiliar words in a dictionary, then create a character profile for the dog.
Day 2 Teaching
Re-read Lone Dog and suggest additional imagined details. Use PowerPoint: Prepositions for Time, Place & Cause to explore how prepositions can help add detail to an image. Highlight examples of place, time and cause prepositions.
Activity
Children develop a character profile for an animal of their choice. They use place, time and cause prepositions to add extra detail.
Day 3 Teaching
Recap the terms: noun, noun phrase, adjective, adverb, and time, place and cause prepositions. Model how children can use these to write a poem based on their character profiles from Day 2. In particular, focus on selecting the ‘right’ adjectives, and how to compose prepositional phrases.
Activity
Children write a poem based on their character profile from Day 2. They incorporate a range of powerful language. A poetry frame is available for pupils in need of more simple structure.
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
Prepositions for Time, Place and Cause PowerPoint
Teach children about prepositions and how they can front prepositional phrases, giving information about time, place and cause.
Unit 4 Composition: Extended writing: write and perform image poetry
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken language
None for this unit
Word reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
None for this unit
Transcription
-- Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting
Composition
-- Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
-- Compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
-- Create settings
-- Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggest improvements
-- Propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency
Read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class
Grammar
-- Use prepositions to express time, cause and place
You Will Need
Poems
Wind Poems by Christina Rossetti (see resources)
Animated Tale
Wind Poems by Christina Rossetti (see resources)
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Read and discuss the Wind Poems by Rossetti. Highlight the use of prepositional phrases to create vivid images. Discuss how to position prepositional phrase in a sentence for the best effect.
Activity
Children add prepositional phrases to sentences in order to create more vivid images. They think carefully about the positioning of their prepositional phrases. Children then compose their own sentences.
Day 2 Teaching
Discuss how Rossetti creates images. Children then use a word collection sheet to develop their own adjectives and noun phrases, verbs, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to describe the wind. Encourage children to share good examples.
Activity
Children use their word collection sheets, and sentences from Day 1, to plan and write their own wind poem.
Day 3 Teaching
Share good examples of children’s writing, explaining why they are good. Model how to provide constructive criticism, emphasising that helpful suggestions for improvement are key. With the class, create an editing checklist for use.
Activity
Children share their poems with a partner who critiques it. Children then edit their poems and create a ‘polished’ final written version.
Animated Tale
This is a set of three poems by Christina Rossetti: The Wind, Storm Wind and Whistling Wind. There are rich examples of personification, not just of the wind but of the sea and the waves. Children can discuss the powerful verbs that are used. Easy to memorise and recite, children could bring these poems to life using instruments or any other objects to produce sound and atmosphere.