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Read a range of humorous poems. Learn to use capital letters to start names and sentences. Explore how 'and' can be used; write sentences to express ideas creatively.
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
-- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations.
-- Give well-structured descriptions and explanations.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding.
-- Participate in discussions.
-- Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding through exploring ideas.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss poems.
-- Link what they read or hear read to their own experiences.
-- Learn to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart.
-- Discuss word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Compose a sentence orally before writing it.
-- Sequence sentences to form short narratives.
Grammar
None for this unit
Poems
Dad and the Cat and the Tree by Kit Wright (see resources)
The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc (see resources)
If You Should Meet a Crocodile by Anon (see resources)
Twas Midnight by Anon (see resources)
Additional poems (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Introduce the humorous poem Dad and the Cat and the Tree (see resource). Which parts were funny? Relate the poem to their own experiences of something going wrong.
Activity
Children have picture cards from the poem (see resource), they work in pairs to sequence them. They make up a new ending for the poem and draw this on a blank card. Challenge children to write a line describing their new ending.
Day 2 Teaching
Read The Vulture and then If You Should Meet a Crocodile (see resource). Ask children to describe each of the animals. Then show them pictures (see resource) and ask them to add more detail to their descriptions.
Activity
Children work in pairs to choose either the picture of the vulture or the crocodile (see resource). They stick this in the middle of a large sheet of paper then write descriptive words around the edge. Some children write descriptive phrases as well as words.
Day 3 Teaching
Read ‘Twas Midnight (see resource) and discuss the play on words. Point out the different contradictions in the poem e.g. A barefoot boy with shoes on. Now read Goodnight (see resource) and discuss how the verbs don’t match the action e.g. I took off my stairs.
Activity
Children have copies of Goodnight, in pairs they ‘correct’ two lines from the poem to make more sense e.g. I turned off the bed/I jumped in the light becomes I turned off the light./I jumped in the bed. Some children ‘correct’ the whole poem and re-write.
Day 4 Teaching
Show children Make a Face (see resource). Children think of other funny faces they can make. Brainstorm some ideas for the types of faces the children might make. E.g. I can make a silly face, / a flat face, a frilly face...
Activity
Children brainstorm different faces they could make and in small groups work together to write a short poem like the example in the main teaching session. Some children use the writing frame (see resource).
Spoken Language
None for this unit
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss a wide range of poems.
-- Learn to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Sequence sentences to form short narratives.
-- Read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and teacher.
Grammar
-- Begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop.
-- Use a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’.
Poems
Where Teachers Keep Their Pets by Paul Cookson (see resources)
Fantastic Facts by John Irwin (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Show and read the poem Where Teachers Keep Their Pets by Paul Cookson (see resource) and emphasise the rhyming couplets. Play a rhyming game by saying a teacher’s name and children say the rhyming pet. Look at the names and highlight capital letters for these Write friend’s names with capital letters.
Activity
In groups, children brainstorm names of staff in the school and copy 5 onto the Who Am I? sheet (see resource) using capital letters. They then draw a picture of that adult. Some work with an adult to write the names using capital letters.
Day 2 Teaching
Remind children about using capital letters for names and revisit these in the poem Where Teachers Keep Their Pets. Locate and highlight the pets. Model writing simple sentences using teacher’s names and pets e.g. Mrs Groat has a stoat. Children do the same on w/bs using capital letters.
Activity
Children use the differentiated writing frames to make rhyming sentences using teacher’s names and rhyming pets. They make sure they use capital letters at the start of each line and for proper nouns.
Day 3 Teaching
Choose a child with a good rhyming name e.g. Ben. Write this on a large sheet of paper, emphasising capital letter. Brainstorm rhyming words e.g. mat, sat … Model turning this into a rhyming couplet e.g. Sit down Ben/ And pick up your pen.
Activity
Children use their own name or another name to generate their own rhyming couplets, making sure they use capital letters for the names and beginning of sentences.
Spoken Language
None for this unit
Word Reading
-- Apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words.
-- Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words.
-- Re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading.
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss a wide range of poems.
-- Learn to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart.
Transcription
-- Spell words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught.
-- Spell using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound.
Composition
None for this unit
Grammar
-- Use a capital letter for names of people and places.
Poems
Peter Piper by Anon (see resources)
Dick's Dog by Trevor Millum (see resources)
Shaun's Short by John Foster (see resources)
Betty Botter by Anon (see resources)
Little Arabella Miller by Anon (see resources)
Where by Dave Calder (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Read Peter Piper (see resource) and discuss the use of alliteration. Now read Dick’s Dog and compare the two. Then read Shaun’s Short. Explain that these are all tongue twisters and are hard to say!
Activity
Children choose one of the poems and highlight the initial sounds that are the same. They then work on decoding, segmenting and blending the words to read the poem. Some children work as a group with an adult.
Day 2 Teaching
Read Betty Botter (see resource) and discuss how the change of vowel changes the sound of the word e.g. Butter, bitter, better, batter, Botter. Read Little Arabella Miller (see resource) and discuss how the alliteration can come at the end of the words too e.g. Arabella, Miller, caterpillar.
Activity
Children re-read the same poem as day 1 with the same partners. They practise getting really fluent at reading the poem and remembering some bits by heart.
Day 3 Teaching
Read Where (see resource) and discuss the play on words and how they have been hidden in the answer. Demonstrate how each couplet works.
Activity
Children compose their own sentences that hide ‘word’ e.g. Where do you hide a word?/ In a crow or dove’s nest. Some children use a resource to support them.
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers.
-- Give well-structured descriptions and explanations.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
None for this unit
Transcription
-- Spell using –ed, where no change is needed in the spelling of root words.
-- Spell the days of the week.
Composition
None for this unit
Grammar
-- Use a capital letter for names of people and days of the week.
-- Begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop.
-- Join words and join clauses using and.
Poems
Peter Piper by Anon (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Show children Peter Piper poem (see resource). Look at the word picked and explain it is the action Peter is doing and discuss the alliteration. Look at the –ed suffix and discuss the use of the past tense. Write Tim on the board and think of actions that begin with ‘t’ e.g. tickled, toddled, tumbled etc.
Activity
Children write different names beginning with different sounds, using capital letters. They generate a word bank of verbs starting with the same letter and with the –ed ending e.g. Boris = bumbled, bounced, bellowed; Sabrina = squealed, squelched, skipped.
Day 2 Teaching
Show the word bank of past tense verbs (see resource). Model a sentence in the past tense and use and between two of the action words, e.g. Boris boogied and bounced; Charlie chased and chuckled. Children make up their own sentences using the word bank on mini whiteboards.
Activity
Children use their word bank they created on day 1. They choose different names and make up as many different sentences as possible. They make sure they use capital letters and –ed endings.
Day 3 Teaching
Look at the days of the week poem (see resource) and play the days of the week sorting game on http://www.roythezebra.com. Show sentences from day 2 and model making them into a poem starting with On Monday Boris boogied and bounced…
Activity
Children use their sentences from day 2 and create a days of the week poem using the writing frame (see resource- 5 or 7 days). They write in the days of the week using capital letters.
Spoken Language
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding.
-- Participate in discussions.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding through imagining and exploring ideas.
Word Reading
-- Apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words.
-- Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught.
Comprehension
-- Listen to and discuss poems.
-- Check that the text makes sense to them as they read and correct inaccurate reading.
-- Participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say.
-- Explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Say out loud what they are going to write about.
-- Discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils.
-- Compose a sentence orally before writing it.
-- Sequence sentences to form short narratives.
-- Re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense.
-- Read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.
Grammar
-- Leave spaces between words.
-- Begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Poems
Stick Insect by Brian Moses (see resources)
Rabbit and Dragon by Tony Charles (see resources)
They're Out There by Nick Toczek (see resources)
Day 1 Teaching
Read the poem Stick Insect (see resource). Discuss pets they have or pets relatives have with a partner then feedback. Now read the poem Rabbit and Dragon (see resources) but don’t discuss this too much!
Activity
In pairs children read the poem Rabbit and Dragon (see resource). They then answer comprehensive questions about the poem. Some children answer the open-ended question 5.
Day 2 Teaching
Read the poem They’re out there (see resource). Discuss what dragons look like. Write some ideas on the flip chart. Re-read Rabbit and Dragon and explain they will write a similar poem comparing a dragon to another pet.
Activity
Children work in pairs or threes to brainstorm ideas for their poem. They decide on a pet to compare and make note in the planner (see resource)
Day 3 Teaching
Re-read Rabbit and Dragon (see resource). Take a template from day 2 and model writing this as a draft poem (leaving some mistakes) in the template (see resource).
Activity
Children write their draft poem in the template (see resource) individually. Remind them not to worry too much about spelling and punctuation at this stage. Some children use the shorter writing frame (see resource).
Day 4 Teaching
Today they will publish their poem! Look at the draft from day 3 and edit it together. Correcting punctuation and spelling mistakes. Begin to re-write it emphasising neat handwriting and finger spaces!
Activity
Children edit their poems and then re-write in their best handwriting and using finger spaces. Finally they illustrate their poems.
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