Poetry

Objectives

To enjoy independent and shared reading of poems

To share a review of a text, summarising what it is about and expressing opinions about it.

Today's Lesson

Spelling

Look at the words below and do a pre-test using the dictation. This means that you are checking how well your student can spell these words before you teach them. You do not need to focus on the words your student spelled correctly the first time.

Rule: The sound spelt 'ou' (e.g. couple, touch... etc.)

country
young
touch
double
trouble

Dictation

I live in a hot country.
The baby is very young.
It is nice to touch the soft teddy bear.
I sleep in a double bed.
If I am naughty I get in trouble.

Introduction

Tell your student that today you will be starting a unit on poetry. To begin, assess your student's background knowledge about poetry. You can do this by using a KWL chart (as in previous weeks) allowing them to write what they already know. To prompt discussion, ask your student the following questions:

Why do people write poetry?
What makes poetry a unique form of writing?
What do they like and dislike about poetry?

It is a good idea to record this either on the KWL chart or on the back of it.

The poetry rubric contains criteria for a successful poem.

📄 READ - Poetry Rubric

Main Activity

Provide your student with examples of poetry. You can use the ones provided below or ones you are familiar with yourself. Be sure to include some free verse poems so they understand that not all poetry rhymes. Model how they are read. Discuss what your student notices (topic, meaning, language, voice) and what they liked and didn’t like about the poem. Compare the poems that rhyme to those that are free verse. You can use a Venn diagram to do this if you like!

📄 READ - The Bug Chant by Tony Milton

READ - Daddy Fell into the Pond by Alfred Noyes (AllPoetry)

READ - Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry for Kids (Free Verse)

Citations

[1] allpoetry.com [2] www.poetry4kids.com