This text based, 5 session English planning uses Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem for recital, vocabulary and comprehension work. A collection of images and the poem, What Can Eye Spy? inspires experimentation with words and structured language patterns.

All aspects of poetry from the national curriculum in reading, spoken language and writing composition will be covered across the full set Au1-Su2.

National curriculum skills for this unit:

Spoken language:

• Listen and respond
• Ask relevant questions
• Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives
• Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations

Reading comprehension:

• Listen to, discuss and express views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that which can be read independently
• Discuss and clarify the meanings of words
• Draw on what is already known or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
• Explain and discuss understanding of books, poems and other material

Writing composition:

• Write poetry
• Write down ideas, key words, new vocabulary
• Plan or say aloud what is going to be written about
• Encapsulate what is to be written, sentence by sentence
• Re-read to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and consistently

For schools that use Pathways to Write, this unit aligns with the Sp1 set 1 unit.

Poems for this unit are included with the resources