In this text based, 5 session English planning, by imagining the memories of the River Thames through drama, music and research, pupils write their own central part to the poem. With links to Stone Age history, they develop vocabulary and rhyme, writing noun phrases and using powerful past tense verbs in their work.

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
• Build vocabulary
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates

Reading comprehension:

• Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words
• Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination
• Recognise different forms of poetry
• Explain meaning of words in context
• Ask questions to improve understanding of a text

Writing composition:

• Plan writing by discussing the structure, vocabulary and grammar of similar writing
• Discuss and record ideas
• Compose and rehearse sentences orally
• Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors

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

Poems for this unit are included in the unit and online