This text based, 5 session English planning explores the sights, sounds, smells and emotions of World War II. The focus is on experimenting with personification to create strong imagery and make effective language.

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
• Build vocabulary
• Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations
• Speak audibly and fluently
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates

Reading comprehension:

• Make comparisons within and across poems
• Learn poetry by heart
• Prepare poems and plays for performance
• Ask questions to improve understanding
• Evaluate authors’ language choice
• Explain and discuss understanding of reading

Writing composition:

• Note and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research
• Enhance meaning through selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary
• Describe settings, characters and atmosphere
• Use organisational and presentational devices to structure text
• Propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
• Use consistent and correct tense
• Perform own compositions using appropriate intonation, volume and movement

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

Blitz by Mary Désirée Anderson

Poems for this unit can be found in: Poems from the Second World War ed. Gaby Morgan or online.

Others from Poems from the Second World War ed. Gaby Morgan: Autumn Blitz by Frances Cornford, Bombed Church by Elizabeth Berridge, The Black-out by Mary Desiree Anderson & Black-out by Valentine Ackland. My Friend the Enemy by Dan Smith (Ch 1 from Lovereading4kids)