In this text based, 5 session English planning, pupils use ideas from this traditional trick poem as well as poetry and illustrations from The Barefoot Book of Earth Poems to write about an imaginary journey. They are inspired by Icelandic landscapes and surrealist art to create similes and investigate different forms for their nonsense-style poem.

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
• Articulate and justify answers
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates

Reading comprehension:

• Listen to and discuss a wide range of texts
• 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
• Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

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 Su1 set 1 unit.

Poems for this unit can be found online or included with the resources. They also feature in The Barefoot Book of Earth Poems ed Judith Nicholls