Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Big Picture
Through this teaching sequence, children will explore the way in which some poets use settings and rhythm to engage
and entertain readers. Understanding how a descriptive is created by poets will help children to use these techniques within their own writing. Children will be able to write a poem with a steam train rhythm and descriptions of local
settings to engage and entertain readers.
Phase 1: Enjoy and immerse
Children analyse the stylistic features of the source text, ‘From a Railway Carriage’.
Phase 2: Capture and organise
Children begin to develop ideas for creating their own descriptive poems based on a train’s rhythm.
Phase 3: Collaborate and compose
Children undertake supported writing sessions to develop the content and structure of their poems.
Phase 4: Write independently
Children write, edit and present their own descriptive poems, using rhythm to engage and entertain readers.
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Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Main source text
Treasure House Anthology Sequence 11 text. Treasure House Online, Year 5, Comprehension Unit 11: Poetry: ‘From a Railway Carriage’, Robert Louis Stevenson
Extra source texts
‘Hand on the Bridge’, Michael Rosen (see Anthologies)
‘Night Mail’, W.H. Auden (see Anthologies)
Background knowledge
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a Scottish novelist and poet. He is best known for his novels Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. When Stevenson wrote ‘From a Railway Carriage’, in the 19th century, travel by steam train was transforming people’s lives. Journeys by train would have been an astonishing experience: both awe-inspiring and, for some, terrifying. Stevenson demonstrates the magic of a train ride through his rattling, train-like rhythm as well as his descriptions of the rapidly passing scenery. The extra source texts provide further examples of poems featuring journeys and train-like rhythms.
Spoken outcome
To perform oral versions of the children’s written poems to an audience of peers or parents
Writing outcome
To write a descriptive poem with a steam-train rhythm, featuring local settings
Prior knowledge
Check the children’s knowledge and understanding of:
· basic poetic techniques
· other rhythmic poems
· other poetry or stories by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Diagnostic assessment options
Before starting the sequence, you may want to conduct an initial diagnostic assessment of the children’s understanding of characteristics common to a descriptive poem.
Ideas for initial diagnostic assessment options include:
· discussion about descriptive poems, and their purpose and form
· a brief, unsupported writing activity creating a short descriptive poem or text
· practising speaking and listening skills discussing a descriptive poem
· a short reading comprehension activity / quiz on a descriptive poem or text.
Cross-curricular links
KS2 History
Study an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066.
Treasure House links
All digital and pupil book units have the same names and numbers, but different questions.
· Treasure House, Year 5, Comprehension Unit 11: Poetry: ‘From a Railway Carriage’
· Treasure House, Year 5, Composition Unit 14: Describing settings
· Treasure House, Year 5, Grammar Unit 3: Relative clauses
· Treasure House, Year 5, Punctuation Unit 3: Brackets, dashes and commas
· Treasure House, Year 5, Punctuation Unit 4: Boundaries between clauses
· Treasure House, Year 5, Spelling Unit 4: The suffixes
-able, -ible, -ably and -ibly
· Treasure House Year 5, Spelling Units 10–14: Homophones and near homophones
Resources
Source texts – see Anthologies; My writing checklist; Editor’s checklist
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Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Phase 1: Enjoy and immerse
In Phase 1, the children are introduced to a descriptive poem, ‘From a Railway Carriage’, which describes the experience of a steam train passenger looking out from his railway carriage’s window, in a rhythm that replicates the movement of the train. Over several sessions, the children are offered the opportunity to immerse themselves fully in the poem through comprehension and discussion activities, as well as exploring its content and structure through drama, storytelling, writing and analysis of the text.
Programmes of study: Year 5· Comprehension: Identify and discuss themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing.
· Comprehension: Draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, andjustify inferences with evidence.
· Comprehension: Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.
· Composition: In writing narratives, consider how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed.
· Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation: Use semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses.
· Spelling: Use words ending in -able and -ible.
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Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Sparking interest
Introduce the sequence by highlighting the overall Big Picture to the children: they will be working towards writing their own descriptive poems with the rhythm of a train.
Use an opening question, such as: How do you think the date the poem was written affected its content and style?
Reading and discussion
Introduce the main source text, read it with the class and check the children’s understanding of the language. Discuss the children’s understanding of the content of the text.
Discuss the following with the children.
· What is this poem about?
· Where is the speaker?
· Who is the speaker?
· Why do you think the poet wrote this poem?
· What is the effect of the word ‘and’ being used frequently?
· What other poetic features do you notice?
· At what speed do you think the poem should be read?
· How does the poem make you feel?
Drama and storytelling
Use drama and storytelling activities to reinforce the children’s understanding of the poem. Select the activities that would suit your class or fit in with your lesson timing. Encourage mixed-ability grouping for the chosen activities.
· Hot-seating the speaker: This activity can be done in pairs, small groups or as a class, with different children representing the speaker. Questions could include: Why were you aboard the train?, Had you been on a train before?, What was the best part of your journey?
· Role-play: Ask the children to act out the poem, including other characters as travellers on the train and developing the journey further. Ask prompt questions such as: Where was the speaker going and why?, Where had he been?, How did he feel?, What might the passengers say to one another?
· Performance: Encourage the children to rehearse and perform the poem in small groups, splitting the lines between them.
Incidental writing
A short writing activity would enhance the children’s understanding of the text and characters. Select activities that you think appropriate for the abilities and interests of your class. Use the children’s written outcomes to inform the emphases during the collaborative composition phase.
· A diary entry by someone taking their first train ride
· A newspaper article about the first journey of the first steam train in Britain
· A letter to a friend from a traveller on the train, recounting the experience
Analysis
Show the text to the children and discuss its content, structure and features. Discuss the reasons the poet may have written this poem, what experience may have motivated him to write it and what he was trying to show. Count the lines and syllables in each line. Select further questions to explore the children’s responses.
· How much balance is there in the poem between description of setting and action?
· What is the atmosphere like in the poem?
· What different things does the speaker describe?
· How does the poet describe the scenery? Does he use metaphors or similes? Are there any rhyming words, alliteration or personification? What effects do these features have?
· How does the poet advance the poem?
Grammar: Boundaries between clauses
Remind the children: We can use colons, semi-colons or dashes to separate main clauses. Semi-colons show linked clauses that are equally important, colons introduce reasons or examples and dashes can be used instead, in informal writing.
To be confident using colons, semi-colons and dashes between clauses, the children need to feel confident about the difference between a clause and a phrase. Explain to the children that a clause contains a verb.
Write the following examples on the board. Ask the children to identify and explain the odd one out.
· The train travelled at great speed
· A beautiful shiny metal train
· A heron swooped down to the canal
Phonics and spellingRemind the children: The -able ending is more common than the -ible ending, and is usually used if a complete root word can be heard when the ending is removed.
Ask the children to copy and complete the table below.
-able / -ible adjectives / Root words / Is the root word complete?
dependable
possible
considerable
incredible
comfortable
Review of the Big Picture
Once you have completed this phase, remind the children (or have them remind each other) of the sequence’s Big Picture: they are working towards writing their own descriptive poems with the rhythm of a train.
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Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Phase 2: Capture and organise
During Phase 2, the children start to develop ideas about new content and poetic features needed to create a class descriptive poem with an evocative rhythm, based on ‘From a Railway Carriage’. Working collaboratively, they use discussion, drama and writing activities to decide on a poem structure and storyline, and develop characters.
Programmes of study: Year 5· Comprehension: Summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas.
· Comprehension: Draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justify inferences with evidence.
· Comprehension: Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
· Composition: In writing narratives, consider how authors have developed characters and settings in what the children have read, listened to or seen performed.
· Composition: Note and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary.
· Spelling: Use homophones and other words that are often confused.
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Year 5, Sequence 11
Poetry: Writing rhythm
Introduction
Remind the children of the Big Picture and recap the learning achieved during Phase 1. Reread the source text, and read the extra source texts, ‘Hand on the Bridge’ and ‘Night Mail’, for further examples of similar poems. Briefly discuss the similarities and differences between the source texts.
Discussing ideas
As a class, discuss local settings that could be described in the children’s new poem. Then ask mixed-ability groups to discuss (some of) the following questions.
· Who could be the speaker?
· What is the speaker’s background? Where are they going and why?
· How would the local settings look different from a train window?
· How could these scenes be described effectively?
· How would you describe urban scenes?
· What metaphors for scenery could we use?
· Which ideas can we keep from the original poem?
· Which ideas should we change?
Bring the groups together to listen and make decisions on the poem’s contents and structure.
Drama and storytelling
Use drama and oracy activities to encourage the children to develop their ideas further, especially about their new speaker and the scenery to be described. Select the activities that would suit your class or fit in with your lesson timing. Encourage mixed-ability grouping for the chosen activities.
· Hot-seating the speaker: This activity will help the children to get to know their new character as they must think carefully about the questions to ask and the answers to give. Ask the children to discuss the character’s responses afterwards.
· Freeze-framing key moments: Once the children have sufficient ideas to start developing a story, encourage small groups to improvise or script brief scenes. At regular intervals, ask the children to freeze and use thought-tracking to develop their ideas about their characters’ feelings, thoughts and actions.
· Poetry rehearsal: Ask pairs to improvise (some of) the new ideas into a poem and then to retell it to the rest of the class. Discuss the differences between the different groups’ poems and which parts worked better than others. Then ask pairs to try retelling their poems in the first person and in the third person. Ask: How does the impact change?, Which version do you prefer and why?
Incidental writing
Before they do any incidental writing, make sure the children are able to articulate the main ideas for their rhythmic poem orally. Select activities that you think appropriate for the abilities and interests of your class:
· a diary entry by the speaker
· a dialogue between two passengers on a train
· a character profile.
Organising the class rhythmic poem into a structure
Once the children have explored their ideas for their class poem thoroughly, bring them together and use their final suggestions to model how to plot it. You could use diagram or note form, and the planning frame from the Poetry planner. Once the ideas have been recorded, go through the plan and ask the children to evaluate the poem’s contents and structure.
Write the following words on the board.
ascent/assent, morning/mourning, profit/prophet, steal/steel, who’s/whose, father/farther, bridal/bridle
Ask the children to choose five words and to write five sentences including them. Then ask them to share their sentences with groups or the class.
Remind the children: When spelling (and reading) words that are homophones or near-homophones, the context of the sentence is vital as it tells the reader the meaning, and therefore the spelling, required.
Review of the Big Picture
Once you have completed this phase, remind the children (or have them remind each other) of the sequence’s Big Picture. Recap the learning achieved during Phase 2.