 71
You, me and
poetry
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 72
About this unit
The following pages show how the English K-6 unit You, Me and Poetry can be structured as a two
week daily plan of work, to focus specifically on the teaching of reading.
Preparing for this unit
Organise:
• texts for guided and independent reading. See ‘Selecting texts for the reading program’ on
page 60 of Teaching Reading: A K-6 Framework.
• groups for guided reading. See ‘Forming groups for guided reading’ on the following page.
Collect:
• Bernard Was A Bikie, Val Marshall and Bronwyn Tester, Scholastic Australia, big book version
and multiple copies of the small version
• Quick, Let’s Get Out of Here, Michael Rosen and Quentin Blake, Puffin Books, for the poems
Washing Up and Lizzie
• The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes, Harcourt Brace, big book version
• The Death of Ben Hall, Macmillan
(Note that two texts have been substituted for texts in the original unit that are no longer in
print.)
• Books and anthologies of poetry, for example:
– Poems for Ten Year Olds and Over, Penguin
– Michael Rosen’s Book of Very Silly Poems, Michael Rosen, Puffin Books
– Spirit Song, Lorraine Mafi-Williams, Scholastic Australia
– Oxford Book of Poetry for Children, Edward Blishen, OUP
– The New Puffin Book of Funny Verse, Kit Wright, Puffin Books
– Young Imagination, Susan Roy and Jeremy Steele, PETA
– Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson, Penguin
– Treasury of Australian Verse, Beatrice Davis, State Library of NSW Press
– Petrifying Poems, Jane Covernton, Penguin.
Prepare:
• a well stocked and inviting library corner
• an exercise book for each student’s personal poetry anthology.
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 73
Guided reading
Forming groups for guided reading
The students in your class will demonstrate differences in their ability to read. Before commencing
guided reading, group together students who are working at approximately the same level.
For the purpose of this unit, form students into five groups of approximately five or six students
each. Students in group 1 will be the least competent readers and those in group 5 will be the most
competent.
Guided reading in groups
You will have approximately 30 minutes each day for guided reading. Spend 30 minutes each
Monday with group 1 and spend an additional 10 minutes with group 1 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays. Work with groups 2, 3, 4 or 5 for 20 minutes, on each of these four days.
In this way all students have an extensive guided reading session with the teacher each week while
students needing most support with reading will have daily teacher guidance. If you have access to
additional teacher support from, for example an ESL teacher or Support Teacher Learning
Difficulties, arrange your groups so that two guided reading groups operate concurrently. This will
enable extra time to be devoted to students needing most support. Some students in group 1 will
require individualised instruction at their particular level of need.
Below is a suggested timetable for guided reading, to be used during this 10 day unit.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
2
3
4
5
1
1
1
1
1
Use the guided reading record sheet (see Photocopiable proformas on page 10) as you work with
the guided reading groups. As students develop as readers continue to review your guided reading
groups and the texts each student is using. As a result your guided reading groups will be fluid and
may change frequently.
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 74
What to include in the guided reading session
Guided reading for each group each day will follow the sequence outlined for guided reading in
Teaching Reading: A K-6 Framework, pages 33-38 and pages 45-49. That is:
• orientation to the text
• reading the text
• working with the text
• after the guided reading.
In addition, students experiencing reading difficulties will also need to spend time in closer focus
on:
• text reading to develop accuracy and fluency
• conventions of print to develop their ability to use these when reading
• sounds, letters and words to develop, accuracy, fluency and automaticity in word recognition
• text meaning to develop their ability to gain meaning from text and to read for specific purposes
• writing and spelling to develop their knowledge of spelling strategies.
In planning guided reading experiences for students, you may wish to use the photocopiable pages:
• Guided reading planning sheet: whole class (page 17)
• Guided reading planning sheet: students with reading difficulties (page 19).
The content of each guided reading session will depend on your assessment of your students’
reading development. It could include opportunities for students to:
• use word identification strategies (apply knowledge of base words, prefixes)
• draw on knowledge of text structures to help understand new texts
• use appropriate stress, pause and intonation when reading aloud
• interpret texts containing unfamiliar concepts
• use a range of automatic monitoring and self-correcting methods when reading (re-reading,
reading on, slowing down)
• recognise differences in the interpretation of a text
• justify their own interpretation of a text
• justify inferences made about texts
• identify text features which distinguish fact from opinion
• recognise and discuss organisational elements of different types of literary and factual texts
• consider events in texts from different characters’ points of view
• use different strategies to locate information within a text
• select appropriate information in an unfamiliar text
• learn how to use text features such as headings, sub-headings, index, table of contents, graphs,
maps and diagrams to gain information from texts
• explore the structure of noun groups and verb groups
• explore the structure of compound and complex sentences.
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 75
Texts for guided reading
Texts for guided reading need to be matched to students’ instructional level. Refer to ‘Texts for
guided reading’, pages 62-64 in Teaching Reading: A K-6 Framework. Ensure you include a range
of texts.
Gathering and recording assessment information
As you work through this unit collect information about students’ reading using a variety of strategies,
multiple opportunities and varying contexts, for example:
• observing reading behaviours in modelled, guided and independent reading situations
• using oral and written retellings of text read
• taking running records
• keeping records of student progress in guided reading
• using oral comprehension responses during and after reading
• analysing the reading strategies a student uses in guided reading
• analysing students’ incorrect responses to a cloze procedure to determine the type of error the
student is making
• analysing students’ Basic Skills Test results.
Record information using, for example:
• the photocopiable proformas in this book
• a dated, cumulative collection of individual work samples
• other useful and manageable devices currently in use.
It is important to develop a consistent whole-school approach to collecting and recording assessment
information.
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 76
Overview of the unit
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Setting the
scene
Teacher and students
suggest reasons why
people read and write
poetry.
Students suggest
reasons why the
authors of Bernard
Was A Bikie chose to
write the text in poetic
form.
Students retell
Bernard Was A Bikie.
Teacher and students
discuss how authors
and publishers made
decisions about what
poems to include in
poetry anthologies.
Teacher reads poems
by Michael Rosen.
Modelled
reading
Teacher reads Bernard
Was A Bikie and with
students infers about
the poem’s purposes.
Teacher and students
start a ‘Poems and their
purposes’ chart.
Teacher and students
re-read Bernard Was A
Bikie and focus on its
characters and their
relationships.
Teacher and students
focus on the changing
tense of verbs in
Bernard Was A Bikie.
Teacher and students
discuss family
relationships and read
Washing Up. Students
compare how the poets
explore relationships
in Washing Up and
Bernard Was A Bikie.
Teacher and students
read Lizzie and talk
about the characters and
compare this poem with
Washing Up. Students
assist teacher to add
Lizzie to the ‘Poems
and their purposes’
chart.
Reading
activities
Students focus on
words and phrases that
describe how other
characters in the poem
felt about Bernard.
Students prepare,
rehearse and perform
a readers theatre based
on Bernard Was A
Bikie.
Students complete a
cloze passage in
which verbs have
been deleted.
Students in pairs
identify a narrative
structure in Washing
Up.
Students in pairs
sketch and describe
Lizzie. Students
compare their answers
and discuss other
characters in the poem.
Guided
reading
Teacher reads with
guided reading
group 1.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 2.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 3.
Teacher reads with
guided reading groups
1 and 4.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 5.
Independent
reading
Students read and
select favourite poems
to copy and display in
the classroom.
Students read and
select favourite poems
to copy and display in
the classroom.
Students read and
select favourite poems
to copy and display in
the classroom.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level, and
compile a personal
anthology.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level, and
compile a personal
anthology.
Teacher and students
jointly construct a
description of a
familiar book
character.
Teacher and students
use the jointly
constructed
description from Day
1 to write a poem.
Teacher and students
focus on the
successful features of
student written poems
from Day 2.
Teacher explains a
Dylan Thomas
Portrait, and with
students jointly
constructs this type of
poem, based on an
animal or person
familiar to the
students.
Teacher and students
discuss a Dylan
Thomas Portrait
written by a student on
Day 4 and jointly
construct a Dylan
Thomas Portrait about
Lizzie based on
descriptions written on
Day 4.
Independent
writing
Students write a
description of a
character of their
choice.
Students write a
descriptive poem
based on the character
description written on
Day 1.
Students continue
writing, developing,
editing and publishing
their poems.
Students construct
their own Dylan
Thomas Portrait based
on a person in their
family.
Students write a
Dylan Thomas
Portrait based on a
character from a poem
read this week.
Teacher
reading
Oxford Book of Poetry
for Children.
The New Puffin Book
of Funny Verse.
Petrifying Poems.
Poems for Ten Year
Olds and Over.
Book of Very Silly
Poems.
Concluding
the session
Students share their
character descriptions.
Students read the
poems they have
written in independent
writing to the class.
Students and teacher
review and discuss
their responses to the
cloze passage
completed during
reading activities.
Guided
writing
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Students read their
Dylan Thomas
Portraits to the class.
Students share poems
written over the last
few days and reflect
on what they have
learned about poetry
in general.
 77
Day 6
Day 7
Setting the
scene
Teacher and students
discuss the possible
meanings of the
word Highwayman.
Students retell The
Highwayman using the
illustrations as
prompts.
Students read a poem
from their personal
anthology.
Students focus on the
‘Poems and their
purposes’ chart.
Teacher tells students
they will be preparing
for a poetry reading.
Modelled
reading
Teacher and students
read The
Highwayman and
explore purpose,
events, emotions,
relationships and
illustrations in the
text.
Teacher and students
re-read The
Highwayman
focusing on figurative
language.
Teacher and students
explore the
relationships
between the
characters in The
Highwayman and
record these
graphically.
Teacher and students
read The Death of
Ben Hall and focus
on purpose, setting,
characters, structure
and languae features.
Teacher models the
skill of oral reading,
focusing on ways to
vary volume, pace
and emphasis.
Reading
activities
Students describe the
illustrations in The
Highwayman and find
sections in the poem
on which the
illustrations are based.
Students work in pairs
to find examples of
figurative language
and discuss the effect
of this kind of
language.
Students perform a
choral reading of The
Highwayman.
Students compare
The Highwayman
with The Death of
Ben Hall.
Students rehearse for
their oral poetry
reading.
Guided
reading
Teacher reads
with guided reading
group 1.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 2.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 3.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 4.
Teacher reads with
guided reading
groups 1 and 5.
Independent
reading
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level and add
to their personal
anthology.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level and add
to their personal
anthology.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level and add
to their personal
anthology.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level and add
to their personal
anthology.
Students read poems
and texts matched to
their independent
reading level and add
to their personal
anthology.
Guided
writing
Teacher and students
jointly construct a
description.
Teacher and students
jointly construct a
Haiku, based on
descriptions written
on Day 6.
Teacher and students
identify the successful
features in a Haiku.
Teacher and students
jointly construct a
cinquain based on an
emotion.
Teacher and students
identify the successful
features in a cinquain.
Students write their
own description.
Students write their
own Haiku based on
the description they
wrote on Day 6.
Students edit, publish
and display their own
Haiku from Day 7.
Students write a
cinquain in pairs.
Students write a
cinquain individually.
Teacher
reading
An audiotape of the
poem.
Student selected
poems.
Student written
Haiku.
Student written
cinquains.
Student selected
poems from personal
anthologies.
Concluding
the session
Students discuss the
poem on the
audiotape.
Teacher and students
comment on the
effectiveness of
figurative language in
their chosen poems.
Teacher reads a
selection of student
written Haiku.
Students report on the
poetry choices for
their own anthologies.
Some students
perform the reading of
their chosen poem.
Independent
writing
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
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 78
DAY 1
Preparing for day 1
ne
the sce
• One large and multiple small copies of Bernard Was A Bikie.
Setting
• Removable adhesive stickers.
• Introduce the unit and
explain to students they
will be reading and
writing different forms of
poetry during the course of the unit.
• A variety of poetry books in the class library.
• Large sheets of paper.
• Oxford Book of Poetry for Children.
• Guided reading text for Group 1 – a narrative would be
• Ask students to speculate on why
excellent.
people write poetry. Record their
• ‘Poems and their purposes chart’ to be kept on display and
answers on a large sheet of paper.
added to throughout the unit.
• Then ask students to suggest reasons
Poem
Form
Purpose
Ways the author
why people read poems. Record these
achieves this purpose
answers on a large sheet of paper.
• Encourage students to support their
answers by referring to poems and
poets they have encountered.
eading
led r
Model
• Display the front and back covers of the large version of Bernard Was A Bikie. Ask students
to predict what the text might be about. Write their predictions on the chalkboard.
• Read Bernard Was A Bikie without pausing for discussion.
• Ask students to reflect on the predictions made before reading the text.
• Ask students ‘Why did Val Marshall and Bronwyn Tester write this poem?’.
That is, encourage them to infer the purpose these poets had for writing
Bernard Was A Bikie.
Students are acting as
text-analysts as they talk
about a poet’s purpose
for writing a text.
• Refer students to the ‘Poems and their purposes chart’ (see Preparing for
day 1).
• Explain to students that they will be adding to this chart over the course of the unit.
• Demonstrate how to record the name of the poem and the class’ interpretation of the poem’s purposes.
Now ask students to suggest ways in which the poets have achieved these purposes.
• Encourage students to look back into the text and identify
text features that help to achieve these purposes, eg humour,
rhyme, rhythm, descriptive language.
Students act as text-participants as
they identify how text structure
contributes to the meaning of a text.
• Re-read sections of the text together where these features are evident.
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 79
tivities
g ac
Readin
• Organise students into small groups. Give each group a copy of the text.
• Ask students to read the poem and find words and phrases from the text that describe how
the townspeople felt about Bernard:
– before his act of heroism
– after he had rescued the kittens.
• Work with the least competent readers as they complete this activity.
• Ask groups to share their findings with the class.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Indicate the large number of poetry books you have collected.
• Tell students that during independent reading each day they are to read a number of poems
from these poetry books and anthologies.
• Explain that they will need to choose one favourite poem each day, and write it onto a large
piece of paper, making it look as attractive as possible and to display it around the room.
• Encourage students to read each other’s poems once they are on display.
• Tell students they will be choosing one poem to perform at the end of the unit.
Group 1
Orientation to the text
• Introduce a new narrative text.
• Discuss the cover, title and illustrations.
• Invite students to share their predictions
of what the text might be about.
You will be working on the same text with this group for
five days. Monday’s lesson will be an indepth treatment
while Tuesday to Friday’s lessons will provide time to
revisit the text, reinforce known text features and to
introduce new ones. These are the students in your class
who will need most support. For more information about
structuring guided reading sessions see Teaching Reading:
A K-6 Framework, pages 33-38 and pages 46-49.
Reading the text
• Read the introductory section of the text to students.
• Ask students to join you as you continue reading the text with expression and meaning.
• Invite students to take turns reading subsequent
sections of the text.
• Clarify any words or meanings which are unclear.
It is important to recognise that students in
this group will have very differing needs and
the support and prompts you give each
reader will need to help them build on what
they already know and can do.
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 80
DAY 1 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask students in turn to re-read the text, verbalising the process of working out a word
and demonstrating how to read using the four sources of information. For example ask:
‘Does it make sense now?’
Support and
reinforce each
‘Do you know the sounds for some groups of letters?’
student as they
‘Can you find some little word you know, inside the big word?’ read, eg ‘I like the
way you made it
‘Do you know a word that looks like it?’
make sense’.
‘Can you change some of the letters to make a word you know?’
‘What is the first sound?’
continued…
‘Look at the picture. What can you see?’
‘Read to the end of the sentence. Think about what word would make sense.’
• When students self-correct, ask them what strategies they used.
Working with the text
• While students watch, write three or four lines of text onto the chalkboard, leaving out several words
(about one word in five).
Additional time reading texts at their
• Ask students to read with you to work out what the gaps might
instructional level is important for
be. Consider what would make sense and what would sound students with reading difficulties. Try
right in the sentence. Test and discuss each suggestion for to provide time each day for students
semantic and grammatical information.
to read and re-read texts, if possible
with a parent or peer tutor.
After the guided reading
• Ask students to read one or more of the poetry books in the classroom.
• Remind students to use the strategies practised during guided reading, to help them self-correct as they
read.
• Ask students to take today’s guided reading text home to read to their parents.
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Explain to students that over the next three days the class will be writing a poem together
about a character from a class-read book or well known fairy tale. Tell students that this
shared process will be a model for the process they will be engaging in during independent
writing.
• Decide on a character from a recently read book or well known fairy tale, eg Cinderella.
• Ask students to help you build a description of the chosen character. Include information such as their
character’s physical attributes, where they live and what they enjoy doing. Record this information on a
large sheet of paper and display in the room.
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 81
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to choose their own character and build up a detailed description. Suggest to
students that they may like to draw a quick sketch to help build up a picture of the character.
• Confer with students as they write.
• Encourage students to share their descriptions and talk about their character with a friend.
ion
e sess
h
t
g
n
i
d
g
Conclu cher readin
a
e
and t
continued…
• Ask students to share their descriptions with another two students.
• Read some humorous narrative poems to the class and revisit some old favourites.
• Discuss the poet’s purpose and text features in one of these poems.
• Add information about this poem to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
Thinking about day 1:
Reflection
• Were students able to identify the authors’ purposes in
the poems encountered?
• Have you made a guided reading plan and arranged for
multiple copies of guided reading texts for each group?
• Did students enjoy listening to the poems read, eg the
sounds and rhythm of the language?
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 82
DAY 2
Preparing for day 2
• One large and multiple
small copies of Bernard
Was A Bikie.
• Guided reading text for
Group 2 – a narrative text
would be excellent.
• The New Puffin Book of
Funny Verse.
Setting
ne
the sce
• Ask students to refer to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart
(see Preparing for day 2), to remind them about insights
made about Bernard Was A Bikie in yesterday’s session.
• Ask students to suggest why these authors chose to fulfil their purposes
by writing a poem, rather than using another type of text, eg a narrative.
• Encourage students to suggest why one text type would be more
appropriate than another.
eading
led r
Model
• Display the enlarged text version of Bernard Was A Bikie.
• Re-read the whole text together.
• Talk about the text with students. Ask students about each character, eg what the character is like, how
the character is introduced, what their relationships are to each other.
• Ask students about where and when in time the poem is set. Also focus on what happens in this narrative
poem to change the relationships between the poem’s characters. How are these changes resolved in the
narrative?
• Continually refer back into the text to support points of view taken.
g
Readin
ies
activit
• Ask students to re-read the text with you. Encourage them to read with expression.
• Tell students they will be involved in a readers theatre presentation of the poem.
•
•
•
•
• Explain about readers theatre and suggest a process for students to follow. Record this on
the board.
Refer to Choosing Literacy Strategies
Refer students back to the text, Bernard Was A Bikie.
That Work, Stage 2, page 118.
Form students into groups of four or five and together
decide who will read the various parts of the text.
Readers theatre provides
Distribute copies of the text to each group.
students with the
opportunity to practise
Discuss the strategies which make this kind of presentation successful.
reading aloud in a
Give students about fifteen minutes to organise and rehearse their
supportive environment. It
readers theatre presentations. As you work with the groups, make
allows students to
suggestions about how students might use their voices to emphasise
rehearse their part several
particular features of the text. Some groups may choose to add body
times before performance.
percussion to their presentations.
• At the end of the rehearsal period, bring the class together and perform Bernard Was A Bikie as readers
theatre.
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 83
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Highlight language features in Bernard Was A Bikie, eg rhyme, alliteration, direct speech
and repetition. Re-read pages from the text, illustrating these features.
• Re-read the description of the character jointly constructed with students on Day 1.
• Tell students that they will now be using aspects of this description to write a description
in poetic form as the authors have done with Bernard, eg
Cindy was a singer
She lived in Slipper Street.
• With students begin jointly constructing a poem about the class chosen character.
• Demonstrate to students how to incorporate aspects of alliteration, rhyme, repetition, rhythm as used
in Bernard Was A Bikie, eg:
Cindy was a singer
She lived in Slipper Street.
She like to dance at parties
So rarely got to eat.
• Ask students to begin writing their own poems using the character descriptions written on Day 1 as a
reference point.
• Confer with students as they write.
This is the only time this week you will work with group
2. Work with group 2 for about 20 minutes and then with
group 1 again for about 10 minutes.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
Group 2
Orientation to the text
• Give a copy of the new guided reading text to each student.
• Encourage students to preview the text by looking closely at features like the title, cover or illustrations.
• Discuss their first impressions about the text type and the text purpose.
Reading the text
• Ask one student to begin reading the text aloud. After they have read ask them ‘Do you think you understand
what you have just read?’ and ‘Could you explain it to someone else?’.
• Discuss the text with the group. Encourage students to ask themselves questions including:
‘Are there some words I don’t understand?’
‘What do I know about this topic?’
‘Is the language difficult?’, ‘Why?’
,   
 84
DAY 2 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Discuss possible strategies that could assist students to understand what they read,
including looking at the illustrations, talking to someone who knows about the topic,
reading more slowly, reading each sentence or paragraph a few times.
• Ask others in the group to read aloud in turn.
Refer to Choosing Literacy
Strategies That Work, Stage
2, pages 140-141, for other
strategies students may use
to help them understand
what they read.
Working with the text
continued…
• Ask students questions about the text including:
‘What does the title tell us about the text?’
‘Who is the audience for this text?’
‘What is the purpose of the text?’
‘What do you notice about the structure of the text?’
‘What do you notice about the type of language used?’
‘What kind of illustrations are used in the text and what do they tell us?’
• Begin construction of a literary sociogram. Ask students to draw solid lines between actual events and
dotted lines for inferred happenings. Ask students to talk about their decisions.
After the guided reading
• Ask students to continue working on their literary sociograms, before
beginning independent reading. Remind students they are to choose
poems to add to the published wall displays.
Refer to Choosing Literacy
Strategies That Work, Stage
2, page 126, for alternative
ideas for literary sociograms.
• Ask group 1 to join you for guided reading.
Group 1
Focus on text reading
Students will have an opportunity with this reading to practise
using all four sources of information on a text that is familiar.
• Together with students read aloud the whole text or part of the text from Day 1.
Focus on meaning
• Together with students sequence the main events in the text.
• Record these events on the board.
• Use this sequence of events to create a story map with students.
• Encourage students to re-read the text to confirm their
suggestions.
Refer to Choosing Literacy
Strategies That Work, Stage 2, page
111 for more information how to
represent events in a story
diagrammatically using a story map.
Creating a story map will require
students to re-read the text several
times as they search for information.
• Have students in the group draw a simple picture to represent
each event on the story map.
As students read, take this opportunity to
Refocus on whole text
work with the student who needs the most
support to re-read the text.
• Ask students to read the text silently.
T
    
 85
n
sessio
e
h
t
g
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Conclu cher readin
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and te
• Select some students to read the poems they have written to the class.
• Invite students to respond to and discuss these poems and their features.
• Read from The New Puffin Book of Funny Verse.
• Add information to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart about this new poem.
Thinking about day 2:
Reflection
• Did students read expressively
during the readers theatre
presentations?
• Are all students actively engaged in
modelled reading?
• Is the guided reading text for group
1 appropriately challenging, yet
supporting?
,   
 86
DAY 3
Preparing for day 3
• One large and multiple small copies of Bernard Was A Bikie.
• Large sheets of paper or cardboard.
• A cloze passage using text from Bernard Was A Bikie. Include
about four pages of text with only verbs deleted. Make one
photocopy for each student.
• Petrifying Poems.
Setting
ne
the sce
• Ask students to retell
Bernard Was A Bikie
and to recall aspects of
the poem students
particularly enjoyed.
• Guided reading text for Group 3 – a narrative would be
excellent.
ing
d read
le
Model
• Tell students that today’s modelled reading session will focus on verbs and in
particular on the tense of verbs in the text, Bernard Was A Bikie.
• Turn to page 4 in the enlarged text of Bernard Was A Bikie and ask students to identify the verbs and their
tense.
• Turn to page 10 in the enlarged text and ask students to identify the verbs and their tense.
• Ask students:
‘Is the tense of the verbs the same on both pages of text?’
‘Has it changed? Where in the text has it changed?
Why do you think it has changed?’
Highlight to students that the verb
tense changes from past to present
tense for direct speech.
• Explore and discuss other aspects of verbs in text, eg contracted verbs, he’s, I’ve.
g
Readin
ies
activit
• Show students the prepared cloze passage (see Preparing for day 3).
• In pairs ask them to read the text carefully, before choosing appropriate verbs to complete
the passage.
• Encourage students to re-read, read ahead and discuss each alternative before writing the
verbs into the cloze passage. Suggest students work with a pencil and an eraser.
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Choose a number of poems written by students on Day 2.
• Read these expressively to the class.
• Encourage students to respond to these poems. Ask questions such as:
‘Did this poem create pictures in your mind?’
‘Why did you enjoy this poem?’
‘Can you identify features the poet used to get special effects (eg humour, rhyme, alliteration)?’
‘What was the poet’s purpose in writing this poem?’
‘What emotions did you feel?’
• Ask students to continue writing their poem, then edit it to incorporate additional features, or to publish
their final draft.
• Confer with students as they write.
T
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 87
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Tell students they may continue publishing and displaying poems and reading independently
from texts of their choice.
• When students are working ask group 3 to join you for guided reading.
Group 3
Orientation to the text
• Before reading the text discuss the cover, title and
illustrations.
• Ask students what they think this text might be about. Record
these predictions on a chart.
This is the only time this week
you will work with group 3. Work
with group 3 for about 20 minutes
today and then with group 1
again for about 10 minutes.
Reading the text
• Ask students to follow their texts as you read the first paragraph to them demonstrating appropriate
phrasing, pausing, emphasis and fluency.
• Ask students to continue reading together from their own texts.
• Pause and ask students to read sections of the text in turn.
• Monitor as students read. Listen for inflection and phrasing that tells you that students understand what
is being read.
• Look for evidence of self-corrections that indicate that a student is monitoring their own reading strategies.
• Record information about student reading behaviours as they read.
Working with the text
• Together with students sequence the main events in the text.
• Consider the events in the text from different character’s points of view.
After the guided reading
• In pairs have students read other narrative texts and identify the author’s purpose and the intended audience.
Group 1
Focus on text reading
• Ask students to read the beginning of the text with you.
• Demonstrate how to read with expression, appropriate
phrasing and fluency.
• Ask each student to take turns reading a few sentences
from the text. Prompt students when necessary. Record
your observations.
Say:
– Read that part again. What do you
think that word might be?
– What would make sense here?
– What would sound right in this
sentence?
– What does the word start with? What
other letters can you see?
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 88
DAY 3 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
Focus on sounds, letters and words
• Ask students to identify any multisyllable words in the text.
• Write these on chart paper.
• Have students read these words together, and clap the syllables in the words as they read.
continued…
• Explain to students that breaking words into syllables can assist them to read, pronounce
and spell words.
Refocus on whole text
ssion
the se g
g
n
i
d
Conclu cher readin
a
and te
• Retell the story of the text together.
• Open the big book of Bernard Was A Bikie to the pages used in the cloze passage. Discuss
students’ answers in the cloze passage. Highlight the semantic and grammatical
appropriateness of their answers. Also focus students’ attention on the spelling and letter
patterns in the words.
• Read a poem from Petrifying Poems.
• Add information about this poem to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
• Ask students to infer how the poet’s purpose could influence the form of the poem.
Thinking about day 3:
Reflection
• Were students able to identify verbs during
modelled reading?
• Are you recording your observations about the
reading strategies students use in guided reading?
• Refer to ‘Reading… a pathway of development’ in
Teaching Reading: A K-6 Framework. As you take
guided reading with each group, try to identify
what each student knows and can do.
T
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 89
DAY 4
Preparing for day 4
• Enlarge one copy of the text Washing
Up.
• Ask one student to read to the class a poem he/
she put on display during independent reading
in Days 1, 2 and 3.
• A copy of the text of Washing Up for
each student.
• Poems for Ten Year Olds and Over.
• Ask this student to describe why he/she chose
this particular poem.
• Cardboard.
• Reference charts describing the
structural characteristics of a
narrative.
• A new exercise book for each student.
• Guided reading text for Group 4 – a
narrative text would be excellent.
e
e scen
th
Setting
• Explain to students that poets and publishers need to make
choices about the poems they include in poetry anthologies.
Tell students that they too will need to make choices about
poems because, later in the day, they will be starting to
compile their own personal poetry anthology.
led
Model
g
readin
• Initiate talk about sibling and family relationships. For example, ask students to share
personal experiences involving a brother or sister, or brothers and sisters that they know.
Encourage students to discuss the feelings that these relationships evoke.
• Read the enlarged version of Washing Up. (See Preparing for day 4.)
• Ask if students would include a poem like this in their personal anthology. Why?
• Have students discuss the emotions that stem from the poet’s relationship with his brother.
• Encourage students to use the illustrations around the text as a reference point.
ing
help
• Re-read Washing Up.
• Add Washing Up to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
• Brainstorm, to create a bank of words expressing ideas, emotions
and actions which stem from personal relationships.
• Record these words on a sheet of cardboard.
• Place a copy of Bernard Was A Bikie next to the copy of Washing Up
on the easel.
jealousy
friendship
ing
sharing
nagg
ing
argu
liking
ng
tati
irri
• Ask students to identify how relationships between people are explored in Bernard Was A Bikie, ie each
character explained how they felt about Bernard.
• Then ask students to identify how the reader discovers the relationship between characters in Washing
Up, ie from one person’s point of view.
,   
 90
DAY 4 (continued)
g
Readin
ies
activit
• Distribute a copy of Washing Up to each student. Organise students into pairs.
• Remind students that narratives texts usually follow a particular structure, ie:
– orientation
– complication
– sequence of events
– resolution
Many classrooms have charts around the room that
describe the characteristics of various text types. Such
charts are a useful reference point for activities like this.
– coda.
• Ask students to read Washing Up in pairs and then work with you at identifying the narrative structure in
the text. Encourage students to re-read relevant parts of the text throughout this process.
Dylan Thomas Portrait
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
Dylan Thomas Portraits begin with a question. The question is
answered with an intricate noun group comprising four pairs of
adjectives and a single noun to finish.
• Explain to students
that in independent
writing they will be
writing a form of
Have you ever seen a dragon?
poetry known as a
Fire-breathing, scaly-backed, ferocious reptile, fairy tale creature.
Dylan Thomas Portrait.
• Explain to students the form and purpose of Dylan Thomas Portraits.
• Tell students that before they write independently they will engage in the joint construction of a Dylan
Thomas Portrait.
• Together choose an animal or person known to all students and on the board model with students the
process of constructing a Dylan Thomas Portrait.
• Then ask students to construct their own Dylan Thomas Portrait based on a person in their immediate or
extended family.
• Confer with students as they write.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask group 4 to join you for guided reading. Work with group 4 for 20 minutes and group 1
for about 10 minutes. During this time other students are to be independently reading a
selection of poems and adding some to their personal anthology.
• Remind students that during independent reading each day they are to read a number of
poems.
• Ask students to reflect on different poems they encounter. Tell them to choose a particular
category of poem and to search for examples of poems which fit within this category. Ask
them to include these poems in their personal anthology and to add to this anthology each day.
T
    
 91
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Hand out a new exercise book to each student and suggest that they look carefully at
the anthologies in the classroom and choose one as a model for their own anthology.
• Tell students they will be choosing one of the poems from their personal anthology to
perform at the end of the unit.
Group 4
Orientation to the text
continued… • Give each student a copy of a new guided reading text.
• Ask students to predict what the text might be about.
• Record student predictions on a concept map, eg:
• Make further predictions about the probable text type
and the author’s purpose in writing this text.
Reading the text
• Ask students to begin reading the text silently.
• Then ask students to read a section of the text in turn.
Support each student as they read.
• Monitor students’ inflection, fluency, phrasing and their ability
to self-correct.
Support and reinforce each student
as they read, eg ‘I like the way you
made it make sense.’
Prompt students when they
encounter a difficult word, eg:
– ‘What would make sense?’
– ‘What would look right?’
– ‘Read that again.’
• Record information about student reading behaviours as they
read on the Guided reading record.
Working with the text
• Together with students construct a timeline based on events in the text. Record this on a large sheet of
paper.
• Ask students questions that help them to identify the connections among events, ideas and characters, eg
‘What would happen if Snow White had not found the house of the Dwarfs?’
• With students discuss the roles of the
characters in the text, the impressions
they have developed about the characters
and the language that the author has used
to describe the character.
Teacher and students could engage in the process of
developing a character web that examines the physical
features, emotional features and the students’
inferences about the character. See Choosing Literacy
Strategies That Work Stage 2, page 121.
After the guided reading
• As a group cut up the timeline of events in the text into relevant parts and reconstruct the timeline. When
complete re-read, discuss and check the order of the re-assembled timeline.
,   
 92
DAY 4 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
Group 1
Focus on conventions of print
• Revisit the guided reading text from Day 1.
• Ask students to read the text aloud. Remind them of the purpose and function of punctuation
marks such as full stops, inverted commas, exclamation marks and question marks.
• Discuss how punctuation markers contribute to a reader’s understanding of the text and
continued… provide indications of how a text is to be read and understood.
Refocus on whole text
• Now ask students to each read a brief section of the text practising using punctuation markers to signal
voice intonation and pausing.
ssion
the se g
g
n
i
d
Conclu cher readin
a
and te
• Invite students to read their Dylan Thomas Portraits to the class.
• Read other poems that are particularly focused on personal relationships, eg poems from
Poems for Ten Year Olds and Over.
• Add information about one of the poems read to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
Thinking about day 4:
Reflection
• Are students developing and articulating their
understandings about the purposes for writing poetry and
the devices that poets use to achieve these purposes?
• Do students need more work with narrative structure?
• What types of poems are students adding to their personal
anthologies?
• What opportunities are you providing for students in
group 1 to receive additional reading time?
T
    
 93
DAY 5
Preparing for day 5
• Michael Rosen’s Book of Very Silly Poems.
Setting
• An enlarged copy of Lizzie.
• A copy of Lizzie for each pair of students.
ne
the sce
• Read two short poems by
Michael Rosen.
• The enlarged copy of Washing Up.
• Large sheets of art paper.
• Guided reading text for Group 5 – a narrative text would
be excellent.
led
Model
g
readin
• Display the enlarged copy of Lizzie .
• Ask students what they think the poem might be about.
• Read the poem together.
• Invite personal responses to the poem, especially on the subject of relationships.
• Display the enlarged texts of Washing Up and Lizzie. Ask students to discuss how the two poems are
similar and different.
• Re-read Lizzie.
• Add Lizzie to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart. Ensure students understand that the characters and
the actions of characters can also help the poet achieve his/her purpose.
tivities
g ac
Readin
• Organise the class into pairs. Distribute a copy of Lizzie and a sheet of art paper to each pair.
• Ask students to read the poem, and underline any words or phrases that describe the character
of Lizzie.
• Ask each pair to draw a quick sketch of Lizzie on art paper.
• Ask students to add any descriptive words describing Lizzie, around the edge of the sketch.
• Bring students together to compare their descriptions of Lizzie.
• Ask students to identify who is telling us about Lizzie in this poem? Ask students what they know about
this character.
• Choose an example of a successful Dylan Thomas Portrait written by a
student on Day 4, and write it on the board.
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Read this poem together. Ask students why it is successful.
• Ask students to jointly construct another Dylan Thomas Portrait with you, based on the
character of Lizzie. Recall the descriptions of Lizzie and formulate a question to begin the
poem. As students make suggestions refer them to the structure of a Dylan Thomas Portrait
introduced on Day 4.
,   
 94
DAY 5 (continued)
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to write a Dylan Thomas Portrait, this time based
on a character from one of the poems read together this week.
• Brainstorm all the characters found in poems read
this week to help students select their character.
• Ask students to find a partner, decide on a character and write
a new Dylan Thomas Portrait.
continued…
• Confer with students as they write.
Encourage students
to re-read poems
read this week, to
assist them as they
choose appropriate
language for their
Dylan Thomas
Portrait.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Work with group 5 for about 20 minutes today and group 1 for about 10 minutes. During
this time other students are to be independently reading a selection of poems and adding
some to their personal anthology.
Group 5
Orientation to the text
• Distribute copies of a new guided reading text to students. Introduce the new text, discussing the title,
cover, author and illustrations.
• Activate background knowledge about the topic of the text by jointly brainstorming what students know
about the text’s subject.
• Predict the text type, possible text structure and text purpose.
Reading the text
• Ask students to read the text silently.
• When finished discuss with students what they have read and how it related to their prior knowledge.
• Focus students on the predictions made about the author’s purpose before they had read the text. Now
that they have read the text, confirm or reject these earlier predictions. Consider what the author has done
in the text to achieve this purpose, eg What language choices has the author made to achieve his/her
purpose? Has he/she used the flashback technique, figurative language, metaphors, a particular tense
with verbs?
Working with the text
• Together with students revisit the predictions made about text structure. Identify the staging of this narrative
text. Has the author manipulated the usual narrative structure in any way, eg started with the resolution,
followed by a flashback to events. Discuss the author’s reasons for doing this. Was it effective?
• Specifically examine the author’s use of a particular language feature to achieve his/her purpose, eg the
use of emotive language and exaggeration to elicit sympathy or increase tension.
After the guided reading
• Ask students to re-read the text in pairs to each other with an emphasis on phrased and fluent reading.
T
    
 95
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
Group 1
Focus on meaning
• Revisit the guided reading text from Day 1.
• Focus students on the characters in the text.
continued…
• Ask questions like:‘What do the characters do in the text?’, ‘What effect does this have
on the reader?’, ‘How does the author want you to think about the characters?’
Refocus on whole text
• Ask students to re-read the text in pairs practising phrased and fluent reading.
n
sessio
e
h
t
g
din
g
Conclu cher readin
a
and te
• Organise students into groups of three or four.
• Ask students to share the poems they wrote during independent writing.
• As they are doing this, monitor the group discussions and record your observations.
• Help students reflect on new knowledge they have about poetry. Lead the discussion by asking:
– ‘How is poetry different from other kinds of writing?’
– ‘What has particularly interested you about the poems we have read together?’
• Read other poems from Michael Rosen’s Book of Very Silly Poems.
• Ask students to choose one of these poems to add to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
• Encourage students to make generalisations about the information found in the chart, eg some poets use
humour to tackle serious issues or different poets may have similar purposes, but choose very different
types of poems.
Thinking about day 5:
Reflection
• Are students in group 1 reading with increased fluency and
expression? Do any students in this group need more focused
attention?
• Are students beginning to see a connection between the poet’s
purpose for writing and the language choices he/she made?
• Are you confident each student is placed in the appropriate group
for guided reading?
• Are the guided reading texts for each group sufficiently challenging?
,   
 96
DAY 6
Preparing for day 6
• One large copy of The
Highwayman and multiple small
copies.
• Pages copied from The
Highwayman for reading
activities.
• Audiotapes of narrative poems,
to provide an alternative model
of oral reading, if possible.
• Guided reading text for Group 1
– a narrative with illustrations
would be excellent.
Setting
ne
the sce
• Write the title of the poem The Highwayman on
the chalkboard.
• Ask students to tell you what they know about
highwaymen. Write this information on the chalkboard too.
• Look up the word highwayman in the dictionary. Add this
information as well.
You are helping to build students’ semantic knowledge to assist
them in accessing and gaining meaning from the text. You may
need to provide additional information or references about
highwaymen if the subject is unfamiliar to students.
eading
• Display the cover of The Highwayman. Ask students to predict, from looking
at the cover, what the text might be about.
led r
Model
• Read The Highwayman to students without showing them any other illustrations.
• Together with students recall what happens in the poem.
• Discuss the relationships the text portrays and the emotions the poem generates. Ask students to describe
the images which have formed in their mind about the highwayman and the landlord’s daughter.
• Spend some time encouraging students to discuss the poet’s purpose in writing this poem. Add this
information to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
• Re-read the text, this time showing the illustrations to the class. Point out that the text and the illustrations
were done by two different people and that the illustrations are only one person’s interpretation of the
text’s meaning.
• Ask students to compare the illustrations in the big book with the images the text created for them during
the initial reading.
• Ask students to comment on the way the illustrations contributed to their understanding of the text. Ask
them if the illustrations assist the poet achieve his purpose.
• Also, as you re-read, stop at the end of each page to ensure the meaning is clear. Encourage students to
use context clues as well as the illustrations to unlock the meaning of words in the text (eg ostler, musket,
casement, red-coats).
g
Readin
ies
activit
• Divide the class into small groups. Distribute a copy of The Highwayman to each group.
Allocate each group a double page from the text.
• Tell each group they are to look closely at the people, animals and background in their
double page illustration.
T
    
 97
tivities
g ac
Readin
• Tell students to describe what they see in their illustration and to note the sections in the
poem on which the illustration is based.
• Confer with students as they read and describe the illustrations and text.
continued… • Ask groups to share their insights and observations.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask group 1 to join you for guided reading today. Tell students in the other guided reading
groups to read independently and to add to their poetry anthologies.
Group 1
Orientation to the text
• Introduce the new guided reading text. Focus students on the illustrations, eg on the cover or in the text.
• Predict a possible storyline from the cover or illustrations.
• Focus students on any unfamiliar words they may encounter. Write these on the board and read them
together. Predict their likely meaning in the text. Record these on cards for later discussion or confirmation
when they are encountered in the text.
Prompt students by asking:
– ‘What would make sense?’
Reading the text
– ‘What would look right?’
• Begin reading the text aloud to students.
– ‘What would fit there?’
• Demonstrate the use of self-correction strategies. Stop
– ‘What does it start with?’
at specific words in the text, and ask students to help you
– ‘Does any part of the text
read the word correctly.
remind you of another word?’
–
‘Can you break the words into
• Ask students to read the text in turn.
syllables?’
• Encourage students to read ahead and re-read the text, to
maintain meaning, as they work out unknown words.
Students in group 1 will need many
• Revisit the unfamiliar words recorded earlier. Consider
their meaning now in the context of the surrounding text.
Were your predictions accurate?
opportunities to revise concepts
and understandings.
Working with the text
• Again focus students’ attention on the illustrations. Now students have read the text discuss the use of
illustrations and the way in which they work with the text to create meaning.
• Write a number of sentences (at least five) from the text in sequence on the chalkboard, deleting a
number of words.
• Ask students to read these sentences together and to suggest words that would make sense and that are
grammatically correct. Try out students’ suggestions in different coloured chalk and ask them to tell you
why they think that their suggestions are right.
,   
 98
DAY 6 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
After the guided reading
• Ask students to practise reading their text to each other in pairs.
• Take the text home to practise reading with the family.
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
continued…
• Explain to students they will be writing descriptions of natural events, in preparation for
writing a Haiku on Day 7.
• Ask students to help you choose a subject from nature, eg a stormy night, a foggy morning.
• Jointly construct a description of the chosen subject prompting students to focus on what
the subject would look like, smell like, feel like, sound like and taste like. Display this
description as a model for independent writing.
• Ask students to choose their own natural phenomenon and to write a description about it.
• Ask students to share their descriptions with the class.
ion
e sess
h
t
g
n
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d
g
Conclu cher readin
a
e
t
and
• Listen to an audio tape of a poem.
• Add information to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart about this poem.
Thinking about day 6:
Reflection
• Were students able to identify the poet’s purpose
in The Highwayman?
• Were students able to identify how the
illustrator had interpreted the poem?
• Are students able to infer information from the
poem as well as the illustrations?
• What information are you recording about each
student in guided reading? How will you use this
information to plan future guided reading lessons?
T
    
 99
DAY 7
Preparing for day 7
• Poems from the class collection which
contain figurative language.
Setting
• One large and multiple small copies of The
Highwayman.
• Paper for reading activities.
• Guided reading text for Group 2 – a narrative
would be excellent.
ne
the sce
• Display the enlarged copy of The
Highwayman.
• As you turn the pages ask students
to retell the story, using the
illustrations as prompts.
• Jointly constructed description on an aspect of
nature from Day 6.
led
Model
g
readin
• Read the first three stanzas of the text together. Work with students to identify:
– words and phrases which create atmosphere, eg ‘among the gusty trees’, ‘over the
purple moor’
– words that create sounds, eg ‘clattered’, ‘clashed’. ‘tapped’.
– figurative language, eg ‘the road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor’ and
‘the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas’.
• Ask students to refer to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart. Ask them if any of the other poems listed on
the chart use figurative language.
tivities
g ac
Readin
• Organise students to work in pairs.
• Assemble poems from the class collection which contain figurative language (see to Preparing
for day 7).
• Ask each pair to select a poem.
• Ask students to read the poem with their partner to find examples of figurative language in the text. Tell
students to record each example on paper.
• Bring the class together and talk about the examples of figurative language they have found. Discuss the
effect this kind of language has on the mood of the poem.
Haiku
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
A Haiku is a Japanese poem that succintly describes an aspect of nature.
A Haiku poem has three lines.
The first line contains five syllables.
The second line contains seven syllables.
The third line contains five syllables.
A fallen blossom
is coming back to the branch.
Look, a butterfly!
Moritake (Trans.)
• Read a Haiku and
explain its structure and
purpose.
K-6 English Syllabus and Support Document Part 1, Teaching About Texts.
,   
 100
DAY 7 (continued)
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to re-read the jointly constructed description of an aspect of nature, on
display from Day 6 (see Preparing for day 7).
• Use the text of this description to jointly construct a Haiku.
• Then ask students to re-read their descriptions from Day 6, and to write a Haiku
independently.
• Confer with students as they write.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
continued…
• Ask students in guided reading groups 1, 3, 4 and 5 to continue independent reading and
to add to their poetry anthologies.
Work with group 2 for about 20 minutes
and with group 1 for 10 minutes today.
Group 2
Orientation to the text
• Re-read a previously read guided reading text.
• Give each student a copy of the new guided reading text.
• Chart what students know about the topic of the text.
• Ask students why they think the author wrote this text?
Reading the text
• Ask students to read the text with you as you begin reading
the text. Then invite students to take turns reading sections
of the text. Support and prompt each student as they read.
Prompt students when they encounter a
difficult word, eg:
– ‘What would make sense?’
– ‘What would look right?’
– ‘What would fit there?’
– ‘What does it start with?’
• Highlight and praise the use of successful reading strategies as they appear.
Working with the text
• Focus students on the characters in the texts. Ask questions such as:
– ‘How are the characters represented?’
– ‘How do the characters behave?’
– ‘What is the intended effect of this on the reader?’
– ‘How are the male and female characters represented?’
– ‘How are the emotions represented throughout the text?’
– ‘How does the author want you to think about the characters?’
Teacher and students could
construct a question concept map
which addresses stereotyping of
characters in a literary text. See
Choosing Literacy Strategies
That Work, Stage 2, page 95.
– ‘How has the author developed the characters over time?’
• Have students identify which characters in the narrative seem most powerful.
• Ask ‘How has the author created power in these characters?’, eg the way in which the character’s appearance
and actions have been described.
T
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 101
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
After the guided reading
• Have students identify in pairs stereotypes and figures of power in another narrative
they have read.
Group 1
Focus on text reading
continued… • With students re-read aloud the whole text or part of the text from Day 6.
• Ask each student to read in turn. Prompt as necessary
• Continue to record information about each
student’s reading development on the Guided
reading record, page 10.
Refocus on whole text
• Take turns reading the text in pairs.
Say:
– Read that part of the text again.
– What do you think that word might be?
– What would make sense here?
– What would sound right in this
sentence?
ssion
the se g
g
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Conclu cher readin
a
and te
• Ask some students to share poems from their poetry anthologies which contain figurative
language. Invite students to comment on the effectiveness of figurative language in their
chosen poem.
Thinking about day 7:
Reflection
• Did the descriptions students wrote on Day 6 help
them in their first attempts at writing Haiku poems?
• What further support will students need?
• Are you using your observations of students’ reading
for future planning?
• Which guided reading prompts are proving most
effective for assisting students to work out words they
don’t know?
,   
 102
DAY 8
Preparing for day 8
• One large and multiple small
copies of The Highwayman, and
the audiotape of the text (if
available).
Setting
ne
the sce
• Large sheet of paper or cardboard.
• Guided reading text for group 3
– a narrative would be excellent.
• Ask some students to read from their poetry
anthologies. Try to select a Haiku, if possible.
• Add this poem to the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
Ask students to suggest why the poet chose this poetic
form.
eading
led r
Model
• Tell students that they are going to explore the relationships between characters in The
Highwayman and record this graphically.
• Start building up a diagram to represent the
students’ reponses to the following questions:
– ‘What do the soldiers do to the Highwayman?’
• Draw arrows connecting the characters showing
the direction of the relationship.
• Make brief statements labelling the relationships.
Tim
▼
– ‘How does the Highwayman feel about Bess?’
ll
eal
of
is j
▼
▼
loves
ous
The
Highwayman
ki
• Take each character and explore that character’s
relationship or connection with the others, eg:
lov
es
▼
– ‘What other characters are in the poem?’
Landlord
▼
Bess
▼
– ‘Who is/are the central character/s?’
wa
rn
am s of
bu
sh
alerts
▼
is afraid
of
Soldiers
The graphic representation can be
described as a Literary Sociogram.
• Continually re-read the poem for evidence in the
text to support these points of view.
s
ctivitie
ga
Readin
Play an audiotape, if you have one
available.
• Read The Highwayman to the class once more. Ask students to particularly listen to the
rhythmic patterns in the text. Discuss the rhyming words in each stanza. Ask students to
clap the rhythmic pattern of each line as you read the first stanza.
• Organise students into pairs. Distribute copies of the text. Allocate one stanza to each pair. Ask students
to practise reading their stanza, paying particular attention to the rhythmic patterns of the language.
• As you move from group to group, focus on helping students read with meaning and expression.
• Sit the class in a circle. Conduct a choral reading of the text, asking students to read the stanza they have
prepared with their partner in turn. Praise their efforts. Be specific about why their oral reading was
succesful (eg ‘I really like the way you took notice of the punctuation, and paused during your reading.’)
T
    
 103
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Write a successful draft of a student’s Haiku from Day 7 onto the board.
• Invite students to suggest why they feel this Haiku is successful, eg it conjures up a wonderful
image, it fits the Haiku form well.
• Praise this attempt. Ask the student poet if they would like to make any changes to the
Haiku. Make changes together, demonstrating to the class how a poem may be edited and
improved. In particular, demonstrate how to incorporate figurative language into the poem.
• Ask students to edit their own Haiku started on Day 7, adding figurative language if possible. Publish and
display their poem.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to read independently and add to their personal poetry anthology while you
work with group 3 for 20 minutes and group 1 for 10 minutes today.
Group 3
Orientation to the text
• Distribute the new guided reading text.
• Ask students to make predictions from the title, cover and pictures. Ask students: ‘What do you think the
text might be about?’, ‘Why do you think the author has written a text like this?’, ‘What type of text do
you think it will be?’
Support and reinforce each student as
they read, eg ‘I like the way you made
Reading the text
it make sense.’ Prompt students when
• Ask students to begin reading the text together with you.
they encounter a difficult word, eg:
Pause and ask students to read in turn. Support them in the
– ‘What would make sense?’
particular language flow of the text.
– ‘What would look right?’
• Highlight and praise successful reading strategies as they
– ‘What would fit there?’
are demonstrated by students, and prompt when necessary.
– ‘What does it start with?’
• Monitor students as they read. Listen for self corrections
that tell you whether the student is reading for meaning
and monitoring their own reading strategies.
• Record information about student reading behaviours as they read on the guided reading record.
Working with the text
• Together with students identify the main events in the text. Chart the main events using a flow chart.
• Support students to make links between cause and effect in the text. Ask students to identify events or
actions which cause other events or actions. Ask students to state what happened and the result.
,   
 104
DAY 8 (continued)
For more information about cause and
effect chains see Choosing Literacy
Strategies That Work, Stage 2, page 127.
d and
Guide reading
dent
depen
in
After the guided reading
• Ask students in pairs to construct cause and effect chains where they select events or
actions in the text which cause other events or actions.
Group 1
Focus on text reading
continued… • Begin reading the text to students.
• Ask students to read a short section of the text in turn.
Focus on sounds, letters and words
• Revisit the new word cards from Day 6. Display each word in
turn and ask students to read it and find it in the text. Read the
sentence the word occurs in.
• Identify words from the text that can be easily segmented.
Show students how to use segmentation to assist the reading
of unknown words.
–
–
–
–
Prompt students when they
encounter a difficult word, eg:
‘What would make sense?’
‘What would look right?’
‘What would fit there?’
‘What does it start with?’
Refocus on whole text
• Guide students in a joint oral retelling of the text.
ion
e sess
h
t
g
n
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d
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Conclu cher readin
a
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and t
• Read a selection of student written Haiku to the class.
Thinking about day 8:
Reflection
• Did students feel more confident as poets when
they were provided with a structure for their
writing? What are the implications of this?
• Refer to Choosing Literacy Strategies That Work,
Stage 2, for further strategies to improve students’
oral reading.
T
    
 105
DAY 9
Preparing for day 9
• One large and multiple small copies of The
Death of Ben Hall and The Highwayman.
• Copies of Worksheet 1.
• Guided reading text for group 2 – a
narrative would be excellent.
• The chart of relationship words developed
on Day 4.
the
Setting
scene
• Remind students of the headings in the
‘Poems and their purposes’ chart.
• Ask students to focus on these headings
as they read the poem in today’s modelled
reading session.
ing
d read
le
Model
• Explore the poem’s purpose. Ask students to suggest reasons why the
poet wrote The Death of Ben Hall.
• Display the cover of The Death of Ben Hall. Ask students to predict what the
text might be about and what might happen in the text.
• Read the text to the class.
• Now ask students to confirm what has been read with their earlier predictions about the text.
• Focus students on aspects of The Death of Ben Hall including setting, characters, structure and language
features. Ask:
– ‘Can you describe the setting in The Death of Ben Hall?’
– ‘How did you form this impression?’
– ‘Who are the main characters in the poem?’
– ‘What are they like?’
– ‘Do they remind you of other characters in previously read poems?
– ‘How is this poem structured?’
– ‘What other language devices has the poet used to fulfil his purpose?’
• Ask students to help you complete the ‘Poems and their purposes’ chart for this poem.
g
Readin
ies
activit
• Place The Highwayman on display next to the copy of The Death of Ben Hall.
• Ask questions to lead the discussion, comparing the two texts:
- ‘How are the main characters in both poems similar?’
- ‘Where does the action take place in the poems?’
- ‘What is similar about the structure of both poems?’
- ‘Are there similar types of characters in both poems, eg Are there heroes or traitors?’
• Ask students, in pairs, to complete Worksheet 1 as they compare The Highwayman with The Death of
Ben Hall.
• As students compare the poems, refer them back to both texts to confirm their opinions.
• Confer with students as they work.
• Invite students to compare their findings.
,   
 106
DAY 9 (continued)
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to read independently and to add to their personal anthology, while you work
with group 4 for about 20 minutes and group 1 for 10 minutes today.
Group 4
Orientation to the text
• Introduce the new guided reading text. Look at the title, cover and illustrations. Make
predictions about the text type, the author’s purpose in writing the text and what students
think may happen in the text.
Reading the text
• Ask students to read the text silently.
• In partners then ask students to read the text to each other. As students are reading in pairs, join with each
pair to listen and monitor as individual students read.
Working with the text
• Discuss with students the ways in which the author of the text is positioning them to regard certain issues
and themes in particular ways, eg what kind of language does the author use to portray the personality of
the characters.
• In particular identify with students how the writer positions readers through the use of thinking and
feeling verbs and the use of evaluative language.
• Ask students ‘What verbs does the author use that make you feel a certain way about a character?’
Answers might identify words like demanding, grunted, snuffled.
After the guided reading
• In pairs, practise phrased and fluent reading of the text to each other.
Group 1
Focus on conventions of print
• Revisit guided reading text from Day 6.
• Draw students’ attention to the purpose and function of full stops and questions marks. Read aloud
sections of the text to students using voice intonation and pause appropriately to indicate their function.
Re-focus on whole text reading
• Ask students to take turns at reading a few sentences from the text particularly focusing on intonation
and the use of pause to indicate the function of full stops and questions marks.
T
    
 107
d and
Guide writing
dent
depen
in
• Tell students that today they
will be writing a cinquain.
• Explain the structure of a
cinquain.
• Write an example of a
cinquain on the board.
• Read the word bank of relationship words
created with students on Day 4.
• Choose one emotion from the list and ask
students to help you describe it.
• Together jointly construct a cinquain
based on an emotion.
Cinquain
A cinquain is a five-line peom which presents a compact
image of an object, person or idea.
Line 1 – one word to state the subject.
Line 2 – two words to describe the subject.
Line 3 – three words to describe the subject.
Line 4 – four words about the subject.
Line 5 – one word to comment on the subject.
Hamburger
juicy, delicious
bacon and egg
have one for lunch
yummy.
K-6 English Syllabus and Support Document Part 1,
Teaching About Texts.
• Ask students to work in pairs to describe another emotion on the list and to write their own cinquain.
• Confer with students as they draft their poem. Remind them to refer to the outline of a cinquain, on the
board. Share some interesting cinquains with the class.
ion
e sess
h
t
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n
i
d
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Conclu cher readin
a
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and t
• Read some completed student written cinquains. Discuss successful features.
• Ask students to tell the class what sort of poems they are collecting for their anthology and
ask why.
Thinking about day 9:
Reflection
• Collect one or two writing samples from
each student for assessment purposes.
• Were students actively participating during
partnered reading activities?
,   
 108
DAY 10
Preparing for day 10
• The enlarged copy of The Death of Ben Hall.
• Two sheets of cardboard and A4 paper.
• The chart of relationship words developed on Day 4.
• The jointly constructed cinquain, written on Day 9.
Setting
ne
the sce
• Tell students that they are going to
prepare a poetry reading of a poem
in their personal anthology.
• Guided reading text for group 5 – a narrative would
be excellent.
• Using students’ cinquains from Day 9 as models point out and remind
students of the structure and features of a cinquain.
d and
Guide writing
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to continue writing their cinquain in pairs. Remind students to edit their poems
before publishing them and displaying them throughout the room.
• Then ask students to choose another emotion and to write a cinquain individually.
• Confer with students as they write.
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
• Ask students to read independently and complete their cinquain while you work with group
5 for about 20 minutes and group 1 for about 10 minutes.
Group 5
Orientation to the text
• Distribute copies of the new guided reading text and scan the text to identify any new or
unfamiliar vocabulary. With students begin to explore the possible meanings of these words.
Record these and their predicted meanings for later discussion/confirmation when students
encounter them in the text.
Reading the text
• Begin reading the text together with students then ask students to continue reading the text silently.
• Take the opportunity to have a student read to you while the other students are reading silently.
• Focus students back on their predictions about the meanings of unfamiliar words identified earlier. Now
that students have read them in context were their predictions accurate?
• Ask students to identify why they think the author has written this text and what text type it is.
Working with the text
• Once students have identified the author’s purpose in writing the text focus them more specifically on the
language choices the author has made to achieve these purposes. Ask questions that require students to
become aware of the text features employed, eg:
– What conjunctions or connective words does the author use to order events or create causal effects
between events? For example, because.
T
    
 109
d and
Guide reading
ndent
indepe
– What words or groups of words helped to build up descriptions? For example, long,
white, narrow fingers.
– Where does the author use features like metaphor, idiom or personification to describe
characters or events in the text? For example, She was as light as a feather; He could
run like the wind; The sun kissed her face.
• Write two complex sentences from the text and examine with students how the author has
continued… used the sentence to build relationships between issues like time, place and reason, eg
When he emerged from the cave his eyes were temporarily blinded because of the time
spent immersed in darkness.
After the guided reading
• Using a known guided reading text identify some of the above features.
Group 1
Focus on meaning
• Ask students to sit in a circle. Ask for a volunteer to start retelling the events of the text. Stop students at
appropriate points and ask a different student to continue with the retelling. Continue this process until
all students have had a turn.
Focus on spelling
• Look for some multisyllable words in the text.
• Record these on the chalkboard.
• Encourage students to find some smaller words they can already spell in the larger words.
Refocus on whole text
• Ask students to read the text aloud, together mindful of phrased and fluent reading.
ing
d read
• Display The Death of Ben Hall.
le
Model
• Begin reading the poem expressively to students. With this reading concentrate on
demonstrating to students how to build mood and excitement by varying volume, pace and
emphasis.
• Ask students to join you as you read.
• Remind students that today they will be reading poems from their individual anthologies. Encourage
students to incorporate the above techniques as they practise for their reading performance.
,   
 110
DAY 10 (continued)
tivities
g ac
Readin
• Ask students to read through their personal poetry anthologies to choose a poem to read.
• Support students as they make their selections.
• While students rehearse their reading make suggestions to enhance the meaning of the
poem, eg focus on the flow of language, pausing, direct speech, changes in volume, dramatic
gestures.
ssion
the se g
g
n
i
d
Conclu cher readin
a
and te
• Invite some volunteers to perform the reading of their chosen poem to the class. Encourage
students to respond to and commend positive aspects of the performance. Remind students
to incorporate any successful techniques into their own performance.
• Remaining students could perform their poetry readings over the next few days.
Thinking about day 10:
Reflection
• Record this afternoon’s performance and use
the recording as a self-assessment tool.
• Are students grouped appropriately for guided
reading? Do you need to make changes?
• How will you use what you have learnt about
students’ reading development to plan future
literacy learning experiences?
T
    
 111
Worksheet 1
The Highwayman and The Death of Ben Hall:
Similarities
Differences
Setting
Types of
characters
Structure
Language
features
,   