8 lessons which cover key VIPERS reading skills based on Tom Palmer’s excellent WW 2 text RESIST. Lesson breakdown as follows: Vocabulary Infer Sequence/summarise Predict/infer Retrieve/summarise Explain Explain/summarise Infer (character emotions)

This resource uses Where the Poppies Now Grow by Hilary Robinson. L.T. I can explain and understand poetry In the first session, pupils annotate the poem using active reading strategies. In the second session, pupils explore some of the active reading strategies in more detail. In the third session, pupils will evaluate the themes that this text covers and provide evidence for any appropriate themes. Suitable for UKS2 reading lessons.

This resource can be taken over 1-4 lessons depending on your class ability. The poem has been selected from the text ‘Poems from the Second World War’ by Gaby Morgan. The lesson focus uses ‘Empty your Pockets’ by John Pudney. The suggested breakdown of the learning is as follows: Read poem and uses active reading strategies to visualise, predict, clairfy, connect and evaluate by annotating and illustrating key lines, phrases or words. Discuss how the poem makes readers feel using evidence. Discuss the poems structure and how this contributes to the impact. Discuss the impact of language used (help sheet provided with visuals).

This unit of 3-4 lessons uses Munford & Sons’ song ‘Dustbowl Dance’ as inspiration for poetry learning through song. Lesson breakdown: 1a. Annotate song using active reading strategies and discuss the meaning 1b. Listen to the song and discuss how the music and lyrics combine for meaning Answer questions to deepen understanding of the poem (including questioning, visualising, inferring, discussing structure). Analyse meaning and evaluate

This assembly covers The WW1 Christmas Truce in WW1 of 1914 WWI, where for a few hours, British and German soldiers stopped fighting and remembered what united them as humans rather than what divided them as enemies. The structure of the assembly is as follows: Image for pupils to reflect and think about on entry. A poem which details the event of German and British soldiers in the trenches read by teacher or pupil(s). Reflection from pupils on the ‘Ow’ (painful or difficult moment) ‘Wow’ (amazing moment) and or ‘Now’ moment. Advert campaign of the story. Silent Night Hymn. Take aways from the assembly. Thanks

In this 3 lesson unit pupils learn about the WW1 Christmas Truce. Lesson 1: Pupils read a poem and discuss events in the poem. They watch the advert campaign and discuss. They then complete some activities where they timeline the events of the poem and plot the change in emotions of the soldiers throughout the day’s events. Lesson 2: Pupils look at themes in the poem and complete a diamond 9 activity whereby they prioritise the strongest themes and provide reasons for their choices. They also look at the significance of the hymn ‘Silent Night’, Lesson 3: Pupils look at the website: https://kidsforpeaceglobal.org/. Pupils write their own Peace Pledge for their year group. This is a nice unit in the run up to Christmas and also ticks off some poetry objectives. Resources include: Poem Widget translated poem for SEND children Emotions Graph Peace Pledge Template