Whole Class Reading Session - Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare thee to a Summer's Day?

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: ‘Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day?’

The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop comprehension skills through VIPERS activities: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and summarising. It also contains a vocabulary check and key context information to clarify any unfamiliar language and subject matter.

The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The extract needed is provided in both Word and PDF, and I’ve also a link to a web-based version of the poem on the first slide.

The session is tried and tested, and was initially delivered to a strong year 6 class, although with only minor adaptations I believe the questions and content would be suitable for those in years 5-8.