Reading and responding to 'Wide Open' by Rachel Rooney
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can give a personal response to the poem and give some evidence to justify my ideas.
Key learning points
- Rachel Rooney is a poet and is known for writing imaginative poetry for children.
- ‘Wide Open’ by Rachel Rooney is a poem about a special eye that can see anything.
- The poem is imaginative and has themes of wonder and discovery.
- The poem explores themes of imagination, wonder and discovery.
Keywords
Theme - a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a text
Imaginative - having the ability to create vivid mental images or concepts that may not exist in reality
Imagery - the use of language to create a mental picture or sensory experience for the reader or listener
Common misconception
Children can think that there is only one way to respond to a poem and you can have the right or wrong understanding of it.
Avoid posing questions which may lead children to the idea that there is a right or wrong answer when discussing the poem. Try to encourage open responses to the poem, celebrating each unique response from individuals.
Teacher tip
Read and display other poems by Rachel Rooney for pupils to enjoy.
Equipment
You need a copy of the poem ‘Wide Open’, which is featured on page 8 of the 2014 Frances Lincoln Children's Books edition of ‘Life as a Goldfish’ written by Rachel Rooney, for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What are rhyming words?
Q2.What is the name for a person who writes a poem?
Q3.True or false? Poems are non-fiction texts.
Q4.What is the name for words that describe nouns?
Q5.True or false? A noun is a person, place or thing.
Q6.Which of these words rhymes with 'sun'?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Who wrote the poem 'Wide Open'?
Q2.Where was Rachel Rooney born?
Q3.What job did Rachel Rooney do before she became a poet?
Q4.True or false? When she was a child, Rachel loved poetry and wrote lots of poems, but she never showed them to anyone and she stopped when she was in her teens.
Q5.True or false? Being 'imaginative' means having the ability to create vivid mental images or concepts that may not exist in reality.
Q6.'Wide Open' is a poem about a special ...
To help you plan your 2 English lesson on: Reading and responding to 'Wide Open' by Rachel Rooney, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 2 English lesson on: Reading and responding to 'Wide Open' by Rachel Rooney, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 English lessons from the 'The Magic Box': reading imaginative poetry unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.