The Kraken, poetry unit

Drama! Talk! Poetry map! Scavenger hunt! Reading skills! Team work! Creative writing! 13 resources included!

This is a seven day poetry unit exploring Alfred Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’. It has been planned in a lot of detail and is fully resourced. There is clear guidance all the way through, so if you’re in a rush, you can pick it up and use it! There is also a one-symbol-per-line story map to help children learn the poem off-by-heart with help from picture cues. All of the tricky words are also defined.

The unit begins with children performing and learning the poem through drama and then moves on to explore the imagery in the poem, including comprehension questions. Children then begin to use imagery of their own. They work collaboratively (using a’ jig-saw’ approach, explained in the plan), use language playfully and finally write their own poem.

It is a very enjoyable unit, which inspired some superb writing in my class. It could work with Year 4, Year 5 or Year 6.

Sessions cover these objectives:

1. I can recite one line of a poem from memory. (Drama)
I can recite a whole poem from memory.
I can find meaning within the puzzle of a poem.

2. I can understand wide range of imaginative and ambitious vocabulary. (Definitions scavenger hunt included)
I use a wide range of imaginative and ambitious vocabulary accurately and precisely.

3. I understand the term imagery. (14 comprehension questions included)
I can find examples of imagery in poem.
I can suggest reasons why a poet has used certain imagery.

4. I know what the terms metaphor and simile mean. (Group work activities creating new Kraken imagery)
I can use simile and metaphor (imagery) and magic!
I can play with the order of words to add impact.

5. I can draft a poem and develop my ideas by ‘magpie-ing’ from other writers and drawing on poems that I am reading. (Supportive writing frame included)

6. I can evaluate, edit and improve my own writing.

I hope your class love it and create some incredible poems.