Phase 2 – Comprehension
Instructions for the planning cards above.
Responding to illustration – approach 1
Ask children what do they notice/see in the image?
Have they they seen anything like this before?
Ask them to discuss the image in their groups and make notes of these initial thoughts. What can they see? Does it prompt any questions? Is there anything that puzzles them?
Responding to illustration – approach 2
Working with a partner, ask children to write down a list of 5 things that they can see in the illustration.
Ask each pair of children to work with another pair to compare their lists – did anybody notice something new?
Gather children’s ideas to make a class list of what they can see
Model how children could expand single word responses into short noun phrases and then descriptive sentences.
Visualisation
Using an extract of text ask children to draw what they read.
They might choose to draw a series of images or one drawing to show what they are visualising. After pupils have had enough time to draw, ask them to annotate their illustration with any words or phrases that particularly inspired their drawing
Describe a scene
1. Write a sentence to describe an object in the scene using words related to colour and shade.
2. Write a sentence to describe the setting using words related to colour and shade.
3. Describe a noise you might be able to hear.
4. Write down what is happening in the scene.
Double Bubble – fiction
This works in a similar way to a Venn diagram. The differences are recorded in the boxes down each side and the similarities in the middle. It is a very flexible tool and can be used to compare characters, settings, books, chapters etc.
Double Bubble – non-fiction
This works in a similar way to a Venn diagram. The differences are recorded in the boxes down each side and the similarities in the middle. It is a very flexible tool and can be used to compare people, places, living things text types and structural features such as contents and index.
Outside/Inside
This is a development of Role on the Wall and simply provides a structure to enable a written response to the Role on the Wall graphic and notes taken to enable a character study.
More new planning cards below
Instructions for these new cards
Statement Sorting
A series of statements about a topic are prepared in advance and children then discuss these and sort under headings. The simplest version uses Agree or Disagree headings and these can be extended to more choices such as Strongly Agree – Agree – Disagree – Strongly Disagree. Contexts could be about a character, relationships between characters, messages, morals and themes and so on.
Diamante Poem
Can be used to compare two things and to summarise knowledge – cold deserts/hot deserts, predator/prey. The basic formula is:
Line 1 – Topic 1
Line 2 – adjective – adjective
Line 3 – ‘ing word – ‘ing word – ‘ing word
Line 4 – 4 nouns (two for each topic)
Line 5 – adjective – adjective
Line 6 – Topic 2
See the slideshow of some of the ideas below.
Diamante Poem Structure 
Diamante Poem – Geography Example 
Double Bubble – History Example 
Describing a Scene – Planning Grid 
Describing a Scene Content 
Describing a Scene – Outcome 
The Poetry Machine – Outcome 
The Poetry Machine – Structure 
The Poetry Machine – Outcome (St Anthony’s Clayton) 
The Poetry Machine – Outcome (St Anthony’s Clayton) 
Statements Game – Basic 
Statements Game – Complex 
Outside/Inside and Role on the Wall 
Blackout Poem Outcome 
Blackout Poem Preparation
The Poetry Machine
Can be used in its own right as a structure for a poem or to summarise knowledge across the curriculum. The Formula is:
A noun
A fact about the noun
3 adjectives to describe the noun
It is like…
The noun again
Another fact about the noun
I’d like to…
Blackout poem
Take a text. Black out some words and phrases and keep others to encapsulate the key meaning of the text. Format into a poem.