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Day 23 · Words can build a pictureYear 4 English · T1 W5–6 · Teacher · Teacher / Day 23

Aim: Explain how literary devices and sound/word choices shape a poem’s meaning; distinguish imaginative description from literal factual reporting.

Limited national links: AC9E4LE04, AC9E4LE02, AC9E4LA11, AC9E4LY05, AC9E4LY06. Exact descriptions and limits are in the crosswalk.

Preparation: select a matched independent passage, read the complete named shared text and chosen route, prepare accessible response mode and ordinary paper/text labels. Child page · Home offer · Optional extras.

• Read The quiet orchestra

Start · 2 min

Give a pencil, bag or imaginary robot a surprising line. Tell what you want a reader to picture.

Word study · 4 min

Build quiet/quietly and gentle/gently as vocabulary and spelling examples. Model gentle → gently by changing this final -le to -ly: replace the final e with y. Quiet → quietly keeps the t and adds -ly. This is a specific comparison, not “always drop e”. Compare quiet/silent as near synonyms: quiet may mean low sound, silent no sound; context matters.

Read/re-read · 5 min

Read the whole original poem twice in a locally suitable mode: voice, text, sign-supported interpretation or visual pacing. Mark what a reader can picture. Offer a school-selected independent poem/text at taught reading point separately; record self-corrections rather than speed comparisons.

Model and join in · 5 min

Say “The notebook yawns gives a human action to an object. It invites an image, not an actual notebook mouth. My thoughts are moths compares without like/as; it suggests darting then settling.” Compare literal “The notebook is open” with playful “The notebook yawns”. Model an original simile: “The zip looks like a silver path.” Explain its shared feature. Show the illustrated cupboard/zip/pencil/notebook and floating word-moths. Identify the illustrator’s added image as interpretation, not a literal measurement. Children choose one phrase, explain its effect and consider a different response. No sound performance is compulsory.

Create or fresh check · 8 min

Offer three contexts. Write/dictate a short poem or illustrated sequence with one intentional device and a second detail that supports the image. Label it imagined. Optional extension: use a pun whose two meanings you can explain, without mocking an accent, identity or disability.

Feedback and next move · 4 min

A willing reader says what they pictured and names the words that caused it. Revise one vague adjective or comparison. A different reader response can be valid; ask whether the proposed image is supported.

Close · 2 min

Collect phrase → effect, not a judgement of the child’s taste. If a device is treated literally, compare an original report line with its imaginative partner. If a synonym alters meaning, model one context-specific substitution.

Three context choices

Pocket-sized planet

Invent a poem about a school bag as a tiny planet. Give one object a surprising role and explain the comparison. No personal possessions need showing.

Robot in a quiet workshop

Write a poem about an imagined robot sorting words. Choose a visual or movement image rather than noise if preferred; nobody must move.

Kitchen-drawer orchestra

Use an imagined spoon, pencil or button as a character in a two- to six-line poem. Everyday objects can stay imagined; this is not a cooking or utensil task.

Assessment record: preserve exact child wording, source, self-read/heard route, response mode, actual adult prompts and next teaching. Adult transcription is not handwriting evidence. Do not infer attainment from a worksheet count.