Year 3 Poet focus: 'Werewolf Club Rules' by Joseph Coelho worksheet

“Learning about a poet” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 English unit “Poet focus: 'Werewolf Club Rules' by Joseph Coelho”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 21 to 23 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Learning about a poet

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · English · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain how years of practice and real life led a poet to publish.

A Look back3 min

1.
Circle the word that shows the sunniest feeling.
thrilledworriedgloomy
2.
Circle the word that fits the empty box in the chain.
DraftHolidayLunch
3.
Circle the word that fits the empty box in the cycle.
ImproveSnoreHide

B Watch me, then you4 min

A poet's first book came out in 2014. The timeline shows what happened next and when.

A wooden desk by a window with a blank notebook and a pencil

Watch me

The first book came out in 2014.

The prize came one year later, in 2015.

The Children's Laureate job began in 2022.

The poet kept writing and sharing poems the whole time.

Now you

1.
A made-up poet wrote poems for five years before her first book came out. Say one thing she might have done in those years.

C Your turn6 min

Read each timeline. Then write your answer in words.

1.
The poet's first book came out in 2014. Did the prize come before or after it? Use the timeline.
2.
The poet won a prize in 2015 and became Children's Laureate in 2022. What do you think the poet kept doing in between?
3.
A made-up poet visited a school in 2016. Her first book came out in 2022. What could she have done in those years to get better?
4.
A made-up poet started writing in 2009. Her first book came out in 2014. Why do you think she did not publish straight away?

Say it out loud: Look at all the gaps. What do they tell you about how long it takes to become a poet?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Joseph Coelho wrote his first poem at secondary school, in Year 8. His first book of poems came out many years later, in 2014.

A tall tower block at dusk with lit windows and a small park below

Kit says: “Joseph Coelho was a famous writer at school, so his first book came out straight away.”

1.
Write one sentence that says what is wrong with Kit's idea.

E Think deeper4 min

A city street seen from a window with a notebook on the sill

1.
Why might a poet write about their own street or home? Give two reasons.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Learning about a poet · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. thrilled If they circled worried, ask them to point to where the scale is sunny and where it is stormy.

2. Draft If they circled Holiday, ask what a writer does between having an idea and finishing the poem.

3. Improve

B

1. Look for: Any sensible practice step, such as writing poems, reading them aloud, changing drafts or sharing them. If your child says she was just born good at it, point to the five years on the timeline. Ask what she did in all that time.

C

1. Look for: Says after, using 2015 from the timeline.

2. Look for: A sensible idea about practice, such as writing more poems, performing them or sharing them. If your child says nothing happened, point to the gap on the timeline. Ask what a poet does every day.

3. Look for: One practice step such as writing, drafting, reading aloud or improving poems.

4. Look for: Says she needed time to practise and improve before publishing.

D

1. Look for: says the claim is wrong because Joseph only began writing poems in Year 8 and his first book came out many years later If they only write that it is wrong, ask when Joseph wrote his first poem and when his first book came out.

E

1. Look for: two reasons linked to real places, feelings or things the poet knows well, such as home, family or a street

1. Look for: a feeling word with a short reason linked to the poet continuing to write for years

Words to use

Say“Joseph wrote for years before his first book came out. What does that tell you about getting good at something?”

Instead of“Tell them writers are born good at it, so they should just be clever.”

After the sheet

Make a family timeline with a long strip of paper. Mark three events with years from photos or memories, then count the years between them together.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

9 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Words that start together(with a plan)
Metaphors and sounds(with a plan)
Simile or metaphor?(with a plan)
Building my MORERAPS poem(with a plan)
Like, as, or is?(with a plan)
Pictures in poems(with a plan)
Learning a poem by heart(with a plan)
Where letter parts go(with a plan)
My letter to Joseph(with a plan)

Every Year 3 English worksheet

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