Year 3 'Swallow's Kiss': book club worksheet

“Is it still a poem?” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 English unit “'Swallow's Kiss': book club”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 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. Week 23 of the year, 2 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Is it still a poem?

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain why a poem does not have to rhyme, and say how a character feels.

A Look back3 min

1.
Circle the mark that ends a sentence which tells you something.
.?
2.
Circle the word that completes it: a story has a beginning, a middle and an ___.
endstartdream
3.
Circle the word that names a feeling.
gladtablerun

B Watch me, then you4 min

Read this verse aloud: Blessing folds each paper bird / and lines them up along the shelf. / Nobody tells her where to put them, / she just knows.

A café door with a small bell above it, a rainy street outside

Watch me

Paper birds lined up on a café shelf in morning light

The end words are bird, shelf, them and knows. None of them rhyme.

It has no rhyme pattern, and it sounds like someone talking. This kind of poem is called free verse.

Free verse is still a poem, because the lines have a rhythm and a feeling.

Now you

1.
Read this verse: We wait by the door / for the bell to ring. / Hani says it takes ages every day. Do the end words rhyme? Circle the answer.
yesno

C Your turn6 min

Each row changes one thing. Read the two end words aloud, then decide.

1.
Read: 'The rain taps on the glass. / We watch the people pass.' Do the end words rhyme? Circle the answer.
yesno
2.
Read: 'Blessing sits by the door. / She waits for Papa to come home.' Do the end words rhyme? Circle the answer.
yesno
3.
Read: 'A swallow flies up high. / It dips across the sky.' Do the end words rhyme? Circle the answer.
yesno
4.
Blessing misses her dad. Circle the feeling that fits a girl who misses her dad.
sadexcitedsleepy

Say it out loud: Say the end words out loud. Which sound is the same, and which is different? What changed from the row before?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A swallow flying over a quiet street at evening

Lou reads the paper bird verse and says: “This is not a poem, because the lines do not rhyme.”

1.
Write one or two sentences to tell Lou why he is wrong.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Look at the chain. Explain how Blessing shows empathy for Hani. Use the word theme in your sentence.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Is it still a poem? · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. . If your child circles the question mark, ask: does a telling sentence ask something? A telling sentence ends with a full stop.

2. end

3. glad

B

1. no If your child circles yes, say door, ring and day aloud. Ask whether any two end with the same sound.

C

1. yes If your child says no, say glass and pass slowly. Ask them to hold the last sound, /ass/, and notice it is the same.

2. no If your child says yes, say door and home slowly. Ask whether the last sounds match. They do not.

3. yes

4. sad

D

1. Look for: Says that poems do not have to rhyme, and that free verse follows natural speech so it is still a poem. If your child agrees with Lou, ask what makes a poem a poem. Read two lines aloud and ask whether they sound like talking, with a rhythm.

E

1. Look for: Explains that Blessing understands Hani because she also misses a parent, linking this to empathy or the theme. If your child only retells what happens, point to the first box of the chain. Ask: why does Blessing know how Hani feels?

Words to use

Say“Read the verse aloud first. Does it sound like someone talking? What is the feeling in it?”

Instead of“Tell them free verse is wrong because it has no rhyme.”

After the sheet

Pick three lines from a song or a book at home. Read them aloud together. Ask: do the ends rhyme, and does it still sound like talking?

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

One more sheet comes with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Wishes that help others(with a plan)

Every Year 3 English worksheet

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