Responding to 'What Did You Do at School Today?' by James Carter and other poems
I can give a personal response to different poems and read them aloud.
Responding to 'What Did You Do at School Today?' by James Carter and other poems
I can give a personal response to different poems and read them aloud.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- James Carter is a British poet who is mostly known for his entertaining poetry written for children.
- 'What Did You Do at School Today?’ is a humorous poem.
- The poem is written as a conversation between a child and their mother about what the child did at school.
- The poet uses a particular layout and structure in the poem to show the reader that it is a conversation.
- 'Wide Open' is humorous poem by Rachel Rooney; 'Ten Dancing Dinosaurs' is a humorous poem by John Foster.
Keywords
Mischievous - showing a fondness for causing trouble in a playful way
Humorous - something that makes a person laugh or smile because it is funny or silly
Conversation - a verbal exchange of ideas, thoughts, or information between two or more people
Common misconception
Pupils may find it hard to emphasise the different people in the conversation when reading aloud.
You may wish to act out the poem using two people so the pupils can see it performed as a conversation. Model changing your voice and using gestures to show the pupils how this has an effect.
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: Responding to 'What Did You Do at School Today?' by James Carter and other poems, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: Responding to 'What Did You Do at School Today?' by James Carter and other poems, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 english lessons from the Humorous poetry unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
The poems used in this lesson are available in the additional materials.
