New
New
Year 2

Writing your own imaginative poem

I can write my own imaginative poem following the same structure as ‘The Magic Box’.

New
New
Year 2

Writing your own imaginative poem

I can write my own imaginative poem following the same structure as ‘The Magic Box’.

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. ‘The Magic Box’ by Kit Wright is a poem about putting a variety of unique and wonderful items into a special box.
  2. We can use poems by other poets as inspiration for our own poetry.
  3. The structure of a poem is how it is organised and put together.
  4. ‘The Magic Box’ is organised into verses that mostly follow the same structure.
  5. Kit Wright is well-known for using contrasts in his poems.

Keywords

  • Structure - refers to the way a poem is organised or put together

  • Verse - refers to a single line or a group of lines within a poem

  • Imaginative - having the ability to create vivid mental images or concepts that may not exist in reality

  • Contrasting - the comparison of two or more things that are very different

Common misconception

Pupils may find it hard to think of imaginative ideas.

Pupils could work in pairs or small groups to generate ideas for their poems. You may also wish to do some further work on adjectives to describe and come up with a class word bank of adjectives to refer to.

Depending on your pupils, you may feel that the concept of contrasting ideas is too complex for your class, in which case you could just get them to focus on describing different items instead.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need a copy of the poem ‘The Magic Box’ which is in the 2013 Macmillan Children's Books edition of ‘The Magic Box’ written by Kit Wright for this lesson.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
Who wrote the famous children's poem 'The Magic Box'?
Correct answer: Kit Wright
Joseph Coelho
Michael Rosen
Q2.
Fill in the blank. Kit Wright is a British ...
Correct answer: poet
artist
sculptor
Q3.
Kit Wright's father was a __________ at the same boarding school as Kit attended.
sports coach
Correct answer: teacher
caretaker
Q4.
True or false? Wright's poetry often explores themes of imagination, childhood, nature and family.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q5.
Which of these is Kit Wright's poetry known for?
Correct answer: containing clever ideas
being only for adults
Correct answer: using playful language
Q6.
True or false? 'The Magic Box' is a poem about putting unique and unexpected items into a special box.
Correct Answer: True, true

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these items are placed into the special box in the poem 'The Magic Box'?
Correct answer: flames from the nose of a dragon
Correct answer: purple wishes said in another language
a hot air balloon floating over a jungle
Q2.
True or false? Structure in poetry refers to the way a poem is organised or put together.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q3.
What is a 'verse' in poetry?
the title of the poem
the way the words rhyme
Correct answer: a single line or a group of lines within a poem
Q4.
What is an adjective?
a naming word for people, places or things
Correct answer: a word that describes a noun
a doing or being word
Q5.
True or false? Contrasting items means comparing two things that are exactly the same.
Correct Answer: false, False
Q6.
Which would be the best contrasting idea for 'a slow tortoise'?
a slithering snail
Correct answer: a speedy cheetah
a sleepy sloth