Solar Powered and The Sun ( a comparison activity)

Learning intention:

We are learning to understand poetry devices and use them in our own writing.

Success criteria:

Students discuss elements of the poem such as theme, meaning and structure

Students identify similarities and differences between the two poems

Students create their own poem based on the structure of one of the text poems

Create a poem about the sun based on the style of one of the text poems.

After reading both poems, ask the students relevant questions, such as:

What is the theme of these poems? (The Sun)

What does it mean to be solar powered? (For energy to come from sunlight)

What does each poem tell us about the sun? (See table below)

Solar Powered: The Sun:
It creates power (energy) It is hot and bright
The sun helps plants make their food. It separates day and night.
It helps plants grow. It is the closest star to Earth.
Some people feel happier when the sun is out. It affects many aspects of our lives and the world.

Compare and contrast these poems by asking students to give examples of similarities and differences. These may include:

Similarities: Differences:
Theme Solar powered is focused on plants and self, The Sun highlights the wider impacts of the
sun.
Both Rhyme: Rhyme schemes (ABCB vs AABB)

Both discuss the benefits of the sun: Solar Powered talks about the effect on mood, The Sun does not.

Both mention the sun helping plants: Different number of lines and stanzas.

Discuss the students’ feelings about the sun and ask what it means to them. Contrast a simple idea like summer days at the beach, ice creams and school holidays with something deeper like the life it gives to the world around us.

Take students’ suggestions of keywords to help them have a starting point to build rhymes. For example:

sun / fun

ice cream / sunscreen

light / bright

glow / grow

Students should create a list or mind map of their ideas and use it to write a poem about the sun, basing it on the style (rhyme scheme, length, stanzas) of one of the poems in the text.