With the Sun on my Face

Composes a poem featuring their opinions of what is best to do on a sunny day as statements of fact.

Share with students your favourite thing to do on sunny days. For example, buying ice-cream and eating it on a park bench or going swimming in a lake. Construct sentences, discussing examples of thinking verbs you might use, such as ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’.

Sample ideas include:

I think swimming at the lake is the best way to cool down on a sunny day.

I believe the best way to spend sunny days is relaxing on a bench in the park eating strawberry ice-cream.

Encourage students to share their own examples.

Read the poem. After reading the poem, discuss whether it includes statements of opinion or statements of fact. Ensure students conclude that it features the poet’s opinion on what is their favourite thing to do. Discuss the vocabulary used ensuring students note that relating verbs such as ‘it’s’ have been used as opposed to thinking verbs. Highlight that these give the impression the statements reveal assertions of fact rather than personal opinions.

Discuss how the sentences composed earlier could be adapted to create statements of facts by changing the verbs. For example:

Swimming at the lake is the best way to cool down on a sunny day.

The absolute best way to spend sunny days is relaxing on a bench in the park eating strawberry ice-cream.

Examine the structure of the poem, ensuring students note the following:

the poet has featured ideas of things that are nice to do on sunny days in the first two lines of each stanza, using the sentence starter ‘it’s lovely to…’

the third and fourth lines introduce the idea that there is something even better

the final line describes the poets favourite thing to do, described as a statement of fact

the second and fifth lines rhyme

the third and fourth lines rhyme

Collaboratively construct a brief poem, following a similar structure to the poem (describing ideas of things that are nice to do on sunny days before explaining the writer’s favourite thing to do at the end of the stanza. Remind students to express their opinions using vocabulary to express them as statements of fact. A sample response has been provided below:

It’s lovely to swim,

It’s lovely to dance,

But there is nothing that can beat,

Not to sit on a seat,

But to be in a lake for a swim and prance.

Place students in groups. Tell them to list ideas of their favourite things to do on sunny days. Instruct them to write these as statements of facts and as statements of opinion as modelled earlier.

Once they have done this, instruct them to compose a poem featuring the statements. Support students may prefer to focus on the ideas rather than the rhyming structure of the poem. Students may choose to follow the rhyming structure of With the Sun on my Face if they wish.