• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What kind of text is it? Fable, myth, biography, instructions…; Poems: rhyme, rhythm and repeated lines). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which kind of text is this? Numbered steps that tell you how to make or do something. (poem / myth / biography / instructions) → instructionsPrompt: Is it true (non-fiction) or made up (fiction)?
2. Splish, splash, into the bath! Splish, splash, hear me laugh! Bubbles here and bubbles there, Bubbles floating in the air. Which words are repeated at the start of two lines? (hear me laugh / into the bath / Splish, splash / Bubbles here) → Splish, splashPrompt: Rhyming words have the same sound at the end: cat, hat.
3. LOCAL PUPILS CLEAN UP BEACH On Saturday morning, forty children from Gull Bay Primary collected over 200 kilograms of rubbish from the town beach. What kind of text is this? (news report / fantasy / fable / poem) → news reportPrompt: Is it true or made up?

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Poem, play or prose? Spot the features. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: The beach was turning gold as the sun went down. Captain Rosa ordered her crew to pull the boat higher up the sand. Finn, gasping, complained that it was too heavy, so they counted to three and heaved together. Is this a poem, a play or prose?
• Step 1: Poems, plays and prose are set out in different ways.
• Step 2: It is a paragraph of sentences, with the speech reported by a narrator.
• Step 3: So the answer is: prose
• Answer: prose
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. The beach was turning gold as the sun went down. Captain Rosa ordered her crew to pull the boat higher up the sand. Finn, gasping, complained that it was too heavy, so they counted to three and heaved together. Is this a poem, a play or prose? (poem / play / prose) → prosePrompt: Look at how it is set out on the page.
2. Choose the right word. The list of characters at the start of a play is the… (cast list / glossary / index / stanza) → cast listPrompt: Think about what each kind of text looks like.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Choose the right word. Ordinary writing in sentences and paragraphs is called… (verse / rhyme / stage directions / prose) → prosePrompt: Think about what each kind of text looks like.
2. Maya peered into the box. It was empty. Joe insisted he had put the map there that morning, but there was no sign of it. Somewhere behind them, a door creaked, and they both froze. Is this a poem, a play or prose? (poem / play / prose) → prosePrompt: Look at how it is set out on the page.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.