- Poem
- Countdown, Year 3
- Issue 1, 2020
An Elephant, I Heard Someone Say
Learning resource
Outcomes
Understanding
EN2-6B | ACELA1478 | ACELA1480 | EN2-5A |
Discuss structural features
What do you notice about the structure of the poem?
Each line starts with a capital letter
The poem has five lines
some lines rhyme
The poem has 5 lines called a Quintain, (sometimes also called a Quintet). Normally, a quintain can follow any meter (beat) or line length. However, in An Elephant I Heard Someone Say, the form is closer to a Limerick as the rhyme scheme and meter is the same. The Limerick is the most well-known example of a Quintain however, it does have a designated meter and line length.
The difference is that a limerick usually opens with ‘There Once was a…’
Listen to the poem. The poem may need to be read out loud several times. Rhyming poetry bridges the gap between music and prose. Music relies on sounds for meaning and effect, prose relies on language for meaning and effect.
Discuss: What mood and feelings do the sounds stir in you? Find out what the sounds communicate to students before they consider the meaning in the written words.
Analyse the structure of the poem using the beats in the poem. Have students clap to the beat to establish the rhythm of the poem.
| Words | Meter (or beat) | Rhyme scheme |
An elephant, I heard someone say,
Has a nose that is so long and grey— If he starts snuffling at two He won’t arrive at ‘achoo’ Until noon of the following day. | 3 beats
3 beats 2 beats 2 beats 3 beats | A
A B B A |
Discuss language features.
Word Knowledge
Quintain is formed from the root word quin - meaning five taken from the Latin word – quintus meaning fifth
Some words that start with quin are – quintessential, quintuplets. Quinoa, however, is pronounced differently!
Phonics – ay/ey’
“An Elephant I heard someone say”, rhymes words with two different graphemes; ay and ey.
Additional graphemes that have the same sounds but are spelt differently are ai, a_e and a.
Create a word sort using patterns that include ake, ate, ace, ane, ain, ail, and aid.
Note: ‘ey’ (egs they, survey, obey, prey, grey) is tricky for some students and so is ‘eigh’ (eg sleigh, weigh) and will require some modelling on the board.
Homophones - Heard/herd.
Discuss the difference in spelling for heard and herd. A good way to tell the difference between the two is to use the mnemonic – ‘He heard with his ear.’
There is an ear in heard no ear in a herd of elephants!
More homophones for ay/ey are weight/wait, tale/ tail, ate/eight, break/brake, grate/great.
Students create a wordfind using a 10 x 10 cell grid. They are to use at least 4 sets of homophones. On completion, the wordfind should be tested and used by a friend in the class. You could make this a competition by asking everyone to share and then start their wordfind at the same time to see who competes first.
Connecting
EN2-11D | ACELT1596 | EN2-12E | ACELT1598
Connecting text to self.
Brainstorm using the following questions:
What are your favourite rhyming poems? Why do you like them? What feeling do they give you and what effect does it have? Do they have a similar structure and sound quality as ‘An Elephant I Heard Someone Say’? Do you know any other funny poems or songs?
Create a class brainstorm/mind map of student’s favourite poems.
Connecting text to text
This issue of The School Magazine has many connections, - not just with poetry, but also with Elephants!
How to Draw Elephants, by Andrew Joyner on page 26 & 27 shows how using simple 2D shapes can help students to construct more complicated images. (Cross curricular links – Mathematics: Geometry).
Connect with poetry from other texts in The School Magazine, there are five poems in the article, Birds without Wings by Pamela Thomas, Don’t pick me! a poem by Cindy Breedlove and Sand and a poem by Vanessa Proctor.
Create a class display of these texts.
Connecting text to world.
Poetry is a way of understanding the world around us, to see the humour and the beauty in the little things. It teaches us how to enjoy the moment. Ask – are there any poems that you have read that have taught you something about the world?
Students can use this connecting organiser to answer some of the questions above.
Engaging Critically
Discuss as a whole group. If you turn on a TV, particularly around news time, you may think we are living in an ugly, chaotic, violent or unsustainable world! It’s important to remember that the media select many stories that are sensational in order to attract more viewers and sell more advertising. This can create a sense of the world as a dangerous place.
Poetry is important because it brings back the beauty and the fun, it helps us to understand and appreciate each other and our world a little better. An Elephant I Heard Someone Say, shows us that rhymes and rhythms give momentum to poetry, which makes it enjoyable to read out loud.
Write responses in journals.
Visual Literacy
Draw attention to the illustrations and the info they present.
Questions about visual elements to activate prior knowledge.
Lines
What sort of lines are used in the illustrations?
Are they soft, sharp, rounded, textured horizontal, diagonal, vertical?
Do they give an impression on movement or are they static?
What feeling does this give you?
Shapes
What sort of shape is the elephant and his trunk? Are they angular? Rounded? Does this say something about who he is or what is happening to him?
Do the shapes have clear outlines? Are they repeated? Do they have soft or hard edges?
Colours
Does the image use many colours, or limited colours?
Are they bright and colourful or dark?
How does it make you feel?
Textures
Looking at the image, if you were able to touch the surface, do you think it would be rough like bark on a tree or smooth like a liquid?
Do different textures on a surface change the way we feel about the image?
Artistic style and Space
What is the artistic style of the illustrations? Are the illustrations lifelike? Painterly? Digital? Mechanical?
How is the space used in the illustration? Are there lots of objects? How much white space is there? Is the object shown in silhouette? If so, what does this tell you about the object?
How do the elements above make you feel?
Shot size/distance/angle
What is the angle of this image? What is the viewers perspective and relationship to the image?
If viewed from the front - viewer involved and equal.
Viewed from above – (bird’s eye view) – viewer is powerful.
Viewed from below – viewer is overpowered
Viewed obliquely – image can appear dynamic and imply movement/direction or viewer can be distanced or unsettled.
What is the most salient part of the image? (the part of an image to which the viewer’s eye is first drawn).
Here is an example of how to read the illustration for An Elephant I Heard Someone Say.
Anna Bron, the illustrator for the written text, uses a painterly texture and angular lines to create a patterned effect, like the rhyming pattern of the poem. The elephant’s trunk is so long it resembles the puzzle game - snakes and ladders! The colours are vibrant and fun, like the text, and the readers eye follows the trunk which is playfully wrapped around the text. The facial expression of the elephant is the most salient part of the image.
Experimenting
Compose additional verses based on other animals and their main features.
Remember to use the same structure (rhyming scheme and meter) as An Elephant I Heard Someone Say.
Create an illustration for the additional characters in the poem. Draw some thumbnails first using this a storyboard template. Use the lined area below to identify changes in shot angle and distance for each rough sketch. Make sure students use simple shapes and not intricate drawings at this stage.
Refer to page 26 & 27 in this issue and use the examples by Andrew Joyner to assist with this task.
Write an explanation of the process and the reason why the final image was selected, in terms of shot angle and distance.
Create an illustration – part two.
Using the previously developed illustrations, show the emotion of the character in the illustration. Ask – What are they feeling? What gestures or facial expressions would you use to communicate the emotions of that character? Are there any props they could use to reinforce that emotion?
Use emanata to communicate emotions and expressions of mental states. Emanata are lines and squiggles that ‘emanate’ from a cartoon character or object to indicate any of a variety of states of being. There is emanata coming from the end of the elephant’s trunk, indicating that he is sneezing!
Present the illustrations to the whole class. Ask what can we infer from this picture?
Write a letter from the elephant complaining about the poet making fun of his nose. The tone should be extremely indignant! Add a rhetorical question such as “How would YOU like it if….”
Reflecting
EN2-12E | ACELT1598 | EN2-1A | ACELY1792
Students participate in Author’s chair after writing. This helps them to connect their prior learning to what they know now.
Tips for using an Author’s Chair is a good tool to assist teachers to establish Author’s Chair in their classrooms.
Reflect on An Elephant I Heard Someone Say, in a plenary after the end of this study.
A one-minute sharing circle is a good way to find out what they have learned. Some prompts are:
Share one thing you learned about poetry; one thing you want to learn next.
Share the things you learned about writing and illustrating, or about one of the other activities.
Reflection questions for Once Upon a Time that are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Write a paragraph about your thinking. Ask - Why is this important to know?
Remembering: What are some of the structural features and language features of this poem?
Understanding: How important is it to read a poem many times?
Applying: Can I use this idea when I’m writing or reading next time?
Analysing: Is there any other area in my life that I can use this knowledge?
Evaluating: Do I like this type of poem? What sort of poems do I like?
Creating: What would I like to create based on this poem and how will I go about it?
Metalanguage is a set of terms used for the description or analysis of various texts.
Discuss metalanguage and make sure students speak and say the following words for
poetry – quintain, meter, rhythm, limerick, emanata.
illustrations – shot angle, shot distance, salient/salience.