The Little Turtleby Vachel Lindsay

There was a little turtle.

He lived in a box.

He swam in a puddle.

He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.

He snapped at a flea.

He snapped at a minnow.

He snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.

He caught the flea.

He caught the minnow.

But he didn’t catch me!

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Unit 1: Turtles and Wombats

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Weary Willby A. B. “Banjo” Paterson

The strongest creature for his size

But least equipped for combatThat dwells beneath Australian skies

Is Weary Will the Wombat.He digs his homestead underground,

He’s neither shrewd nor cleverFor kangaroos can leap and bound

But wombats dig forever.

In the texts

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1 Read the poem on page 2.

a What is the title? ___________________________________________________________

b Who wrote the poem? _____________________________________________________

c What is the poem about? Tick your answer.

a mosquito a flea a turtle

2 Look at the photograph of the boy and the turtle.

How do you think the boy feels about the turtle?

_________________________________________________________________________________

3 Read the poem on page 3.

a What is the title? ___________________________________________________________

b Who wrote the poem? _____________________________________________________

c Who is the poem about? Tick your answer.

Banjo a wombat a kangaroo

d Is the wombat equipped for combat? Write yes or no. __________________

e What makes a wombat good at digging?

_______________________________________________________________________________

4 Complete the table.

TheLittleTurtle WearyWill

Is it a rhyming poem?

How many lines are there?

How many stanzas are there?

Is the first letter of each line a capital?

5 Choose one of the poems and practise reading it aloud.

The poem I have chosen is: ___________________________________________________

a Ask a partner to listen to you read the poem. Done

b Clap the beat of the poem with your hands. Done

c Tell your partner how the poem makes you feel. Done

1 Read the poems again and listen for the words that rhyme.

aWhat parts of words tell you if they rhyme? Circle your answer.

beginning middle end

b Find the words that rhyme with these words in The Little Turtle.

box __________________ mosquito __________________ me __________________

c Draw lines to match the words that rhyme in Weary Will.

size wombat

clever bound

underground skies

combat forever

d Circle the rhyming parts of the words in part c. Done

2 Turn to the dictionary on page xi and find out what a verb is.

a A verb is ____________________________________________________________________

b Write all the verbs from The Little Turtle.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

c Circle the verbs in Weary Will. Done

Read and learn

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3 Draw a picture of the turtle. What can a turtle do? Write verbs around

your picture.

_____________________________ _____________________________

_____________________________ _____________________________

_____________________________ _____________________________

_____________________________ _____________________________

_____________________________ _____________________________

4 Tick a box to show what each word means.

a minnow: rabbit fish fly turtle

b weary: excited happy tired sad

c combat: playing digging leaping fighting

d shrewd: smart silly fast fat

e dwell: dig live sleep fly

5 Complete the table.

punctuation name Isitusedin Isitusedin

mark TheLittleTurtle? WearyWill?

, comma no yes

.

“ ”

!

?

’

eat

swim

sleep

dive

1 Make up some poem titles. The adjective, the

name and the animal start with the same letter.

adjective name the animal

Weary Will the Wombat

2 Draw one of the animals from your poem titles, and write words to

describe it around the outside.

_____________________________ ______________________________

_____________________________ ______________________________

_____________________________ ______________________________

_____________________________ ______________________________

_____________________________ ______________________________

3 Write a rhyming poem about the animal.

Title: ___________________________________________________________________________

Poetry shows feelings and thoughts about people, things and experiences. It works through our emotions and imaginations. It may also rhyme. Poetry uses:• rhythm• stanzas• different text types, such as

recount and description.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Your turn

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An adjective is a describing word.

It describes the colour, size, number or feel of something.

Examples: orange eyes, huge beak, two legs, soft feathers,

skinny neck, wobbly knees

1 Draw a picture of yourself. Write some adjectives to describe yourself.

___________________ hair

___________________ eyes

___________________ nose

___________________ mouth

___________________ fingers

___________________ legs

___________________ knees

2 Draw a picture of Weary Will the Wombat.

Write some adjectives to describe him.

___________________ nose

___________________ ears

___________________ eyes

___________________ fur

___________________ body

___________________ legs

___________________ claws

Adjectives

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3 Circle the adjectives.

a There was a little turtle.

b The green turtle swam in the muddy lake.

c I held the slimy turtle.

d Weary Will

e The huge wombat went into the underground burrow.

f The strongest creature for his size

4 Write an adjective to describe these nouns from The Little Turtle.

a ______________________ box

b ______________________ puddle

c ______________________ rocks

d ______________________ mosquito

e ______________________ flea

f ______________________ minnow

5 You can use more than one adjective to describe a noun.

Example: Wombats have strong, sharp claws for digging.

Write two adjectives for each noun.

a She put the turtle in a __________________ , __________________ lake.

b Turtles have a __________________ , __________________ shell.

c Wombats dig __________________ , __________________ burrows.

d I saw a __________________ , __________________ wombat.

6 Read your sentences from question 5 aloud to a classmate.

Check that they make sense. Done