Reading Eggs - poetry comprehension

1. The Little Turtle
by 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!
2
Unit 1: Turtles and Wombats

2. 3
Weary Will
by A. B. “Banjo” Paterson
The strongest creature for his size
But least equipped for combat
That dwells beneath Australian skies
Is Weary Will the Wombat.
He digs his homestead underground,
He’s neither shrewd nor clever
For kangaroos can leap and bound
But wombats dig forever.

3. In the texts
4
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.
The Little Turtle Weary Will
Is it a rhyming poem?
How many lines are there?
How many stanzas are there?
Is the first letter of each line a capital?

4. 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.
a What 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
5

5. 6
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 Is it used in Is it used in
mark The Little Turtle? Weary Will?
, comma no yes
.
“ ”
!
?
’
eat
swim
sleep
dive

6. 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
7

7. 8
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

8. 9
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