A 3-week, fully resourced primary literacy unit based on Cosmic Disco by Grace Nichols. KS2 Poetry. National-Curriculum-aligned grammar, WT/ARE/GD differentiation, and ready to teach.

What’s inside

This complete English unit gives you everything for three weeks of high-quality teaching, designed to match the standard of leading primary schemes (Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, Power of Reading).

• 15 lesson PowerPoints — illustrated cover slides, success criteria, vocabulary previews, modelled writing, “big questions” (Bloom’s-laddered), differentiation tiers, plenary, and reflection.
• 15 differentiated resource sheets — Working Towards, Age-Related Expectations, and Greater Depth, with sentence frames, word banks, and writing frames.
• Complete teacher unit plan — unit overview, key themes, model texts, full session-by-session plans, key questions, assessment focus, and vocabulary focus.
• Child-friendly mark scheme — “I can…” success criteria for the final writing piece, ready for self- and peer-assessment.
• 3 weekly exit tickets — 5 multiple-choice questions per week, with teacher answer keys.

Final writing outcome

A small collection of three cosmic poems exploring the wider universe and our small place within it. Each poem addresses a different astronomical subject (a planet, a star, or a galaxy) and uses expanded noun phrases to build cosmic imagery and subordination with ‘when’ and ‘because’ to layer ideas.

Grammar features (Year 3 NC-aligned)

• Subordination using the conjunctions ‘when’ and ‘because’ to extend sentences.
• Expanded noun phrases for description and specification (e.g. ‘the silver-spinning moon’).

Themes explored

The universe and the speaker’s small place within it, Where science and poetry meet, Awe, wonder and humour held together, The dance of the planets.

Key vocabulary

Cosmic, galaxy, orbit, stanza, shimmer, vast, constellation, astonish.

Format & compatibility

• Editable PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx) files.
• UK English spelling.
• One printer-friendly A4 page per resource sheet.
• Compatible with Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, and Power of Reading planning approaches.

Year groups & key stage

• Year 3 (KS2).
• 15 sessions over 3 weeks (≈45–60 minutes per lesson).

Tags

KS2, Year 3, English, poetry, Grace Nichols, reading and writing, complete unit, differentiated, NC-aligned, lesson plans, resources, cosmic disco