This Year 2 reading comprehension unit is built around The Lady with the Lollipop, an original poem by children’s author Sue Hardy-Dawson.
The text celebrates everyday acts of care and responsibility through the eyes of a child who dreams of growing up to become a school crossing patrol officer. It also works well as a model (WAGOLL) for writing poetry in Key Stage 1.
The pack provides plain and illustrated PDF versions of the poem. Plus there's two PowerPoint formats for whole-class reading – one with text highlights and one without.
A fully annotated teacher version of the poem supports close reading. It features suggestions for where to pause for visualisation, discussion, drama or clarification. These prompts help children explore the tone, meaning and structure of the poem in depth.
Vocabulary focus
Two teaching sequences focus on vocabulary. In Part 1, pupils explore the word helping – looking at its meaning, root form, suffixes and usage in sentences. In Part 2, they study waves, comparing its meanings in different contexts and identifying when the poem uses the sense of hand-waving. Each sequence is supported by a Vocabulary Focus PowerPoint and dedicated worksheets.
To develop comprehension further, the unit includes Big Questions. These promote discussion and reflection. There's also a range of activities for fluency, recall and personal response.
Pupils draw and label a scene from the poem, answer Difficult Easy questions, and write their own poem about someone who helps them at school.
This unit is part of the Real Comprehension programme, which builds deep reading skills through high-quality texts for Years 1 to 6.
This Year 2 poetry resource pack includes:
- The Lady with the Lollipop by Sue Hardy-Dawson – plain and illustrated PDF versions
- PowerPoint versions of the text (with and without highlights)
- Annotated teacher version with close reading prompts
- Vocabulary Focus PowerPoints
- Big Questions PowerPoint and worksheets
- Full teaching notes with reading strategies and discussion suggestions