Teacher notes for this lesson. Two sides of A4, not for pupils.Mild sheetMedium sheetSpicy sheetAnswers
Teacher notes · not for pupils Writer's craft sequence

Polpetta's Perfect Pasta

Alliteration: repeating a starting sound

Lesson 3 of 12
Year 4 45 min

Objective

Use alliteration in names and lines, choosing words that start with the same sound, and check it by saying it aloud rather than by looking at the letters.

Board title: Alliteration  ·  Say it: “By the end of today you'll be able to use alliteration: starting words close together with the same sound, so the words stick.”

Curriculum

  • Y3/4: reading — preparing poems to read aloud, showing understanding through tone and volume
  • Y3/4: composition — choosing words for effect
  • Y1/2: phonics — hearing the first sound in a word (built on)
  • Terminology: alliteration · sound · letter · tongue-twister

Success criteria

  • hear the sound that repeats
  • spot alliteration in a sentence
  • write a line with alliteration
  • check it out loud, not by the letter

Key vocabulary

alliteration · sound · letter · repeat · tongue-twister · effect

Run of the lesson

4 min
Starter on the board: Polpetta's Nice Pasta against Polpetta's Perfect Pasta. Which will you remember tomorrow? Say both aloud twice, then take three answers.
8 min
Model Example 1 and 2. Everything is said out loud. Make the point early: we listen for alliteration, we do not look for it. Phil and fish, Gino and jelly.
6 min
The trap: Cheerful cooks cut cheese. Say it slowly. Ask do they all start with the same sound? No: ch and c. Swap it for Cheerful children chop cheese. together.
6 min
Flavour Match on the whiteboard, Medium band, Level 6 then Level 7. Say every line aloud before the class votes.
18 min
Worksheet, independent. Allow whispering: pupils should say their names quietly to check the sound.
3 min
Plenary: Polpetta's menu line, then the class quiz for ALLTD on the board.
On screenSPAGhetti → Flavour Match → Medium. Play Level 6 (finish the alliteration) then Level 7 (which sound repeats?); both are open from the start. Say every line aloud before the class votes. ~10 items in 6 minutes.
SPAGhetti · Writer's craft sequence · Lesson 3 of 12  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils Polpetta's Perfect Pasta · side 2

On the day

If the tech failsSkip the game. Go round the room: each pupil says their own name with an alliterative food (Sam's sausages, Kayla's carrots). The class listens and votes thumbs up if the sounds match. The lesson works with no screen at all.
If they're on devicesLesson code ALLTD (on the worksheet footer) opens Flavour Match on Medium, with the two alliteration levels open. For writing, set Cook Up a Story and ask for one alliterative line or name in their piece.

Misconceptions to watch for

Same letter means alliteration. Cheerful cooks cut cheese. Gino's green grapes. They look right on the page but the sounds differ: ch and c, soft g and hard g. The fix is always the same: say it out loud.

More is always better. A whole paragraph of alliteration becomes a tongue-twister and the meaning gets lost. Two or three words are usually enough; the words still have to suit what you mean.

Every single word must match. Six silly sausages on a stick is still alliteration; little words like on and a do not break it. Look for the sound repeating in the words that matter.

Alliteration and rhyme are the same. A cat sat on the mat rhymes: the ends of the words match. Alliteration is the starts. Clap the start of each word to hear the difference.

The three sheets

Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.

Mild

Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.

Medium

The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.

Spicy

Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.

Adaptive teaching

  • Support: Give the sound first (b) and a bank of b words to choose from. Choosing comes before inventing.
  • Stretch: Write a four-line poem where each line alliterates on a different sound, then explain why you chose each sound for its line (soft s for snow, hard k for a crash).
  • SEN: Gentle mode on. Use pupils' own names as the starting point (Ava's apples) and say every line aloud together. For pupils who find sounds hard, pair the sound with a picture or a gesture.
  • EAL: First sounds transfer across many languages. Let pupils try alliteration in their home language, then in English, and compare which sounds they used.

Play it

Lesson code ALLTD at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.

SPAGhetti · Writer's craft sequence · Lesson 3 of 12  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora