The windy night

The windy night

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about finding information and making inferences from a text.
Read the poem The Windy Night by Vivienne Joseph (from 100 New Zealand Poems for Children, 1999) and answer the questions below.

Question 1Change answer

a)  Why can't the person in the poem get to sleep?

Question 1Change answer

b)  What is the first sound the person in the poem hears?

Question 1Change answer

c)  What do the branches, twigs, and leaves sound like to the person in the poem?

Question 1Change answer

d)  What do the stars look like to the person in the poem?

Question 1Change answer

e)  Write down two clues from the poem that show it is night-time.
1. 
2. 
 

Question 1Change answer

f)  Why is the poem written in two columns?

Question 1Change answer

g)  Describe a time you felt like the person in the poem.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online (without auto-marking).
Copyright: 
"The Windy Night" © Vivienne Joseph. Illustrated © David Elliot, '100 New Zealand Poems for Children' Edited by Jo Noble, Random House, Auckland, NZ 1999. Reproduced with permission.
Level:
2
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
poem, comprehension, text features, inference
Description of task: 
This resource explores a poem written for two voices about a windy night. Text provided.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, set 3
Reading for literary experience, set 3
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 

 

Y4 (11/2000)

a)

Any 1 of:

  • Because of the tapping/noises.
  • It's a windy night.
  • The person feels scared.
  • The person is sleeping away from home.

very easy

b)

Any 1 of:

  • Tapping on the window.
  • The flax.

very easy

c)

Any 1 of:

  • Claws
  • (bony) paws

easy

d)

Any 1 of:

  • "Diamonds"
  • "Bright eyes"/cat's eyes/eyes

easy

e)

Reference to any 2 of:

  • The moon/moonlight.
  • The stars.
  • Sleep.
  • The "bright" eyes of Grandma's cat.
  • "chipping diamonds from the night".
  • The poem is called "A Windy Night". 

2 correct – easy

1 correct – very easy

f)

Any 1 of:

  • So that you can tell the difference between what the person says and what the other things say.
  • One contains the questions and the other contains the answers.
  • It is "a poem