Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats SOW

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – Reading Planning (2-Week Unit, Year 3)

A fully planned 2-week Reading unit for Year 3 based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Includes detailed lesson plans, explicit fluency teaching, VIPERS questions and all supporting resources.
Perfect for whole-class reading with a strong focus on retrieval, inference and fluency.

This resource provides a fully planned two-week Reading unit based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, designed for Year 3 and aligned to the UK National Curriculum.
The unit uses rich, humorous poetry to explicitly teach reading fluency, vocabulary, and VIPERS comprehension skills, with a strong focus on retrieval and inference, which are the most frequently assessed reading strands.
Lessons are carefully structured to support whole-class reading, ensuring pupils develop confidence, expression and understanding when reading poetry aloud.

What’s included:
2 full weeks of detailed, teacher-facing lesson plans (10 lessons, 30 minutes each)
Clear lesson structures with timings and teaching prompts
Explicit teaching of multiple fluency strategies, including:
• Echo reading
• Choral reading
• Partner reading
• Focus on pace, phrasing and expression
Carefully selected poems from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Structured VIPERS questioning embedded into lessons
Strong emphasis on inference through character and behaviour analysis
Opportunities for oracy, drama and discussion
Differentiation guidance throughout
All supporting resources included and ready to use

Pedagogical focus:
• Build confident, expressive readers through fluency-first teaching
• Develop understanding of character through inference
• Support pupils in explaining ideas using evidence
• Make poetry engaging, humorous and accessible
• Reduce teacher workload with clear, practical planning

Who this resource is for:
• Year 3 teachers
• KS2 teachers developing whole-class reading
• Teachers using VIPERS
• Schools looking for Ofsted-ready reading planning
This unit works well as:
• A stand-alone poetry unit
• A fluency-focused reading block
• A foundation for further poetry or writing work
Created by an experienced UK primary teacher, with a strong focus on clarity, consistency and classroom impact.

Learning Objectives & Outcomes
By the end of this unit, pupils will be able to:
• Read poetry aloud fluently and with expression
• Apply a range of fluency strategies (echo, choral and partner reading)
• Understand and explain new vocabulary in context
• Retrieve key information accurately from poetry
• Make inferences about character and behaviour
• Explain ideas using evidence from the text
• Participate confidently in discussion and drama-based reading
• Summarise key ideas from a poem

Reading Skills Developed:
Fluency
Vocabulary
Retrieval
Inference
Explanation
Summarising