Reading for the homework
Read: Wildflower by Kirli Saunders
Kirli Saunders is a Gunai author. Read her poem Wildflower on the authorised Red Room Poetry page. Discuss the particular words in this poem rather than treating one poet as representing all First Nations Peoples.
Read the complete poem on Red Room Poetry. An adult can read it aloud with you. The poem remains on its publisher’s page; no purchase or account is required.
Find a word about difficulty and a word that gives value. In this poem, “struggles” suggests difficulty and “precious” makes something feel valued. The image of flowers growing from an unpromising place can suggest hope through hardship. This is an interpretation supported by the contrast, not a rule about what every reader must feel.
Discuss: How do the difficult growing place and the valued flowers work together? Model response: The contrast makes growth seem hopeful even when circumstances are difficult. Say which word or image supports your response. If the source cannot be opened, leave this reading task pending and return later; an original SkillrHub poem is not a substitute for reading the named author’s work.
Eight separately written homework tasks include reading, explanation and original work. Use the response spaces; an adult checks the evidence. If the external source cannot load, complete the other tasks and return to the source task later.
Eight homework tasks
Task 1
Original poem: The knight refused a noisy fight. / “I need a quiet night tonight.” Explain how knight and night can be used for wordplay. Write a new playful line using the pair.
Adult check and possible response
Knight names the armoured character and night is the dark part of the day; they sound alike. “The knight called it a night” joins the character with the bedtime phrase.
Require both meanings and an original context that makes the sound relationship meaningful, not merely a list of spellings.
Task 2
Invent a name for a game involving paper planes. Use the invented word in a two-line poem and explain its parts or context and intended effect.
Adult check and possible response
Our foldflight fleet sailed past the chair; / paper wings explored the air. Foldflight combines folding and flight to make paper-plane play sound like an adventure.
Require original purposeful coinage, two lines giving context and explanation. Many inventions accepted; no unexplained typo.
Task 3
Original poem: A fragile shell upon the sand, / a careful child with open hand. Choose one adjective in each line and explain how they work together to shape your response.
Adult check and possible response
Fragile suggests the shell can break easily; careful suggests the child will handle it gently. Together they can create a sense of delicacy and care.
Require fragile and careful or accurate equivalent identification with separate effects and their relationship. Different supported feelings accepted.
Task 4
Original poem: The bus was a sleepy giant at the kerb; / its doors yawned wide without a word. Explain a comparison or personification with exact words. Rewrite one line to make the bus seem energetic.
Adult check and possible response
Sleepy giant compares the large bus with a tired creature; yawned gives the doors a human-like action. “The bus was a charging giant at the kerb” gives a more energetic impression.
Require accurate nonliteral explanation and purposeful revision. Accept another safe energetic image; do not require every choice to be labelled with advanced terms.
Task 5
Original poem: I carried a million bags to the door; / two shopping bags, and nothing more. Explain the exaggeration and what the second line helps you understand. Write a literal version.
Adult check and possible response
A million exaggerates the load, perhaps making the effort feel huge. Two bags gives the real number. Literal: I carried two shopping bags to the door.
Require contrast, likely effect and literal restatement. Accept humorous complaint or tiredness as supported interpretations.
Task 6
Original poem: Click-clack, the train slips past; / silver wheels sing, slow then fast. Explain one sound choice and how it supports the imagined movement. Add one original line that continues the scene.
Adult check and possible response
Click-clack imitates repeated track sounds; the speed change suggests accelerating travel. An added line could be “The platform shrinks beyond the glass.”
Require exact sound evidence and contextual effect plus fitting original line. Do not insist sound has one automatic emotional effect.
Task 7
Read Wildflower by Kirli Saunders using the authorised link on the worksheet page. Explain a contrast between difficulty and value or hope. Use two short word references from the poem.
Adult check and possible response
Struggles suggests difficulty; precious gives value. Flowers growing from a difficult place can suggest hope or encouragement.
Require actual poem reading and two precise references with a supported interpretation. Discuss this particular Gunai author’s poem; avoid a claim about every First Nations perspective. Keep pending if inaccessible.
Task 8
Write a four-line original poem about a familiar place. Include one deliberate pun or invented word and one adjective that shapes feeling. Annotate those choices and explain the meaning or effect of each.
Adult check and possible response
At our pond the frog choir croaks; / ripplegiggles shake the oaks. / Hopeful ducklings cross the blue; / tiny waves come laughing through. Ripplegiggles suggests playful spreading movement; hopeful suggests expectation.
Require a coherent original four-line poem, intelligible pun/new word, accurate emotional adjective and two effect explanations. Model is one possibility, not mandatory wording. Do not imitate a First Nations author’s cultural voice.