This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Jackie Kay’s poem ‘Dusting the Phone.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Helen Maria Williams’ poem ‘A Song.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Edward Thomas’ poem ‘The Sorrow of True Love.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Charlotte Brontë’s poem ‘Love and Friendship.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of John Keats’ poem 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.’ Teachers have found the activities particularly useful throughout teaching, or for revision or guided reading sessions. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension of the opening chapter of Roald Dahl’s The Twits. It contains a link to the online chapter (on the first slide) and a PDF version if needed. This is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in years 2-3, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of the section of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in which Oliver asks for some more food. The resource pack includes the extract needed, which is child-friendly in that it provides definitions of the more difficult/ outdated vocabulary. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, sequencing and summarising skills. A vocabulary check helps to secure children’s understanding of any new or unfamiliar language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in years 5-6, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading the opening to Tom Percival’s ‘Perfectly Norman.’ The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The text is hyperlinked (first slide) for ease of access. The session is best suited for children in years 2-3, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading the opening to Tove Jansson’s ‘Finn Family Moomintroll.’ The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The extract needed is provided as a PDF. The session is best suited for children in years 3-4, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of a non-fiction text about the Solar System. The resource pack includes the full text and all of the activities for the session, which the class are guided through via a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in years 4-6, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger year groups. This resource is suitable for home/ remote learning. These resources are suitable for home/ remote learning.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading Britta Teekuntrup’s ‘Tree: Seasons Come, Seasons Go.’ The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The text is hyperlinked (first slide) for ease of access. The session is best suited for children in years 1-2, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of John Donne’s sonnet 'Death, Be Not Proud.’ They are perfect for aiding the progress of students learning poetry either in KS3 and KS4 in preparation for poetry/unseen poetry at GCSE, as the tasks draw on English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies - it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. The booklet is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Robert Frost’s poem 'Fire and Ice.’ They are perfect for aiding the progress of students learning poetry either in KS3 and KS4 in preparation for poetry/unseen poetry at GCSE, as the tasks draw on English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies - it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. The booklet is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Margaret Postgate Cole’s war poem 'The Falling Leaves.’ They are perfect for aiding the progress of students learning poetry either in KS3 and KS4 in preparation for poetry/unseen poetry at GCSE, as the tasks draw on English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies - it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. The booklet is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

These practice questions and tasks for the Year 2 SATs have been formulated utilising a number of past papers and the Year 2 expectations for Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling. Each question is worded in a similar manner to questions on past papers, to enable children to become a great deal more comfortable with what will be asked of them in their SATs exams. As these tasks are short, snappy, and interesting, I have been using them in the run up to the assessments, and the children have found them really engaging. All of the areas from the exam papers are covered, (there are around 30 separate 10-minute tasks in the booklet) including: Past tense, future tense, connectives, sentence types, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, adverbs, capital letters, statements, questions, commands, apostrophes, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, prefixes, suffixes, and spelling bee activities. Enjoy!

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Ben Jonson’s tender elegy 'On My First Sonne.’ They are perfect for aiding the progress of students learning poetry either in KS3 and KS4 in preparation for poetry/unseen poetry at GCSE, as the tasks draw on English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies - it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. The booklet is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

I used these comprehension resources recently to engage a group of girls who were reluctant readers. The pack enables students to fulfil the requirements of the Key Stages 2 and 3 comprehension expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. It does so in a new and student-friendly way, by engaging students in texts related to someone whom they share an interest in. Whilst focussing on Justin Bieber, these resources provide a wide-range of differentiated and interesting resources for students to build their reading and comprehension skills. The pack includes resources such as a short Justin Bieber biography, a newspaper story about the positive aspects of his personality, and lyrics to the song 'Baby.' Each of these are differentiated for lower KS2, higher KS2, and KS3. Students understanding of these texts are gauged through comprehension questions aligned with the expectations of the new National Curriculum (again, these are differentiated by age.) The curriculum expectations are included in the pack, and are referenced in brackets after each question. This allows you to easily plot students' progress against individual strands. Some images are used, which are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of a narrative poem version of ‘Perseus and Medusa’ (written by Paul Perro and aimed at children). The resource pack includes the extract and all of the activities for the session, which the class are guided through via a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the text is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in lower KS2. I originally used this with Year 3-4 children, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups. The session is also suitable for home/ remote learning.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of the opening section of Humphrey Carpenter’s ‘Mr Majeika.’ The resource pack includes the extract and all of the activities for the session, which the class are guided through via a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in upper KS1/ lower KS2. I originally used this with Year 2-3 children, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups. The session is also suitable for home/ remote learning.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for year 1 and 2 children when writing non-chronological reports. The organiser is also perfect for teachers, parents and English subject leaders - aiding their planning and supporting of children’s knowledge development for this writing text type. The organiser has a particular focus on the content, language and structural features required to write effective non-chronological reports at KS1. It contains distinct sections covering: -An Overview of Non-Chronological Reports; -Content: Title and Introduction, Main Body, Key Features to Include; -Language:Vocabulary Choices, Tone, Tense, Conjunctions, Cause and Effect Techniques, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Punctuation Checklist and Word Mat; -Structure - Paragraphs, Whole Text Cohesion, Images and other tips; -Key Vocabulary The content is fully aligned with the age-related expectations for KS1 children in writing. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).