Four short passages where children must use inference with regards to the text in order to answer 3 mark questions. This is good practice for providing evidence from the text itself and explaining reasoning. These exercises can be carried out in a whole class guided reading environment, small groups or individually. Might be a good idea to one text as a class and discuss how to answer the questions. Give another as a paired exercise and the final two as individual work. A teacher notes/answers sheet is provided as a separate file for ease of marking.

Reading comprehension (4 pages) about a girl who plays for her reserve team as a striker. She really wants to get her big chance playing in the first team and this story is about her first opportunity. Comprehension includes 16 questions with true/false, fact/opinion, chronological ordering, identifying similes and exclamatory sentences, retrieval and vocabulary/word meanings. Answers are enclosed for ease of marking. Exercise is good practice for SAT reading and the questions are designed to mirror the question types in previous papers.

1 page of reading - Oliver Twist Reading Comprehension for Year 5 and 6. Text is taken from the opening page of Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Some text has been altered to make it less antiquated and age appropriate so it is not entirely the original text (but it is close and the same in meaning). 24 mark reading comprehension (with answers for ease of marking). retrieval inference fact and opinion true and false word comprehension and synonym

A time saving assessment tool providing a quiz for year sixes to inform their teacher on work that needs to be done in specific areas. Exercises include: Determiners ‘a’ and ‘an’ Which Punctuation Mark?!. Exclamation, Question, Statement or Command? Modal Verbs of Certainty and Possibility Capital Letters and Punctuation Conjunctions and Sentence Types Relative pronouns and clauses Identifying prepositions Using verbs and nouns in context Identifying adverbs and adjective Each page has a 10 mark marking system. You could give the pupils one exercise at at time (out of 10) or give them the whole quiz (out of 90). The quiz could also be used to show progress if taken at the beginning of the autumn term, for example.

A nice resource to break pupils into the autumn term. A five stanza poem about autumn accompanied by a 12 mark reading comprehension. Question areas include: retrieval true or false fact and opinion synonyms word comprehension inference Good for general poetry study or simply as a reading task. Short nature of poem should make the task accessible to most abilities.

I sometimes find children can be slightly unclear on the actual difference between fact and opinion. This always seems to come up in the SAT reading papers so I constructed this short exercise that incorporates a passage on New York. Should serve well as a 10 minute starter that can be discussed as a class afterwards. Alternatively, it could serve as a shared class reading exercise.

Newspaper article on Prometheus stealing fire from The Gods and giving it to humankind. Uses formal language and writing features expected in a news article as well as including a shift to informality where appropriate in interviews. Article is accompanied by a 14 question (19 mark) reading comprehension comprising of: retrieval inference true/false fact/opinion synonyms language level of formality Available as Word and PDF with answers for ease of marking.

Year 5/6 Reading comprehension based on a newspaper article written about a planned housing development in a fictional town. Contains layout of a newspaper report, opinions and examples of formal writing throughout. Also contains interviews and opinions to provide context to the report. Comes with a 20mark reading comprehension paper with questions based around the following: True and False Fact and Opinion Inference Retrieval Word comprehension Synonym Questions are accompanied by an answer sheet for ease of marking and marking boxes for speedy feeback (especially if peer-marking is to be used).

2-page reading comprehension River Systems and how they flow from source to mouth. Includes passages on the different river courses, meanders, deposition and erosion. Question types include: retrieval true/false word comprehension Answers included for ease of marking.

First in series of SPAG/GPS quick quizzes that gradually work through the different aspects of the GPS curriculum. Ideal for early and gradual preparation for the GPS SAT paper in May. Can be used as knowledge retrieval exercise or as a lesson plenary. Answers included on pages 3 and 4 for ease of marking or quick feedback. 50 mark quiz.

A useful year 6 revision tool comprising of 19 grammar and punctuation questions. Also includes 20 spellings with a mixture of year 5/6 list spellings, frequently used words and homophones. Questions targeted on: clauses adverbs and adjectives relative clauses word classes tenses ‘a’ and ‘an’ formal language passive and active voice All answers are included for ease of marking.

Year 5 and 6 reading comprehension based on esafety and keeping safe on the internet. 22 mark reading comprehension. Comprehension discusses the stranger dangers associated with online gaming/use, gaming addiction and how to look after yourself during online activities. Reading comprhension covers the following areas in the questioning. information retrieval word comprehension/synonyms Fact and opinion inference Answers are included for ease of marking

2 separate worksheets (with answers for ease of marking) that call on pupils to identify main, subordinate and relative clauses in different sentences. The method asks for similar identification to that asked for in the GPS SATs test so can be used as a good foundation for revision or simple teaching throughout upper key stage 2.

A poem consisting of 8 stanzas that explains Henry’s sixth wives. Good cross-curricular link between English, poetry writing and history. Poetry contains examples of alliteration, repetition, metaphor, rhyme and rhythm. First stanza sample: Henry wanted a male heir A bouncing baby son Katherine of Aragon couldn’t give him one So Henry told her they were done. “I’ll find another wife,” he said And consigned her to the bin And before his poor first wife was dead He was chasing Anne Boleyn. Comprehension consists of 15 SAT style questions ranging from: true/false fact/opinion chronological ordering retrieval inference GPS (finding a metaphor) features of poetry All answers are included at end of document for ease of marking.

Two starter exercises for warming up the word - a good starter for when children come in first thing in the morning - can be continued as the morning exercise throughout the week. 1st exercise = 48 synonyms to be matched. 2nd exercise = 48 antonyms to be matched. Words vary in difficulty and demand on prior vocabulary knowledge so will suit children of differing abilities. Good opportunities for discussion and use of thesaurus if needed.

A free sample to showcase my reading comprehensions on TES. Diary entry of a cat (although the animal isn’t expressly named in the text). Short (1 side of A4) reading task in the form of a cat’s diary entry. 7 accompanying questions (10 marks) with one bonus question. Question types include: inference retrieval synonyms word comprehension general knowledge Ideal for quick reading task in individual, guided or individual formats. Also ideal for online learning. Answers are included for ease of marking.

An exercise children can do in pairs, groups or individually based on identifying subordinate clauses and conjunctions. I find that children often get confused when asked to underline either clauses or the conjunctions. This is a good exercise to get them used to what the vocabulary is referring to.

A starter exercise to get the class thinking about formal and informal language and promote class discussion. There are also a couple of slides based on missing commas just to jog pupils’ memories.

If you’re struggling to find something to fill those end of the term time gaps then this might give you half an hour respite. Rearrange the anagrams of film titles. Can they get them all?