Did you know that the first and last soldiers to be killed in World War One are buried just feet apart? Have you heard the story about the American Naval Officer who escaped from a Prisoner of War camp, swimming up the River Rhine to safety? How about the tale of the soldier who spared the life of a young Adolf Hitler? 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War One. This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at 10 to 14 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills through some intriguing stories from the soldiers at war. It will also promote reflective and engaging classroom discussion as children discover more about this important chapter in the world’s history. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. The texts take the form of different written genres, such as diary extracts, letters, newspaper reports and information texts. CONTENTS A Tale of Two Soldiers: Private John Parr The story of the first soldier to be killed in World War One A Tale of Two Soldiers: Private George Ellison The story of the last Allied soldier to be killed in the war, just minutes before peace was declared. Read about the extraordinary link between Ellison and Private John Parr. Saving Corporal Adolf How one British soldier’s humanity spared the life of future dictator, Adolf Hitler. The Daily News Stories of courage and loyalty from the war, including Edouard Izac, the American naval officer who escaped from a prisoner of war camp to pass on vital intelligence to his commanders.

How exactly did World War One begin? Who was Franz Ferdinand? How did the Americans get involved? What role did Uncle Sam play in recruiting an army? 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War One. This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at 10 to 14 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. It will also promote reflective and engaging classroom discussion as children discover more about this important chapter in the world’s history. CONTENTS Causes of the war - Why did the First World War take place and how did it begin? Find out about how tensions in Europe reached boiling point in the summer of 1914. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand - Read in detail about the daring mission which led to Archduke Franz Ferdinand being killed – and how this led to war. Movers & Shakers - From Woodrow Wilson to the Kaiser, find out about the leaders who played a pivotal part in the war. You will also discover how Adolf Hitler started out as a soldier in World War One. Recruiting an Army - The posters of Lord Kitchener and Uncle Sam are recognised throughout the world, but just how difficult was it to recruit an army for war?

NEWS STORIES WITH COMPREHENSIONS ON ELON MUSK, THE TERRACOTTA ARMY AND THE WORLD’s OLDEST MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE! These reading comprehensions will test your student’s reading skills as they explore three engaging news stories from March 2018. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: The vandalism of a precious Chinese statue in Philadelphia The discovery of the world’s oldest message in a bottle The world’s most powerful rocket is successfully launched Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to summarise stories; think critically and recall facts. A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. CONTENTS 3: TERROR OF TERRACOTTA TREASURES 4: What is the Terracotta Army? 5: IT’S A RECORD BREAKER! World’s oldest message in a bottle. 6: ROCKET MAN! Elon Musk sends car into space. 7-10: Questions 11-14: Answers 15: How to write a newspaper article 16: Newspaper template 17-19: Posters for display

Eddie the Elf has been set the task of saving Christmas – but he needs help from your students! Travel with Eddie, from Lapland to New York and back again, as he tries to fill up Santa’s Workshop with toys. Help him to find a cure for the sickness epidemic that has confined so many elves to bed at the busiest time of the year. Work with him to discover facts about New York City as he meets the Statue of Liberty. This story is full of math problems using all operations. It is a test of comprehension as well as number skills but your students will be captivated by the story as they help Eddie to save Christmas! There are four chapters in total, with questions and answers for each. The answers also include clues to help the students to answer the questions. The reason I make resources like this is that word problems don’t go far enough to test a child’s math ability. I have always thought that they would be more challenging and ultimately more rewarding if they were placed within the context of a wider narrative. This story also encourages students to use comprehension skills. They will need to retain information that will be needed later in the text!

This package on the 2022 Winter Olympics is full of interesting facts, stories and statistics which will inspire and challenge your students through a range of Common Core-aligned reading activities. The reading skills that children will develop are in finding and recalling facts, inference, word meaning and summarising. CONTENTS 2022 Winter Olympics: Beijing – Comprehension questions based on the 24th Winter Olympics and further questions on China. This includes some geography. Sports of the Winter Olympics – A guide to four prominent winter sports with some interesting questions based on photographs that refer to the text. An Olympics like no other – A text exploring the use of artificial snow at Beijing 2022, and the threat of Covid-19 during the games. These questions rely on children using inference and summary skills. History of Winter Olympics – Tables and infographics containing statistics on where past games have been held and which nations and individuals have won the most medals. A series of number-based questions follow. Unlikely Olympic Heroes – The wonderful stories of the Jamaican Bobsled team and Eddie the Eagle, who lit up the 1988 games in Calgary. Questions compare the stories, request students to identify the obstacles, and relate the stories to personal experience. A Bit About Me Before teaching, I was a journalist. I still work as a freelance writer, and like nothing more than writing engaging texts to challenge and inspire children and young people. I choose subjects that may not be on the curriculum but are still of great importance for students to know about. Everything I write has been comprehensively researched from a number of sources and been written by myself. No plagiarism here! This is all original material. My questions are pitched at a high level, but with a bit of patience and persistence (and some adult help if necessary) most students will have great fun as they learn, especially as the penny drops I am aware of the impact of printed resources on our environment so try to condense my reading activities into as compact a space as possible. Hopefully this will help you save time in printing, and keep the bills down! Check out my store if you enjoy this – you’re sure to find more. Thanks!

Engaging stories from the Bible. FREE, AS A GIFT FOR ALL IN 2020. :-) This reading activity pack tells the story of the Jesus’ death and resurrection from Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday. It is ideal all year round for reading or Religious Studies, but is particularly useful in the run up to Easter, as they follow the last week in Jesus’ life. They can also be used as Sunday School activities or as readings in church. Based on the gospel accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, I have written five reports from key people in the Easter story about what happened with comprehension based questions and answers for each. These will bring the well-known story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to your students in a fresh, engaging and enlightening way. The characters featured are: Peter Pontius Pilate A Roman soldier Mary Magdalen Cleopas The comprehension questions tackle the following skills: Literal and retrieval Word meaning Inference and deduction There is also an activity at the end to summarise each of the characters stories. Answers are provided…just print and go! As an added extra, there are a number of posters with key bible verses for your displays, including posters to colour in. These can be found at the end of the reading pack.

At 6:30pm on Thursday 8th September 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had died at the age of 96. An official statement was placed outside the palace stating “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.” In these reading comprehension activities, your students can find out all about her life including: -her birth and early life -her wedding and children -her coronation as queen -her seventy year reign -her declining health -tributes paid to her when she died -plans for her funeral Please see the preview - what you see is what you are purchasing. Questions include a range of reading skills. I hope this is an informative way for your students to find out about the life of the Queen while challenging your students in their reading comprehension skills.

AMUSING, ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL! These reading comprehensions will test your students’ reading skills as they explore the four greatest April Fools of all time, as ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: Spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland A fake volcanic eruption in Alaska Instant Colour TV in Sweden An iceberg in Sydney Harbour Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. They will also generate lively and fun classroom discussion. Would your students fall for these pranks? Can they come up with anything better? A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. Contents: 3: SWISS SPAGHETTI HARVEST 4: INSTANT COLOUR TV 5: ERUPTION OF MOUNT EDGECUMBE 6: THE SYDNEY ICEBERG 7-10: Questions 11-14: Answers 15: How to write a newspaper article 16: Newspaper template 17-20: Posters for display

Who will be the next President of the United States? Will Donald Trump continue for a second term? Or will veteran Democrat Joe Biden beat him to the White House? These reading comprehension activities, ideal for close reading, will help your students find out about the candidates for the 2020 US presidential election. Your students will develop reading comprehension skills through a range of retrieval and inference questions, using skills to skim and scan the text. There are also word meaning and text summary questions in the activities. Just print and go…no prep needed! I have also included a black and white version of the product to avoid the costs of colour graphics printing, Thanks for your interest!

BIGFOOT. LOCH NESS. LORD LUCAN. MARY CELESTE. ROSWELL. TURIN SHROUD. Does an ape-like biped roam the forests of North America? Is there a monster lurking in the depths of a Scottish lake? Is the face of Jesus miraculously printed in a piece of linen? Did Lord Lucan really kill the nanny? Do aliens exist? Where were the crew of the Mary Celeste? Answer these questions and more in this exciting Guided Reading resource looking at some of the greatest mysteries of the world. This collection of six guided reading activities, aimed at 10 and 11 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. It will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children try to solve these mysteries for themselves. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

It is over 100 years since World War One. This remarkable set of TEN guided reading activities uncovers the horror, humanity and humour of life in the Great War. Each activity focuses on a different part of the war, such as life in the trenches; the Christmas Truce and the assasination of Franz Ferdinand. Also, find out about the fascinating story of the British soldier who spared the life of a young Adolf Hitler. These guided reading activities, aimed at children aged 10-13 years old, test children’s retrieval, inference and deduction skills. They will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children explore these stories for themselves. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

These reading comprehensions will test your students’ reading skills as they explore three engaging news stories from February 2017. Using research skills and their reporters notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: Mass whale stranding in New Zealand World War Two Bomb panic in Greece Miraculous survival of Australian farmer Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. CONTENTS 3: INCHES FROM DEATH! 4: Heartbreak of the Whales 5: PANIC IN GREECE! 6-8: Questions 9-11: Answers 12: How to write a newspaper article 13: Newspaper template 14-16: Posters for display

Who will win the 2019 Rugby World Cup? This reading comprehension activity is aimed at 8-13 year-olds, and focuses on the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Your students will develop reading comprehension skills through a range of retrieval and inference questions, using skills to skim and scan the text. In particular, they will learn about: The history of the tournament The favourites for to win in 2019 The World Cup trophy The chances of the United States* Answers are included. I have also included a black and white version of the product on pages 5-7 to avoid the costs of colour graphics printing. Thanks for your interest!

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, it was perhaps the greatest scientific achievement in history. July 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this extraordinary voyage. Thousands of scientists, mathematicians, engineers and astronauts had a part to play in working together on the Apollo 11 mission - but space exploration goes much further than the Lunar landings. In this space exploration comprehension package, your students will take part in FIVE reading activities, which will open up the world of space exploration to them: *1) The Space Race: What was the space race, and why was it so important? The First Man on the Moon: A celebration of the life and achievements of Neil Armstrong. The Last Man on the Moon: A celebration of the life and achievements of Eugene Cernan “Houston, We’ve got a problem”: Disasters in space, featuring the amazing survival story of Apollo 13. Space Travel - next steps: Find out about plans to travel to Mars, passenger space travel, and how a 41-year old probe is still sending messages to scientists from 11 billion miles away!* Students will use inference and deduction skills as well as fact retrieval, word meaning and summarising. Questions and answers are provided, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. As with all of my reading exercises, I try to write content that is interesting and engaging - stories that may not be on the curriculum, but are important for children to know.

Have you ever wondered how far Mary and Joseph travelled on the donkey? Or why Bethlehem was so busy at the time of Jesus birth? Or what myrrh actually is? Your students will find out these and more through these fascinating stories from the Nativity. From Mary and Joseph to the shepherds and wise men, these accounts paint the picture of what life must have been like in Nazareth and Bethlehem at this time. Each passage comes with a series of questions that will test students’ comprehension skills through fact retrieval, word meaning and inference and deduction.

This reading comprehension will test your students’ reading skills as they explore one of the greatest April Fools of all time, as ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about Porky Bickar and how he faked a volcanic eruption in Alaska, 1978. The story comes with questions, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically and retrieve facts. They will also generate lively and fun classroom discussion. Would your students fall for this prank? Can they come up with anything better? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This story is also featured in a bigger pack with other famous April Fools: FAKE NEWS - APRIL FOOL! In that pack, you will find the stories featured below, answer sheets, a writing activity based on the stories and posters for display: Spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland A fake volcanic eruption in Alaska Instant Colour TV in Sweden An iceberg in Sydney Harbour As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material.