-KS2 whole class reading comprehension lessons
-reading templates, assemblies and inspiration -
As Year 6 teachers, we found ourselves in need of comprehension resources that bring texts to life.
YES, we want our comprehension lessons to be rigorous in preparation for the SATs, BUT we also want them to be engaging and fun!
Our aim is to get children excited about comprehension lessons, eager to talk about books and confident in interrogating a text.
-KS2 whole class reading comprehension lessons
-reading templates, assemblies and inspiration -
As Year 6 teachers, we found ourselves in need of comprehension resources that bring texts to life.
YES, we want our comprehension lessons to be rigorous in preparation for the SATs, BUT we also want them to be engaging and fun!
Our aim is to get children excited about comprehension lessons, eager to talk about books and confident in interrogating a text.
A character profile proforma.
Useful for KS2 reading comprehension.
Space to make notes about:
First impressions
Picture
Relationships
Backstory
Personality
Questions
Could enlarge to A3.
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KS2 & KS3 - Book Review Proforma
What did you think of the ending and why?
What unanswered questions does the story leave you with?
What life lessons did this book teach you?
If you could change or improve one thing about the story what would it be?
What was the most exciting moment in the story?
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Book review template.
Free. KS2.
Space for star rating, an illustration, short synopsis and review.
More free resources on our website.
What should I include in a book review?
Provide a summary of the most important events and characters, but be careful not to give too much away! Let the reader know what genre the book would fall under. It could be more than one. Opportunities to hit National Curriculum objectives. Give your opinion on the story and remember to explain your viewpoint. Recommend the story to a particular audience. Is it for thrill-seekers? Lovers of history? Is it a page turning mystery for budding detectives? Mention similar books that might mean somebody would like this one too. Draw an illustration to show a character, setting, important object or even your own front cover design.
Would make a nice display for children to share their favourite books.
KS2 Refugee Week Assembly 2021 PowerPoint, age 7+
14th -20th June
Introduce year’s theme is ‘we cannot walk alone’.
PowerPoint supporting discussion on and teaching of:
What is a refugee? What is an asylum seeker?
If you had to leave home with 1 small bag, what would you take with you?
The Refugee Week 2021 theme, ‘we cannot walk alone’
an introduction to 3 award-winning KS2 appropriate texts:
‘The Island’ by Francesca Sanna
‘Oranges in No Man’s Land’ by Elizabeth Laird
‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Rauf
Supporting whole class guided reading resources for ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Rauf looking at the main character Ahmed’s journey to the UK also available.
Reading journal activities worksheet
Repeat tasks or encourage children to colour in each task as it is completed. Stick in the front of a child’s reading journal exercise book.
Upper KS2
Example tasks:
Design and draw your own front cover for a book you are reading.
Write 5 interview questions for the author of your book or for a character in the story.
Make a list of words from a text that you would like to learn and/or use in your own writing.
Write a diary entry for one of the characters in the story.
Write a blurb for your story. Don’t give too many details away!
FREE Get to know your pupils and find out about their reading habits. How many sustained the habit of reading regularly this summer? How often did they read? What different genres and authors are they reading? How do they feel about reading? Did they get the chance to visit a library or a bookshop? Where is their favourite place to read? Use our free ‘Summer Reading Habits’ worksheet to find out! SPace is also provided for children to design three front covers for their favourite recent reads to help you gain a picture as to what their reading preferences are. Why not blow it up to A3 and keep them in a class folder for sharing?
Independent comprehension activity
When you finish reading a chapter of your book, roll the die and try the activities you land on. Use what you have just read to help you.
Suitable for all of KS2.
Activities:
Use bullet points to make a list of all of the key facts in the story so far. How many can you record in 1 minute?
Come up with a newspaper headline that summarises an important event that has happened in the story so far.
Rewrite a sentence from the text, which contains adverbs. Change the adverbs. How does this change the meaning?
Draw and label something that is described in detail in the text, for example, a character, setting or even an object.
Think of an adjective that best describes the main character’s feelings. List 2 pieces of evidence that support your idea.
Predict Make 3 predictions about what could happen next. Put a star next to the idea you think is most likely to happen.
2 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on chapter one of ‘Rooftoppers’ by Katherine Rundell.
Vocabulary, about the author, whole class reading, paired reading
Reading Skills foci: reading fluency, clarifying your understanding, inference
19-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 2 x printable PDF activities
Extract included.
Suitable for age 9+
3 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on ‘The Selfish Giant’ by Oscar Wilde.
Vocabulary, about the author, whole class reading, paired reading
Reading Skills foci: visualise, clarify, fluency, summarise
34-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 2 x printable PDF activities.
Extract included.
Suitable for age 7+
Based on an extract from chapter 5 of ‘Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow’ by Benjamin Dean.
Year 5 & 6
Book recommended age 9+
10-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint
1 lesson
2 x PDF activities
Clarify word meanings
Making inferences about characters based on their actions
Extract included
WINNER OF THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 2022
My name’s Archie Albright, and I know two things for certain:
My mum and dad kind of hate each other, and they’re not doing a great job of pretending that they don’t anymore.
They’re both keeping a secret from me, but I can’t figure out what.
Available for £2 on our website. My Teaching Hive.
2 x reading comprehension lessons based on the Prologue and Chapter One of ‘The Girl who Speaks Bear’ by Sophie Anderson.
Years 5 & 6
Book recommended age 9+
23-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint
2 lessons
1 x PDF activity
questioning, inference, looking at connections/themes within a text.
Extract included.
Visit our website for more book comprehension lessons.
based on Chapter 1, ‘Planet Omar’, by Zanib Mian
World Book Day whole class reading comprehension lesson
Years 4 & 5
Whole book recommended 8+
9 page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint delving deeper into the text, exploring the main characters and thinking about how their personality and relationship will affect their upcoming journey. Includes an inference activity and a fun task creating word illustration.
Extract not included but available on the World Book Day website.
Book is currently £1 as part of World Book Day 2021.
Offer your children the opportunity to read diverse, inspirational books as part of the Planet Omar series.
Reading comprehension resources for the following short stories:
Pandora’s Box
Arion and the Dolphins
Daedalus and Icarus
Theseus and the Minotaur
From Greek Myths by Marcia Williams.
43-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 18 x printable PDFs
Extracts not included.
Vocabulary, whole class reading
Suitable for ages 7+
3 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on Chapter One of ‘A Secret of Birds and Bone’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
Vocabulary, whole class reading, exploration of figurative language.
Reading Skills foci: exploring the meaning of words and the effect of figurative language, making judgements and inferring, summarising, identifying themes in a chapter.
26-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 2 x printable PDFs
Extract not included.
Suitable for ages 10+
3 x reading comprehension lessons based on the Prologue and Chapter One of I was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers by Philip Pullman.
Book recommended age 9+
Great comprehension lessons from texts written by Philip Pullman
26-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint
2 x PDF activity
Predict, Clarify, Infer, Connect
Extract not included.
Lesson 1
The first activity focusses on making predictions using ‘I see, I wonder, I think’. Then children are encouraged to make wider connections with other traditional tales they have experienced.
Lesson 2
The first activity clarifies the meaning of words in context so the children gain confidence exploring the text on a deeper level. This lesson provides a great opportunity to develop vocabulary by discussing unfamiliar words within the context of the text.
Lesson 3
Children begin by connecting the events in the story to their modern-day equivalents. Then children consider what evidence they can find to support a given statement. Finally, children discuss what they would have done if they were in a similar situation, building empathy for the characters.
Whole Class Guided Reading Comprehension resources based on Survivors by David Long
Story content may be best suited to an UKS2 class due to the extreme nature of each survival story.
Resources for 4 Survivor’s stories:
Juliane Koepcke
Tami Oldham
Aron Ralston
Ernest Shackleton
55-page PowerPoint
25-page PDF document
Pre-teach vocabulary
Mixed comprehension questions
Skills-focused activities
Extract not included
£3 on our website. Support us to make more resources by subscribing.
3 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on ‘Curiositree: Natural World: A Visual Compendium of Wonders from Nature’ by A J Wood & Mike Jolley.
Ideal for lessons on nature for KS2
Whole class reading, paired reading, pre-teaching vocabulary
Reading Skills foci: predict, retrieve and clarify
24-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 2 x printable PDF activities.
Extract included.
Suitable for ages 9+
Lesson 1
Firstly, warm up the lesson with a prediction activity and then pre-teach children key vocabulary to maximise pupil engagement with the text. Children then retrieve more key information about ‘Chameleon – Master of Colour’ and end the lesson with a fun chameleon challenge!
Lesson 2
Children discuss their understanding of the text, exploring the meaning of unfamiliar words in context. After, children learn more key words before they begin a fun activity, using quick challenge cards whilst learning more about ‘Extraordinary Hunters’.
Lesson 3
Finally, children have the opportunity to create their own compendium page, create a factual report about chameleons, or complete a camouflage art task