-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.
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+
Whole Class Guided Reading Comprehension resources based on The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
An adventurous story to compliment KS2 rainforests topic work.
Recommended Year 5
Appropriate for age 9+
71-page PowerPoint
40-page PDF document
Pre-teach vocabulary
Mixed comprehension questions
Skills-based comprehension activities
Extract not included
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My Teaching Hive
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
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+
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.
5 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on the prologue and chapter one of ‘The Nowhere Emporium’ by Ross MacKenzie.
Vocabulary, whole class reading, paired reading, inference
Reading Skills foci: retell key events through role play, summarise, exploring the effect of word choices, inferring about characters and settings.
37-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 3 x printable PDFs
Extract not included.
Suitable for ages 9+
4 whole class reading lessons based on the Prologues: Ben & Lottie from ‘Voyage of the Sparrowhawk’, by Natasha Farrant
Vocabulary, whole class reading, paired reading
Reading Skills foci: infer, visualise and predict
30-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 3 x printable PDFs
Recommended for age 9+
Extract included
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.
2 x reading comprehension lessons based on the introduction and chapter about the astronaut, Mae Jemison ‘Fantastically Great Women Scientists and their Stories’ by Kate Pankhurst.
Years 3 – 5
Book recommended age 7+
24-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint
2 lessons
2 x PDF activities
retrieval
Extract downloadable at lovereading4kids
Lesson 1
Pre-teach vocabulary. Then find out more about women in science before matching the famous scientists with their ground-breaking discovery. If you have time, explore the timeline of women’s rights.
Lesson 2
Firstly introduce key vocabulary, asking the children what they already know about the Civil Rights Movement or Segregation. Children then find out more about the life of Mae Jemison and respond to key questions. Finally, what do the children know about female scientists today who are changing the world?
Lesson 3
Firstly, ask the children to recap what they have learnt previously about Mae Jemison and consider who else inspires them?
3 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on chapter one and two of ‘The Wild Robot’ by Peter Brown.
Vocabulary, about the author, whole class reading, paired reading
Reading Skills foci: word’splore (exploring how word choices enhance meaning), infer, summarise
28-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 3 x printable PDF activities
Extract included.
Suitable for age 7+
Get your class excited about their rivers topic using books about rivers.
4 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on the chapters about the Nile and the Yangtze from ‘River Stories’ by Timothy Knapman.
Whole class reading, paired reading, collecting/presenting information in a table, opportunity for children to create their own retrieval questions about a different river.
Reading Skills foci: retrieval, feature’splore (exploring the features/organisation of a text)
32-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 6 x PDF downloadable activities.
Extract not included.
Recommended for age 7+
For those teaching rivers as a topic, River Stories is a a must read with your class. Each glorious river-length page brings five rivers from around the world to life by telling all the stories, histories, geography, myths and legends associated with each.
It’s the perfect opportunity for classes to look at how a text’s structure contributes to meaning and gives the children lots of opportunities to practise retrieval. They can even enjoy making up their own retrieval question cards based on a river of their choice.
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+
Romans reading comprehension
3 whole class reading comprehension lessons based on ‘Escape from Pompeii’ by Christina Balit.
Vocabulary, whole class reading, paired reading.
Reading Skills foci: predict, infer, connect: explore books with a historical setting.
24-page dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint, 2 x printable PDF activities
Extract not included.
Suitable for age 7+
Vanishing Trick - Poetry - Reading Comprehension Resources - age 7+
Reading comprehension resources based on a selection of poems from Vanishing Trick by Ros Asquith
More at MY TEACHING HIVE
49-page PowerPoint presentation
A range of PDF comprehension activities and questions
Comprehension Questions in line with the KS2 National Curriculum
Extracts included.
Suitable for age 7+
A flexible set of resources which could be used for whole class reading, guided reading, individual and group work as well as for home learning.
Discuss what it’s like to have dyslexia, look for idioms, perform a poem out loud, judge performances, explore metaphorical language, write your own poem in the poet’s style, make predictions by looking at illustrations, make inferences and judgements, summarise and clarify.
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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A thorough bundle of reading comprehension resources for Varjak Paw by S F Said.
Ready to use
Answers included
PowerPoints and PDFs
Vocabulary
Comprehension Questions
hands-on activities
Subscribe at
myteachinghive
£35
Bright Bursts of Colour Reading Comprehension by Matt Goodfellow
50-page PowerPoint
26-page PDF activities
preteach vocabulary
mixed comprehension questions
skills-focused activities
Recommended for Year 5 and 6
Lesson 1 – poems about being different
‘Chameleon Kids’, page 16
‘Difficult’, page 57
Lesson 2 – poem about school
‘Missing Lessons’, page 11 and 12
Lesson 3 – poems about relationships
‘David’, page 32 and 33
‘Broken’, page 72 to 73
‘The Sky is the Colour of Grandma’s Hair’, pages 74 to 75
Lesson 4 – funny poems
‘A Special Badger’, page 21
‘Nuts’, page 71
Lesson 5 – review chosen poem
Reading comprehension resources based on Chapters 20-35 of Varjak Paw by SF Said.
More at MY TEACHING HIVE
82-page PowerPoint presentation
Vocabulary cards
Comprehension Questions in line with the KS2 National Curriculum
Reading skill focused activities
For each chapter
A flexible set of resources which could be used for whole class reading, guided reading, individual and group work as well as for home learning.
Text not included.
Suitable for age 7+
Reading comprehension resources based on Chapters 8-19 of Varjak Paw by SF Said.
More at MY TEACHING HIVE
93-page PowerPoint presentation
Vocabulary cards
Comprehension Questions in line with the KS2 National Curriculum
Reading skill focused activities
For each chapter
A flexible set of resources which could be used for whole class reading, guided reading, individual and group work as well as for home learning.
Text not included.
Suitable for age 7+