Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension Lesson Pack – Mangled Trees, Charred Homes and Ashen Land

A powerful, high-interest reading comprehension resource for KS3 and KS4, based on real reporting from a community devastated by the Palisades Fire. The text offers compelling description, first-hand testimony, and clear opportunities to build essential non-fiction exam skills.

This lesson pack is ideal for:

• English and literacy lessons
• Non-fiction comprehension practice
• Building structured, evidence-based responses
• Discussion around community, impact, prevention and resilience
• Exam-style preparation for Paper 2 (AO1 retrieve, AO2 infer, AO3 evaluate)

Resource includes:

• A full non-fiction reading text with subject-specific glossary
• 10 comprehension questions covering retrieval, inference, vocabulary, and explanation
• 6 analytical discussion questions encouraging debate, reasoning, and critical evaluation
• A complete answer key for fast, reliable marking and modelling
• Appropriately pitched language for classroom or independent reading
• Strong curriculum links to community impact, wildfire risks, emergency access challenges and human response

Skills students will develop:

• Information retrieval (AO1)
• Inference and explanation using textual evidence (AO2)
• Evaluation of ideas, perspectives, and authorial choice (AO3)
• Quoting accurately from non-fiction sources
• Forming structured arguments through extended discussion and writing

Key contextual references in the text support learning around:

The location of Pacific Palisades as the affected community, the role of the US Forest Service in wildfire response, and themes commonly found in real disaster reporting such as personal testimony, environmental impact, and emergency access barriers.

The passage also highlights human perspectives, including quotations from firefighter Jacob Ruano and resident Daniel Clive McCallum, making it a strong text for examining emotional impact and narrative perspective within factual writing.