The Ghost Ship: Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension

Captivate your students with one of history’s greatest maritime mysteries!

This high-quality non-fiction reading comprehension pack is designed specifically for Upper KS2 (Year 5/6) and Lower KS3 (Year 7/8). It explores the eerie disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste in 1872, blending historical facts with engaging investigative questions.
What’s Included?
Engaging Non-Fiction Text: A two-page, well-structured narrative detailing the discovery of the Mary Celeste, the various theories (from pirates to Krakens), and the most likely scientific explanations.
Comprehensive PowerPoint Presentation: An 8 slide presentation that guides the lesson from start to finish with a range of retrieval, vocabulary and inference questions to be completed as a class (teacher notes included on the slides). Every question comes with a model ‘full mark’ answer. This allows students to self-assess and ‘see’ exactly what is required to achieve top marks.
Two further Differentiated Question sheets - core and challenge - to be used after the powerpoint or as homework. Question sheets also have exemplar answers for teacher reference or peer or self marking.
Teacher notes of possible extension tasks - with success criteria and curriculum link.
Resources:PowerPoint pdfs and jpeg
AI-Generated Imagery: supporting AI-generated images are used throughout the text and slides to bring the mystery to life (free for use within the teacher’s own classroom).
Curriculum Links (UK)
This resource is designed to meet key National Curriculum targets for Reading (Aims 2 and 3) Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5-6)
Understand what they read by: checking that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context.
Drawing inferences (such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions) and justifying inferences with evidence.
Summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas.
Lower Key Stage 3 (Years 7-8)
Developing appreciation and understanding of non-fiction: through reading a wide range of high-quality, challenging texts.
Knowing how to read for information: including the use of scanning and skimming to locate specific data.
Drawing complex inferences: and using textual evidence to support or refute scientific and historical theories.
Perfect for:Whole-class reading, guided reading groups, SATs preparation, or as an engaging “hook” for a history or mystery-themed unit.
Author Note:
The AI-generated images included in this pack are provided for educational use within the purchasing teacher’s classroom only.