Year 4 Halloween VIPERS Reading Comprehension

An original funny Halloween mystery for Year 4, with a full SATs-style VIPERS reading paper, mark scheme and a ready-to-teach PowerPoint for modelling answers.

“The Skeleton in the Library”: Best friends Ravi and Ellie get locked in the library on Halloween night – and meet Clatter, a lunchbox-sized skeleton who has fallen out of a book and lost his toe! Can they find it before a grown-up switches the lights on and Clatter is stuck forever?

WHAT’S INCLUDED
✔ Illustrated reading booklet (original story, 4 pages)
✔ SATs-style answer booklet: 20 questions, 24 marks
✔ Full mark scheme with acceptable answers and content domains
✔ Teacher notes, vocabulary to explore, talk prompts and a VIPERS / content domain coverage grid
✔ Teaching PowerPoint: VIPERS key, vocabulary slide, story slides and one slide per question for modelling (answers in the speaker notes)

COVERS EVERY KS2 CONTENT DOMAIN (2a–2h)
Question types match the KS2 reading test: tick one, find and copy, true or false, sequencing, short answers and 2-mark explain questions that need evidence from the text.

PERFECT FOR
• Whole-class guided reading in the week of Halloween
• Shared reading and modelling VIPERS skills
• Reading assessment or SATs-style practice

Part of a series: Year 3 (Grizelda’s Giggle), Year 4 (The Skeleton in the Library), Year 5 (The Lantern Path) and Year 6 (The Thirteenth Riddle).

Written by a primary English Lead. If you enjoy this resource, I’d be very grateful for a review!