Apollo 13 Plane crash in the Andes Mine rescue in Chile Castaway This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at children aged 10-13 years old, tests children’s inference and deduction skills. It will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children explore these remarkable stories for themselves. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. PLEASE SEE MY NEW PACKAGE - AGAINST ALL ODDS - Four more amazing stories of survival!

Children have been captivated by the animals of Africa for decades. In this reading package, you can find out all about the ‘big five’ animals to spot; their habitats and behaviour; and how we can help to save them from extinction. There are eight reading activities, aimed at 8, 9, 10 and 11 year olds, testing children’s reading skills right across the curriculum. As with all of my reading comprehension projects, my aim is to create stimulating text that will actually get children into reading. I started writing my own material in 2014 after feeling bored by a lot of the comprehensions on offer. Using this approach, I have introduced my students to many stories and topics that may not be on the curriculum, but are important for young people to know. Contents Lion Factfile – Group facts about lions into categories Meet a Lion – Look at words and phrases in context Save The Elephants – Summarise main idea and extra detail The Man and The Elephant - Sequence a fable The Big Five – Identify cause, effect and solution Decline of the Black Rhino - Analyse information in a graph Big Five – Who’s not on the list? – Compare, select and justify using evidence Who am I – Use cryptic clues and keywords to identify animals Answers BONUS KAHOOT QUIZ! In the teacher notes for this item, there is a link to a Kahoot quiz which can be used at the end of the unit. It tests retention of facts from the texts and speed processing skills. A fantastic way to finish the material! ______________________________________________________ This product has been designed to put you in control. There is a Powerpoint file, so you can edit it, delete slides, change the order, print it or share it digitally. The great benefit of this is that your children can complete this as a worksheet or on a digital device – or even a bit of both! I often share this with children on tablets, but obviously I copy the file and remove the answers first! Sometimes, they read the text on a tablet and answer the questions on a sheet. However you use this, I’m sure you will find a way that works for your students – and save some paper and photocopying costs in the process.

This reading activity pack tells the story of the Jesus’ death and resurrection from Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday. It is ideal all year round for reading or Religious Studies, but is particularly useful in the run up to Easter, as they follow the last week in Jesus’ life. They can also be used as Sunday School activities or as readings in church. Based on the gospel accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, I have written five reports from key people in the Easter story about what happened with comprehension based questions and answers for each. These will bring the well-known story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to your students in a fresh, engaging and enlightening way. The characters featured are: Peter Pontius Pilate A Roman soldier Mary Magdalen Cleopas The comprehension questions tackle the following skills: Literal and retrieval Word meaning Inference and deduction There is also an activity at the end to summarise each of the characters stories. All activities are aligned to the common core. As an added extra, there are a number of posters with key bible verses for your displays, including posters to colour in. These can be found at the end of the reading pack. A bit about me: Before teaching, I was a journalist. I still work as a freelance writer, and like nothing more than writing engaging texts to challenge and inspire children and young people. I choose subjects that may not be on the curriculum but are still of great importance for students to know about. Everything I write has been comprehensively researched from a number of sources and been written by myself. No plagiarism here! This is all original material. My questions are pitched at a high level, but with a bit of patience and persistence (and some adult help if necessary) most students will have great fun as they learn, especially as the penny drops. I am aware of the impact of printed resources on our environment so try to condense my reading activities into as compact a space as possible. Hopefully this will help you save time in printing, and keep the bills down! Check out my store if you enjoy this – you’re sure to find more. Thanks! While you are here… You may also be interested in a similar pack of reading comprehensions I have written about the birth of Jesus. Follow the link for more: Stories from the Stable

I put this resource together as part of a package that I have created for the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. If you like this, and want more like it (with answers), then please take a look in my store. A BIT ABOUT ME Before teaching, I was a journalist. I still work as a freelance writer, and like nothing more than writing engaging texts to challenge and inspire children and young people. I choose subjects that may not be on the curriculum but are still of great importance for students to know about. Everything I write has been comprehensively researched from a number of sources and been written by myself. No plagiarism here! This is all original material. My questions are pitched at a high level, but with a bit of patience and persistence (and some adult help if necessary) most students will have great fun as they learn, especially as the penny drops I am aware of the impact of printed resources on our environment so try to condense my reading activities into as compact a space as possible. Hopefully this will help you save time in printing, and keep the bills down! Check out my store if you enjoy this – you’re sure to find more. Thanks!

In December 2015, Star Wars - The Force Awakens was released and became the highest grossing movie at the box office in history. Star Wars is just one of several series of movie blockbusters - and the children in your class can find out all about them in this guided reading compilation! JAWS…STAR WARS…JAMES BOND…HARRY POTTER These guided reading activities, aimed at children aged 10-13 years old, test childrens’ retrieval, inference and deduction skills. Questions and answers are provided, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. Your children will love finding out about the stories behind some of the world’s movie blockbusters!

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, it was perhaps the greatest scientific achievement in history. July 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this extraordinary voyage. Thousands of scientists, mathematicians, engineers and astronauts had a part to play in working together on the Apollo 11 mission - but space exploration goes much further than the Lunar landings. In this space exploration comprehension package, your students will take part in FIVE reading activities, which will open up the world of space exploration to them: *1) The Space Race: What was the space race, and why was it so important? The First Man on the Moon: A celebration of the life and achievements of Neil Armstrong. The Last Man on the Moon: A celebration of the life and achievements of Eugene Cernan “Houston, We’ve got a problem”: Disasters in space, featuring the amazing survival story of Apollo 13. Space Travel - next steps: Find out about plans to travel to Mars, passenger space travel, and how a 41-year old probe is still sending messages to scientists from 11 billion miles away!* Students will use inference and deduction skills as well as fact retrieval, word meaning and summarising. Questions and answers are provided, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. As with all of my reading exercises, I try to write content that is interesting and engaging - stories that may not be on the curriculum, but are important for children to know.

This set of language flashcards explores key greetings in the 26 most commonly spoken languages in the world. The greetings that they teach are: Hello Goodbye Thank you Please Sorry Yes No Including on the flashcards are flags of countries where each language is spoken and facts about that language. The languages are: English Spanish Portuguese German French Mandarin Hindi Bengali Punjabi Urdu Persian Marathi Vietnamese Cantonese Korean Malay Swahili Japanese Javanese Russian Tamil Turkish Arabic Italian Hausa Telugu There are many uses for this with your students. My students enjoy taking a card each week and answering the register with a greeting in their chosen tongue. They could also be used as a class ‘language of the week’; as a multi-cultural display; or as part of a geography project. I hope you find them helpful!

Who will win the 2019 Rugby World Cup? This reading comprehension activity is aimed at 8-13 year-olds, and focuses on the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Your students will develop reading comprehension skills through a range of retrieval and inference questions, using skills to skim and scan the text. In particular, they will learn about: The history of the tournament The favourites for to win in 2019 The World Cup trophy The chances of the United States* Answers are included. I have also included a black and white version of the product on pages 5-7 to avoid the costs of colour graphics printing. Thanks for your interest!

Explore the world in just eight days with this comprehension reading compilation. Children will be fascinated to discover exciting facts about the following countries: China India Italy Russia Brazil Australia Egypt South Africa Each activity comes with 2 levels of questions to suit all learners: A red border for simpler questions A green border for more advanced questions An extension activity is provided with each activity, and each activity should take about an hour in total. You can use these as a comprehension exercise, a guided reading activity, a geography lesson or as part of a literacy project. Children can complete as homework, and develop their general knowledge about the world around them. Enjoy your travels! NOW WITH BONUS QUIZ ON KAHOOT! IDEAL FOR END OF UNIT. https://create.kahoot.it/#jumble/24391ecb-8e85-4ae3-9ddb-801ce9c79c93

These comprehensions are taken from real newspaper reports of major news events that made the world stop in its tracks. These are important stories for your children to understand, as they play a significant part in recent world history. The comprehensions focus on: The sinking of the Titanic 9/11 The Asian tsunami and The assassination of JFK There are a variety of questions styles, testing skills in retrieval, inference and deduction. Answers are provided, and children are given an indication of marks on offer so this is good preparation for reading tests and assessments. As with all of my work, I try to make the subject matter interesting and exciting for the children to engage with. As these stories may be familiar, I have made some of the questions particularly challenging, focussing on the parts of the story that your cohort won’t know about.

How does Donald Trump compare to Kim Jong-Un? Should we be worried about North Korea? Or how about Queen Victoria and JFK? Who exactly are Rex Tillerson and Mike Pence? This versatile set of 32 biography cards can be used in numerous ways. Firstly, they will test your students in their Common Core reading skills. Secondly, they will enable them to structure and write biographies of their own. Thirdly, they provide a platform for you as a teacher to critically evaluate your students’ writing with feedback which they will find engaging; encouraging them to write to their very best ability. Fourthly, they provide an insight into Donald Trump’s top team; US presidents of the past; prominent world leaders of today; and influential leaders through history. Fifthly, as a game, this will be a tremendous amount of fun! This is perfect all year round but is especially good as a Presidents Day activity. +++++ THE BIOGRAPHY CARDS ARE SPLIT INTO FOUR SECTIONS: Trump’s Team Trump, Preibus, Spicer, Devos, Conway, Tillerson, Pence, Mattis. US Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, Nixon, Lincoln, Roosevelt. World Leaders 2017 May, Nieto, Netanyahu, Putin, Trudeau, Merkel, Jong-un, Rouhani World Leaders 2017 Mandela, Malala, Mother Teresa, Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Queen Victoria, Princess Diana, Peron. +++++ HERE ARE SOME IDEAS FOR HOW THE BIOGRAPHY CARDS CAN BE USED: Reading skills Each biography comes with three questions. RETRIEVE: Students will find this answer in the text. REVIEW: They will need to use summarising skills to answer the questions. Answers can be quoted from the text. The question will make this clear. RESEARCH: Students can use the internet to answer a question. The information cannot be found within the text. Compare and contrast Students can take any two cards. Their task is to find three differences and three similarities about the characters they have chosen. Highlight the text Referring to the scores under each image, students can color code the text that applies to each category with a highlighter or colored crayon.

This guided reading activity, aimed at 9 and 13 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. It will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children decide for themselves who will win the World Cup in 2022! The activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

This guided reading activity is aimed at 10-13 year olds. It focuses on the London Blitz in World War Two. It is part of my ‘Diaries of World War Two’ resource which is available for £1 from TES. Questions and answers are provided. I hope you and the children you teach find it useful.

This reading comprehension will test your students’ reading skills as they explore one of the greatest April Fools of all time, as ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about Porky Bickar and how he faked a volcanic eruption in Alaska, 1978. The story comes with questions, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically and retrieve facts. They will also generate lively and fun classroom discussion. Would your students fall for this prank? Can they come up with anything better? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This story is also featured in a bigger pack with other famous April Fools: FAKE NEWS - APRIL FOOL! In that pack, you will find the stories featured below, answer sheets, a writing activity based on the stories and posters for display: Spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland A fake volcanic eruption in Alaska Instant Colour TV in Sweden An iceberg in Sydney Harbour As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material.

These reading comprehensions will test your students’ reading skills as they explore three engaging news stories from February 2017. Using research skills and their reporters notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: Mass whale stranding in New Zealand World War Two Bomb panic in Greece Miraculous survival of Australian farmer Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. CONTENTS 3: INCHES FROM DEATH! 4: Heartbreak of the Whales 5: PANIC IN GREECE! 6-8: Questions 9-11: Answers 12: How to write a newspaper article 13: Newspaper template 14-16: Posters for display

It is over 100 years since World War One. This remarkable set of TEN guided reading activities uncovers the horror, humanity and humour of life in the Great War. Each activity focuses on a different part of the war, such as life in the trenches; the Christmas Truce and the assasination of Franz Ferdinand. Also, find out about the fascinating story of the British soldier who spared the life of a young Adolf Hitler. These guided reading activities, aimed at children aged 10-13 years old, test children’s retrieval, inference and deduction skills. They will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children explore these stories for themselves. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War One. This collection of four reading comprehensions, aimed at 10-14 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills through a range of informative and enlightening texts. It will also promote reflective and engaging classroom discussion as children discover more about this important chapter in the world’s history. For this reason, it is ideal for research projects. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. ____________________________ CONTENTS The Soldier who helped to end the war: The heroic story of a British officer who went behind enemy lines to secure the masterplan for the fearsome Hindenburg defences – a mission that many believe helped to end the war more quickly. America declares war: How America moved from neutrality to war; and how their actions were crucial in securing an Allied victory. The Armistice: The world celebrates as the peace treaty is signed in a railway carriage – but the war rumbles on right until the bitter end. We Will Remember Them: A look at the Flanders Fields poem, followed by information about Remembrance and Veteran’s Day; and the significance of the poppy.

BIGFOOT. LOCH NESS. LORD LUCAN. MARY CELESTE. ROSWELL. TURIN SHROUD. Does an ape-like biped roam the forests of North America? Is there a monster lurking in the depths of a Scottish lake? Is the face of Jesus miraculously printed in a piece of linen? Did Lord Lucan really kill the nanny? Do aliens exist? Where were the crew of the Mary Celeste? Answer these questions and more in this exciting Guided Reading resource looking at some of the greatest mysteries of the world. This collection of six guided reading activities, aimed at 10 and 11 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. It will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children try to solve these mysteries for themselves. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.