Developing Reading Comprehension Skills Years 5-6: Classic Children's Literature

A fantastic resource to support the development of answering reading questions in the style that KS2 children are expected to do at the end of KS2. The appeal of this is that it is written by someone who understands and knows what is expected in the Primary phase and who is a keen reader so that the texts chosen are fit for purpose.Absolutely cannot recommend this enough and will be buying more from this series. If you are a teacher, home educator or parent looking for a first rate resource buy this. You won't be disappointed.

Classics are so considered because of their longevity and value over time. As teachers encouraging a love of reading and a varied reading diet we will likely recommend a classic we enjoyed as a child. We need to offer children these texts but we also need to be able to teach from them and learn from them. I bought this book shortly after challenging myself to read and re-read more classics and I figured this book would help with the choosing of texts and in my ability to teach from them. Kate Heap, the author, clearly has the skills, experience and passion for Classic books and their use in today's curriculum.Using familiar words such as inference, vocabulary and prediction, I could tell this book would fit in to any classroom in the world, not just the UK.Each extract is easy to read and increases in difficulty as you move through the book. There are 8 activities for each text featuring various question types and outcomes of understanding. Kate Heap shows her knowledge and understanding of each text as you work through the book and her activities are brilliantly suited to the age range and difficulty level of each text.A host of familiar and widely known books fill the pages of this valuable teaching resource. These books have stood the test of time and I believe Kate's book, and others in the series will be considered useful, valuable and important for years to come.I will be sharing and recommending this to colleagues and will be looking out for the others in this series!

I bought this book to work with my son on some classic texts because (a) he was missing VIPERSS from his previous class teacher and (b) we are considering the 11+. He was delighted to find he had read around half of the books featured here, and it's inspired him to want to read the others with which he is less familiar. He was even happier, having worked diligently through the first two texts, when I downloaded a past paper for our local 11+ school and exactly the same passages have appeared in the exam in previous years. This has given him a massive confidence boost!I loved English at school (and took it at A-level) but my son is probably more inclined towards maths. The texts are helping us connect and share our thoughts on literature even while we're "working". My son also appreciates the metacognitive aspect of knowing what sort of question he is tackling and the tips on how best to approach each question type.I would recommend this book to parents who want to give a bit more stretch, those preparing for e.g. 11+ exams and (having spent 4 years home educating ourselves) home educators who want to start to explore reading comprehension in a more formal way. I am also very tempted to buy a few books from the series as something different for an end-of-year gift for teachers.

The Author clearly has a wide experience of literacy, both in teaching and in mentoring staff, and these elements are combined within the book. Each extract is cleverly chosen to be appealing to children, and will leave them wanting to find out what happened next, therefore encouraging further reading. The varied exercises combine the different aspects of the curriculum while, from the children’s point of view, they are effectively sent out as detectives to search for clues in order to complete the tasks. I was delighted to see that this is the first in a series of eight books by the same author.

Unlike some comprehension books, the author's passion for reading and books shines through. Coverage of relevant skills is thorough and this book has been excellent for introducing pupils to classics, particularly those with English as an additional language. Recommended!

A fantastic book with great resources. Meets the year 6 curriculum.Great job

I have had the pleasure of working with Kate for many years and this and her other books sum her up wonderfully as a teacher - on the money!Working with children just below ARE last year, this book really helped me to focus on the areas of comprehension my children needed to practise. I love the range and selection of classic novels she has chosen.

This is an excellent book to help prepare children in Years 5 and 6 for their SATs tests, using high-quality texts that also support a love of reading. The questions are clearly organised into the different content domains, making it easy to use for teachers and parents. Thanks to its clear structure and the guidance section for teachers, this book is accessible to all learners, but is also great for challenging able readers.