Please continue to read with your child over the Easter break, sharing a book so you can model reading and they can access some powerful vocabulary. There are also some Phonics games on our Phonics Page for those children who have their Phonics screening in June. 

Below, you'll find a comprehension for a challenge as well as last year's Yr2 SATs paper for reading with an answer booklet.  

Comprehension

If your child fancies a challenge in reading over Easter, there is a comprehension below based on the Great Fire of London with a few questions for them to answer. 

Flames licked at the edges of the wooden building, growing with a sinister hunger as the water evaporated into thin air. Hopelessness descended.

Crunch.

A wooden beam splintered. The intense flames wrapped themselves around it like a glove. Suddenly, it crashed to the floor with flames leaping like a caged tiger demanding freedom.

“Run!” A loud voice echoed across the burning debris, before choking on the thick air. But the fire was faster.  

1. How are the flames described as they spread across the building?
2. What happens to the wooden beam?
3. What simile is used to describe how the flames interact with the beam?
4. What does the phrase ‘like a caged tiger demanding freedom,’ suggest about the flames?
5. Who is shouting, ‘Run!’ and what does the voice struggle with?
6. What is the significance of the phrase ‘But the fire was faster’ in the text?
7. What tone does the imagery of the fire create? 

Below is last year's Y2 reading SATs paper with an answer booklet. It is a new skill, learning to read the questions, work out what the questions are asking and where to find the answer. Please look through this with your child over Easter (if you have time) and let us know how you got on. We will be doing questions like this throughout next term as part of our quiet reading time where they will have a small text and a question to answer so they are used to how comprehension works.  

2024 key stage 1 English reading Paper 2: reading booklet

2024 key stage 1 English reading Paper 1: reading prompt and answer booklet

Reading with your child.

Reading is the number one priority for your child's home learning and if you struggle to fit in anything else, then reading should be the most important!  Even if your child is reluctant to have a go, please ensure that you are sharing books and reading to them.

Please keep the Reading Record and reading book in their book bags and send them into school daily so that we are able to record their school reading and monitor how and when they are reading at home. 

Please write in their reading record book each time they read to an adult or older sibling.

If your child is now able to read more fluently to themselves please remember to question them to encourage comprehension.  Some helpful questions are:

What was the first event? What happened next?

Can you retell the story in your own words?

Could this be a true story or is it fictional?  Why do you think that?

What did the word …….. mean? 

What are the other words the author could have used that mean the same thing?

Which was your favourite phrase? Why? 

Which words are the nouns/adjectives?

What do you think will happen next?

Why did the character behave in that way?  How were they feeling?  What words made you think that?

Please ensure that all children are having books read to them also, even if they are confident 'free' readers. Please check back soon for a book list as suggestions of appropriate texts.

Words that are not decodable

In addition to the decodable words in their reading books that we have taught the children to blend in their phonic learning, they are expected to read and spell other words that are shown below.

These words are not decodable or contain unusual graphemes and so will need to be practised and learnt.  They are called the Common Exception Words.

Please work on the appropriate ones throughout the year with your child, starting with the Year 1 list.  To reach the expected level in Year 2 they will need to be able to read and spell many of the Year 2 words by the end of the year.

Suggested books for Year 2

Many parents have asked for recommendations for suitable reading books.

We would always recommend anything by Roald Dahl except the two that we are reading during the year : The BFG and James and the Giant Peach.

Please click on the picture for a link to a useful site for further information.

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