This module for our reading sessions, we will be reading Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover. This will give us some valuable knowledge into space and will help us to understand the importance of layout devices as well as retrieving information to increase our understanding of space.

Pupils should be taught:

• maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:

  • continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks

  • reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes

• understand what they read by:

  • checking that the book makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context

  • asking questions to improve their understanding

  • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

  • predicting what might happen from details stated and implied

  • identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

• discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader

• retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction

• provide reasoned justifications for their views.

During module 3, we will be studying 'The Night Diary' by Veera Hiranandani.  We will be using our comprehension skills to recall what we have read but have a big focus on using our inference skills. Using our understanding from our learning in RE, we will able to make links between what we know and what we have read to infer what the author's intended meaning is during the text. We have already made some great predictions at the beginning of this module and will be revisiting these at the end to compare what we predicted with what we had discovered.

Pupils should be taught to:

• maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:

  • continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks

  • increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions

  • identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing

• understand what they read by:

  • asking questions to improve their understanding

  • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

  • predicting what might happen from details stated and implied

• discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader

Throughout module 2, we will be reading the book Everest by Alexandra Stewart. This is the breathtaking story of how two very different yet equally determined men battled frost-biting temperatures, tumbling ice rocks, powerful winds and death-defying ridges to climb the world’s highest mountain. 

We will be exploring layout and structure of texts as well as drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. Furthermore, we will be discussing and evaluating how authors use language and considering the impact this has on the reader.

Pupils should be taught to:

• maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:

  • continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks

  • increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions

  • identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing

• understand what they read by:

  • asking questions to improve their understanding

  • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

  • predicting what might happen from details stated and implied

• discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader

This module, our class text that we are enjoying is called Curse of the Maya, written by Johnny Pearce and Andy Loneragan. It is a gripping tale about twin twelve-year olds Verity and Ethan, who are embarking on an amazing adventure in Guatemala with their father, whilst he is working with an archaeological team excavating a newly found Maya city.

We have been focussing on exploring new vocabulary and understanding its meaning within the text, as well as using our prediction skills to help us express how we think the story will play out. Furthermore, we have used our inference skills and the knowledge we have gained about the characters to understand how they may be feeling and thinking as well as their motives within the story.

Pupils will be taught:

• understand what they read by:

  • checking that the book makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context.

  • asking questions to improve their understanding.

  • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence.

  • predicting what might happen from details stated and implied.

  • summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas.