Reading

How many questions can you answer?

As all of the children are competent readers, our focus is on understanding the text.  At the bottom of this page are over 70 questions that can be answered and discussed. (You may recognise them as they were given out in term 1). The reading challenge this term is to see how many questions you can answer before the end of term!

Evidence is required.  So each time you finish reading a book, or during the book, say at the end of a chapter, pick some questions to answer.  

Still keep a reading log in your homework book as normal - write the date, name of the book, pages read and signed but on another page also write the name of the book and author, the question(s) and then your answers.

Remember to check if your book is fiction or non fiction.

End of term prizes are available for those who have answered the most questions in their homework book by the end of term!  Good luck and happy reading.

Term 3 2015
This term, the children will be encouraged to choose a wide variety of books and explore the library. Reading bingo will be the homework challenge. Who will be first to complete a line in any direction or a full house?!

Term 2
These children have read a variety of genres this term - well done and congratulations!

 These children also tried to read something different this term - well done!

Term 2 Reading

This term I will be asking children to think about what they already know when reading a text, making predictions and connections and visualising the story/characters/feelings. We will also be working on decoding, increasing our vocabulary and re-organising text to help us understand questions asked. Some children will also be working on inferences in texts and understanding what the author has meant, even though it has not being directly stated.

Reading Genres

Now that the children are in a routine of reading for homework and being allowed two library books from school, (one to go home, one to stay at school), I would like to encourage them to read a wider variety of genres.  All children have their favourite type of book to read and I hope they are enjoying choosing for themselves.  However, reading comprehension involves more than the typical story books or information books they are choosing.

I would therefore like each child to choose one book out of their two choices from the following list. (Stuck in homework book). Different genres will be explained and examples given during library time on Wednesdays.  

Once they have read the new type of book, the details should be filled on this sheet.  I anticipate that children will read each of these new types of genres over the next term and for their second choice, maybe choosing a new type of book that interests them. Completed sheets will be rewarded!!

Genre	Title	Author	Date read	Comment	Score out of ten
Information
Fantasy
NZ literature
Poetry
Classic literature
Historical fiction
Science fiction
Biography
Short story collection
Mystery

Reading Fluency

Your child well may be reading fluently now, or they may still need some help with decoding. We will be learning some decoding strategies and some tricks to watch out for when reading (details will be sent home with those who need it).

To check if your child is reading fluently, I will be looking for the following:

• accuracy
• knowing what to do if they come across a word they do not recognise
• taking notice of punctuation, eg pausing at commas and full stops
• reading at a steady speed
• using the right tone of voice
• pausing in the right places to ensure the text makes sense
• emphasising important words
• understanding and talking about what they have read.

If your child is a fluent reader, we will be focusing on comprehension strategies.  See questions below that you could try at home.

Reading Comprehension - questions you could ask to check understanding

Fiction	Non-fiction
Where does the story take place? When did the story take place? What did the character look like? Who are the key characters in the book? What happened in the story? What kinds of people are in the story? Explain something that happened at a specific point in the story.	What is the text about? What is the title of text? Who is the author? What kinds of things would you expect to see in this book? Can you find examples of different features of this text type? Find something that interests you from the text? Explain why you chose that particular part. Where would you look to find out what a technical word means? What is on the cover of the book? What does this tell you about the content inside?
If you were going to interview a character or the author, which questions would you ask? Which is your favourite part and why? Who would you like to meet most in the story? Why? What do you think would happen next if the story carried on past the ending of the book? Who was the storyteller? How do you know? Predict what you think is going to happen next? Why do you think this? Is this a place you could visit? Why/why not? How is the main character feeling at the beginning/middle/ end of the story? Why do they feel that way? Does this surprise you?	Which parts of the book could help you find the information you need? When would you use the contents page in the book? When would you use the index page in the book? What sort of person do you think would use this book? When might someone use this book? Why? Can you suggest ideas for other sections or chapters to go into the book? Do you think the author of the book is an ‘expert’ about the topic of the book? Why?/Why not?
Were you surprised by the ending? Is it what you expected? Why/why not? What is the main event of the story? Why do you think this? How has the text been organised? Why do you think authors use short sentences? How did you think it would end/ should end? Has the author used an unusual layout in the text? If so, describe it and say why you think they did this? Has the author used a variety of sentence structures? Has the author put certain words in bold or italic? Why have they done this?	Can you find an example of a page you think has an interesting layout? Why did you choose it? Why have some of the words been written in italics? What are the sub-headings for? Why have some of the headings been written in bold? How does the layout help the reader? What is the purpose of the pictures? Can you find examples of words which tell you the order of something? What kind of a text is this? How do you know?
Why did the author choose this title? Do you want to read the rest of the text? How does the writer encourage you to read the rest of the text? Can you find some examples of effective description? What makes them effective? Which part of the story best describes the setting? Can you find examples of powerful adjectives? What do they tell you about a character or setting? Can you find examples of powerful adverbs? What do they tell you about a character, their actions or setting? Can you find examples of powerful verbs? What do they tell you about a character, their actions or setting? Find an example of a word you don’t know the meaning of. Using the text around it, what do you think it means?	Why does this book contain technical vocabulary? Find an example of a technical word. Read the sentence it’s in. What do you think it means based on how it’s used in the sentence? Are there any examples of persuasive language? Why do we need a glossary in a text?
Can you think of another story that has a similar theme, eg good over evil, weak over strong, wise over foolish? Why did the author choose this setting? What makes this a successful story? What evidence do you have to justify your opinion? How could the story be improved or changed for the better? What was the most exciting part of the story? Explain your answer as fully as you can. When the author writes in short sentences, what does this tell you?	Why has the writer written this text? Have you found any of the illustrations, diagrams of pictures useful? Why/why not? Try to explain fully. Why did the writer choose to present the information in the way they did? How could the information be presented better? What makes this text successful? Are there any features that it hasn’t got? Why do you think it doesn’t have them? Can you think of another text that is similar to this one? What are the similarities and differences between them?
Do you know another story which deals with the same issues, eg social, cultural, moral issues? Have you ever been in a similar situation to a character in the book? What happened? How would you have felt in the same situation? What would you have done differently to the character in a particular situation from the book? How would you feel if you were treated in the same way as the main character? What did the story make you think of? Have you read any other stories that have similar characters to this one? If so, which story was it and what happened? Do you think this book is trying to give the reader a message? If so, what is it?