Thinking resources

Students are required to identify arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos and then use these to write a paragraph expressing their point of view about this issue.

Students explain why three sentences are ambiguous and rewrite them to make the meaning clearer.

Students read an advertisement and retrieve information and make inferences from it.

Students read a poem titled 'The Sea' and explain the meanings of some of the language used.

Students read an article on milking cows and then find information in it to complete a retrieval chart.

Students read an article and are assessed on their ability to retrieve information and to make inferences in response to two questions about geologists.

This comprehension task involves progressively disclosing a poem to students. It assesses their ability to infer.

Students read an advertisement for a website. Comprehension questions then require the student to explore the writers' use of metaphor and superlatives.

Students are assessed on their ability to find details and identify the main idea of a narrative about a Cook Island tradition.

Students read a Junior Journal article about tree cutting. From their comprehension of the story they complete a retrieval chart and explain the figurative language used.

This resource assesses points of view on the issue of keeping score in sport, with the task being to match statements to the views expressed by four students.

The context of this task is a story about a power cut. Students identify the changing feelings of the children in the story and record these as a graph over time.

Students identify what type of people the characters in the story are and choose evidence from the text to justify their decisions; they also identify the main idea of the text. Suggestions for evaluating character and the author's style of characterisation are under the "Working with Students" tab.

This resource requires students to answer questions about an index page.

Students read fifteen statements and identify the six statements of opinion.

Students produce a simple written description, using nouns and adjectives with some precision.

This resource provides information on students’ ability to write a string of adjectives in the correct order.

Students answer questions about weight and number of packets of biscuits for a school fundraising project.

In this practical task, students decide which of four shapes have the same area, then use 100s blocks to check their answer.

This assessment takes the context of the New Zealand flag and has questions that focus on presenting, layout, symbols, and visual cues.

Students are assessed on their ability to identify the main idea of a text that recounts one person's experience of a Tryathlon.

Students are assessed on their ability to identify the main idea of a narrative concerning one child's experience of White Sunday in Sāmoa.

This comprehension task assesses a student's ability to use evidence in a text to work out what a poem could be about as it is disclosed in stages.

Students read an extract from Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' to answer retrieval and inferential questions.

Students place photos in order, then use them to write a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end.