Thinking resources

Task: Complete a diagram of part of the water cycle and answer a question about rain. Assessment focus: Question a) – the water cycle and conventions of diagrams; question b) – evaporation of a solution.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify and justify evidence used to visualise and make inferences about a character and setting.

Students to apply their understanding of basic wave behaviour at the sea shore to make an inference about waves in a different but analogous context: to predict where the worst damage might occur in an earthquake.

Task: Make observations from a photograph, identify potential environmental problems giving reasons, decide which problem is the most important, and give reasons for the choice. Assessment focus: (1) observation, and (2) identifying and prioritising cause and effect relationships.

Task: Decide which of two graphs e.g., tally chart, pictograph, bar graph is represented by a picture and explain how the graph/s are interpreted.

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.

Students count the number of pairs thrown in a series of throws of three dice to evaluate the long-run relative frequency of getting a pair.

This resource has students comparing four advertisements on holiday camps and identifying the meaning of a slogan.

Students use the commutative property to find missing numbers in equations and explain the property.

For this NEMP task students work out all possible combinations in a table tennis contest.

Students read a narrative then complete three tasks that focus on one of the characters. Assessment focus: an evaluation of a character and the author's construction of that character. SJ-4-3-2004. Text provided.

Assessment focus: ability to use contextual clues to infer meaning of a word. (There is a link to the text used for this resource in the Using this Resource section.) Reading age 9.5-10.5. SJ-2-2006. Text provided.

Students are required to identify whether a series of statements about the School Journal story 'Personal Mail' are true or false, and to support their opinion with evidence from the text. This task assesses students' retrieval and inferential comprehension skills. SJ-3-1-1991. Text provided.

Students read an extract from a drama script and answer questions on props, dialogue, and stage sets. (The text used is reproduced in the the Teacher information pages.) SJ-4-1-2000. Text provided.

Students read the poem 'Don't be Wet' and complete two tables to show their understanding of puns. SJ-3-3-1994. Text provided.

Students read a poem then make inferences using the written and the visual texts. SJ-4-2-1994. Text provided.

A school journal article on living in a Japanese home is the context for this assessment that focuses on locating information and general comprehension. SJ-1-3-1994. Text provided.

Students make inferences from a poem. SJ-2-4-1993. Text provided.

Students read a narrative about a girl who behaves like an overly enthusiastic parent and her father who behaves like a reluctantly involved adolescent. They use and evaluate evidence from the text, alongside their background knowledge, to complete the task. SJ-3-2-2010. Text not provided.

Students read an extract about gathering water in Sāmoa to find information to fill in a chart. SJ-3-3-1999. Text provided.

Students view an illustration and read a poem entitled 'The Dinosaur Climber's Kit' and then answer retrieval and inferential questions. An awareness of rhyme is explored. SJ-2-3-1994. Text provided.