Thinking resources

Students read a narrative about relationships and wanting to impress others. Assessment focus: the author’s construction of a character and an evaluation of this character.

Students read a poem and explore how the poem expresses the storyteller's mood. SJ-2-1-1990. Text provided.

Students use comprehension skills to answer a range of questions based on a newspaper story. Knowledge of adjectives and alliteration is also required.

This task is about using evidence to find the main idea of a text. Students read a narrative text with a Māori context, find two groups of details, then select the main idea from four choices. Note that the text deals with the hunting and slaughter of pigs, which may be a challenging concept for some of your students. SJ-4-2-2004. Text provided.

After reading a narrative that explores family dynamics, students identify evidence in the text that supports their thinking. Assessment focus: analysing and evaluating a character and the author's construction of him. (There is a link to the text used for this resource in the Task administration section of the Teacher information pages.) Reading age 8-9. SJ-3-3-2003.

After reading a narrative that is about sibling rivalry, students identify evidence in the text that supports their thinking. Assessment focus: analysis and evaluation of a character and the author's construction of him. (There is a link to the text used for this resource in the Task administration section of the Teacher information pages.) Reading age <8. SJ-1-5-2004. Text provided.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to find the main idea of a transactional text about a Māori naturalist/scientist. Students are asked to read a text, identify the main idea from three choices provided, and then justify why they think their choice is right.

Students read about cooking food in hot pools to answer inference questions. SJ-1-5-1992. Text provided.

Students read a poem 'Full Moon Tiger' to answer questions about metaphor, contrast, rhyme and alliteration. SJ-2-3-1987. Text provided.

Students read an article about a boy who loves sculpting insects to answer retrieval and inferential questions. (The text used for this resource is in the teacher information pages.) SJ-4-1-1997. Text provided.

Students read part of a play called 'No Circulars' and then answer retrieval and and inferential questions. The play is reproduced in the Teacher information pages. SJ-3-2-1993. Text provided.

Students explore the language of personification and metaphor in the poem called 'Wash day for the clouds'. The questions require the students to think about the metaphors and personification. Text provided.

Students read a short text about ladybirds to answer retrieval and inferential questions. Text provided.

This resource explores a poem written for two voices about a windy night. Text provided.

Students read an extract from a play then answer retrieval and inferential questions. Text provided.

The use of metaphors and similes is explored in this poem about umbrellas in a storm. Text provided.

Students read an article on starfish and find factual information to complete a retrieval chart and answer comprehension questions. SJ-1-2-1999. Text not provided.

Students read a play and answer questions about the characters' actions, the setting, and text layout. SJ-1-2-1985. Text not provided.

Students read a poem then use information from it to make inferences. Text not provided.

A story about getting rid of family junk is the context for this task. Students find evidence to make inferences about the characters. SJ-1-4-1998. Text not provided.

Students throw two dice, add the numbers together, construct a tally chart of results, and compare theoretical with observed outcome.

Students predict whether two dice games are fair and give their reasons. They then play each game (investigate) fifty times and explain their results.

Students throw three coins, and answer questions on frequency, probability, and compare theoretical with observed outcomes.

Students state what things will affect how far a cube will travel when flicked in the middle with a ball-point pen, and conduct an experiment to see what happens in practice.

Students conduct a statistical investigation into the sentence length of different types of books by making and comparing dot plots.