Reading for literary experience resources

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

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 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 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 'Hide-and-go-seek' to make inferences about the game. SJ-3-2-1996. 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 a narrative about a mother-child relationship. They then use evidence from the text and their background knowledge to complete the task. Assessment focus: evaluating. SJ-1-1-2005. Text provided.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify important information to establish the main idea of a narrative text about acknowledging older people. SJ-3-3-2006. Text provided.

Students are assessed on the ability to identify important information in order to establish the main idea of a narrative text about being judgemental. Reading age 10-12. SJ-4-3-1994. Text provided.

Students read a narrative about a toy glider competition, then answer retrieval and inferential questions. SJ-3-1-1994. Text provided.

Advertising provides the context for this resource that has an assessment focus on vocabulary, repetition, tone and comprehension. SJ-4-2-1999. Text provided.

Students read the humorous narrative 'The Diving Competition' to answer retrieval and inferential questions. SJ-4-2-1996. Text provided.

This resource has an assessment focus on comprehending the language features used in an advertisement.

New Zealand's steepest street is the context for this resource. Comprehension questions require students to find information and make inferences. The text is provided with this resource. SJ-4-3-1996. Text provided.

Students are asked to interpret the changing feelings of the main character in the School Journal story 'Grey Hair', and to provide evidence of these feelings by identifying the words and actions of the character. SJ-1-3-1996. Text not provided.

Students read a play (retold from a traditional Persian folktale) about the interactions at a market place in old Baghdad. They then use evidence from the text and their background knowledge to complete the task. Assessment focus: evaluating. SJ-4-2-2009. Text not provided.

Students read a poem, written from the point of view of an immigrant, then answer retrieval and inferential questions.

Students are assessed on their ability to find and synthesise details to explain the main idea of a text. The text is focused on adjusting to life as a separated family. SJ-3-2-2006. Text provided.

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.

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.

Students read a poem 'Full Moon Tiger' to answer questions about metaphor, contrast, rhyme and alliteration. SJ-2-3-1987. 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 an extract from a play then answer retrieval and inferential questions. Text provided.

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

Students read a play to answer retrieval and inferential questions. Text provided.