Making meaning resources

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.

A tale about a character who resolves a problem creatively provides the context for this cloze exercise. Students use their vocabulary and knowledge of grammar to fill in the missing words.

Assessment focus: ability to de-construct and interpret messages in advertising, so that students can understand meaning-making processes in the construction of imagery.

Students read a short story about swimming in summer and answer questions about comprehension and inference. SJ-2-1-1992. 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 read a poem then retrieve information to answer comprehension questions. SJ-1-1-1999. Text not provided.

Students are assessed on knowing how to use a contents page. SJ-1-1-1999. Text provided.

This listening comprehension assessment is based on a short extract from a school journal on moving an old house. SJ-2-3-1995. Text not provided.

Students listen to a text about cacti and recall information from it in multiple-choice questions. SJ-2-3-1993. Text not 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.

The native bird the kakapo is the subject of this listening comprehension assessment. SJ-2-3-1992. Text not provided.

Students read the poem 'Hide-and-go-seek' to make inferences about the game. SJ-3-2-1996. 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 complete a cloze passage on the antics of an escaped otter. Students use their vocabulary and knowledge of grammar to create well-formed sentences. SJ-2-2-2000. 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 are assessed on their ability to find details about important information in a recount about a walking school bus, then identify the main idea of this text. SJ-1-1-2006. Text provided.

After reading a narrative about a shrewd boy, 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-2-4-2000. Text provided.

Students are assessed on their ability to find details that support them to identify the main idea in a text about an endangered species of New Zealand. Reading age 8.5-9.5. SJ-1-4-2005. Text 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.

A poem and brief article about Japanese dolls is the context for this comprehension resource that has focus on comparisons and purpose. SJ-2-2-1983. 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.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify important information and establish the main idea of a text. SJ-2-2-2006. 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.