Comprehension 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.

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

Students read a poem and its illustrations to answer retrieval and inferential questions. Text provided.

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

Students read about creating a bird ball and respond to six short written questions which assess their comprehension of instructions. SJ-2-2-1994. Text provided.

This task assesses student ability to find the text features of an explanation of a scientific idea.

This resource centers around a poem about a cricket game. Cartoon illustrations surround the text and students use both to answer questions. SJ-3-2-1993. Text provided.

The context of this cloze task is a story about a hungry weasel. Students generate appropriate words to create well-formed sentences.

Students read a newspaper article and answer questions about comprehension and vocabulary.

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

This resource assesses students' ability to analyse text to identify and find evidence of the author's message and audience.

Students read about a flu immunisation program and answer five questions to show their understanding of the text.

A newspaper story about a runaway weather balloon with a map that tracks its progress is the context for this assessment. Students read it to answer retrieval and inferential questions.

Students study a range of signs to identify their similarities of meaning, layout, and purpose.