Reading Skills Summary

The Reading Skills Summary for Years 5 and 6 outlines a set of objectives aligned with the National Curriculum (NC) to enhance students' reading abilities. The first skill focuses on the ability to identify and discuss themes and conventions within texts. This skill encourages pupils to recognise recurring ideas and the traditional features that define various genres. The second skill involves engaging students in discussions about words and phrases that particularly capture their interest and imagination, thereby enriching their reading experience.

Reading Skill 3 is about ensuring comprehension by checking that the text makes sense, discussing the content, and exploring the meaning of words in context. The fourth skill requires students to draw inferences about characters’ feelings, thoughts, and motives based on their actions, and to support these inferences with evidence from the text. Skill 5 involves predicting future events in a story based on both explicit details and those that are implied. Reading Skill 6 entails identifying the main ideas across multiple paragraphs and summarising them, while Skill 7 focuses on understanding how the use of language, structure, and presentation contribute to the meaning of a text.

Reading Skill 8 is about the ability to retrieve and record information from non-fiction sources. The ninth skill encourages students to make comparisons within and across different books, fostering a deeper understanding of literary elements. Reading Skill 10 involves discussing and evaluating an author's use of language, including figurative language, and considering its impact on the reader. Lastly, Reading Skill 11 teaches students to distinguish between statements of fact and opinion, a critical skill for literacy. Skills marked with an asterisk are specific objectives for Years 5 and 6 only, indicating a more advanced level of reading comprehension and analysis.