Week 31, Guided Reading "How Will Wes Cross the River?" - Phonics Phase 5 - Worksheet

The guided reading activity titled "How Will Wes Cross the River?" is a part of the Phonics Phase 5 curriculum, designed to help Year 1 students enhance their reading comprehension skills. The activity includes a series of questions that encourage children to engage with the text and think critically about the story's content and characters. The questions begin with basic queries about the book's title and the author's name, then progress to more thought-provoking questions that ask students to predict the story's plot, consider the characters' decisions, and reflect on their own responses to the story's challenges.

Additionally, the activity provides bonus questions that delve deeper into themes such as animal behaviour and alternative solutions to problems presented in the story. These questions stimulate discussion on whether cats and dogs can coexist peacefully, the trainability of cats compared to dogs, and other potential methods of crossing the river featured in the narrative. To complement the comprehension questions, the activity suggests a range of follow-up tasks including completing a worksheet, quiet reading, creating a storyboard, and exploring riddles or brain teasers as a class. These tasks are designed to solidify students' understanding of the story and to extend their thinking beyond the text. The "Quartermaster's Quiz" section adds an interactive element to the lesson, prompting students to recall specific details such as the pets featured in the book and the reason behind Wes's actions.