P

an hoto
d
tes dow copia
ts
for nloa ble
Ye dab
ars l
1-6 e

Sample tests to use in class

Contents
Year 1 - A Trip to the Seaside
Siobhan Skeffington
Year 3 - Leon and the Place Between
Angela McAllister and illustrated
by Grahame Baker-Smith
Year 5 - Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

Build essential reading comprehension skills

with photocopiable practice tests

01235 400 555 www.risingstars-uk.com/ncreadingtests

29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 1 09/05/2018 13:22
 Consistently practise and assess
reading comprehension
across your school
Teaching and
assessment guidance YEAR 3 NEW CURRICULUM READING COMPREHENSION TESTS AUTUMN TEST 1: THE FISH IN ROOM 11

Answers
Links to content domain requirements are in brackets after the answer.
1. The Grand Hotel [2b]
AUTUMN TEST 1: THE FISH IN ROOM 11 YEAR 3 NEW CURRICULUM READING COMPREHENSION TESTS 2. red [2b]
3. No one is looking after the hotel. [2d]
4. There was a storm. [2b]

The Fish in Room 11 5.

6.
angry
Waves crashing over the promenade. The Grand Hotel sign squeaking.
[2a]

Fiction See at a glance which
comprehension skills are
Content domain focus: the focus of the unit.
2a give/explain the meaning of words in context
2b retrieve and record information/identify key details from fiction and non-fiction
2d make inferences from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text
Text summary
This extract is taken from The Fish in Room 11 by Heather Dyer. Toby, the main character, lives in the
Grand Hotel where he was abandoned as a baby. The hotel has become run down and neglected.
This, coupled with a violent storm, makes for an atmospheric setting description.
Unit summary
The questions involve the children thinking about the condition of the hotel and the conditions outside
the hotel. The hotel itself is neglected and grubby. Outside, the storm rages and the deserted seafront
sounds both unwelcoming and unpleasant. In order to make full sense of the description, the children
need to understand the words and phrases used and make inferences about the setting.
Teaching prompts
• Activate prior knowledge by asking the children whether they have ever been to the seaside.
Encourage them to describe what they did on their visit. Ask how long, and where, they stayed.
Discuss what the weather was like. Encourage them to summarise their overall impressions of the visit.
• Explore times when they have seen, and heard, a violent storm. What sights and sounds do they
remember? Establish that although wind itself cannot be seen, it can certainly be heard and its
effects can be seen.
• Remind the children that when they are looking for information and details in a text, they should try
to picture a key word or phrase. They can also think about clues in the question.
• Explain to the children that making inferences from reading involves ‘reading between the lines’,
thinking about clues that the author has left in the text and linking these to their own experiences.
Revisiting the text Ideas to help you
Ask the children to: introduce the unit and
• draw a picture of the outside of the hotel
• role-play walking along the promenade during the storm
differentiate for more-
Roof slates lifting off the roof. An umbrella blowing down the street. [2d]
7. deserted [2a]
8. ready [2a]
9. Because the weather was bad and there was a storm.
Because people didn’t want to go to the seafront any more. [2d]
10. Any acceptable answer, e.g. I think I’d be frightened because the storm was so
strong and things were blowing around. I think I’d like it because storms are exciting. [2d]
Assessment
The children will be secure in their understanding of explaining the meaning of words in context if they
are able to identify synonyms for, and definitions of, the words.
They understand how to find information efficiently and effectively if they use clues in the questions,
e.g. looking for a capital letter when finding the name of something.
The children can demonstrate that they are able to make inferences by putting themselves into the
setting and making links with their own experiences by thinking about how they would feel if they were
out in the storm.
Next steps
Play ‘Kim’s Game’ to develop the children’s scanning skills. Ask them to look at a selection of objects
on a surface, cover up the objects and remove one or more of them, then challenge the children to
spot which objects are missing. Remind them to visualise the original objects in terms of colour, size,
shape, etc.
Give the children copies of an appropriate text. Ask them to find particular words as quickly as
they can by thinking about clues in the question, e.g. looking for capital letters when trying to find
proper nouns for questions that ask “Who?” or “Where?”; looking for numbers when trying to find
quantities or dates for questions that ask “How many?” or “When?”. Challenge them to carry out
speedy searches, e.g. find three verbs; two adjectives; two words starting with the letter ‘h’.
Develop inference by encouraging the children to visualise settings as they read, discuss what the
setting might look like with their reading partner and then to draw an aspect or part of the setting.
Encourage the children to make connections with their own experiences (actual and experienced
through viewing/reading) to help them make sense of what they read.
Explain to the children that when they try to work out the meanings of words, they need to think
about what has happened and what sort of information is being given. They can identify the word
class of the word so that they know whether it is giving information about an object (a noun), an
Each unit
action (a verb) or a description (an adjective). Encourage them to think about whether the word
reminds them of other words they know in terms of root or associated words.
comes with
© Rising Stars UK Ltd 2017 9

and less-able pupils.

• create sound effects to accompany the extract RS40250 book.indd 9 marking guidance 16/12/2016 13:59

and suggested
• identify the verbs in the extract that they feel add atmosphere to the setting description Sample Teacher Guidance
• identify words, phrases and sentences that give information about the sounds that could be heard if from Year 5
they were on the promenade
• read the extract aloud using expression – particularly in terms of creating atmosphere.
next steps.
8 © Rising Stars UK Ltd 2017

RS40250 book.indd 8 16/12/2016 13:59

3 reason’s why schools love the tests:

1 Each test focuses on 2-3

content domains and the 2 The tests reflect the style and
content of the national tests, 3 It is straightforward
to identify children’s
full range covers the full building children’s confidence weaknesses and find
national curriculum and fluency ways to intervene.

29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 2 09/05/2018 13:22
 Free sample
tests available
online at
www.risingstars-uk.com/
ncreadingtests
Photocopiable
comprehension tasks Name: Class: Date:
THE FISH IN ROOM 11

1 What is the name of the hotel?

2
The Fish in Room 11
What colour are the carpets in the hotel?

This is an extract from a story called The Fish in Room 11 by Heather Dyer. Toby, the
main character in the story, lives in a hotel called The Grand and wakes up one morning to 3 “the paint was peeling on the windowsills and tiles were missing from the roof.”
a violent storm. What does this tell you about the hotel?

4 Tick one box to show what was happening outside the hotel.
Texts have been
carefully selected to be It was very calm and quiet. There were lots of people about.

age appropriate and to There was a storm.

practise specific content 5 “Outside the storm raged on.”
domains such as In this sentence, the word raged means that the storm was . Tick one.
‘vocabulary in context’. angry hungry sad happy

6 Explain how you can tell that it is very windy outside the hotel.

Texts include an
appropriate balance of 7 Write down one word that shows that the beach was empty.
genres as per the
national curriculum.
8 “the metal claw hung poised over the tank of stuffed toys”.
In this sentence, the word poised is closest in meaning to . Tick one.

ready calm rusty

The Grand stood on the seafront just at the entrance to the pier, and
although years ago it had been a very grand place, now the paint was 9 Why do you think there was no one around outside the hotel?
peeling on the windowsills and tiles were missing from the roof. Inside,
the plush red carpets were wearing thin and dust lay thick on the
skirting boards and picture rails. 10 How do you think you would feel if you were on the pier?
Tests reflect the range of
question types that pupils
Outside the storm raged on. The sign saying ‘The Grand’ squeaked
above the front door of the hotel. The wind brought waves crashing up will encounter in the
over the promenade, lifted slates from roofs, sent a broken umbrella national tests.
cartwheeling down the street …
The beach was deserted and the pier was closed. The shutters were © Rising Stars UK Ltd 2017. You may photocopy this page. 11
down on the souvenir kiosks and were rattling in the wind, and the
metal claw hung poised over the tank of stuffed toys in the arcade. RS40250 book.indd 11 16/12/2016 13:59

Sample Test from Year 5

10 © Rising Stars UK Ltd 2017. You may photocopy this page.

RS40250 book.indd 10
What you get 16/12/2016 13:59

CONTENTS HOW IT HELPS

24 photocopiable tests per year each Be confident you’re practising the full
focusing on 2-3 contain domains national curriculum

Teacher guidance on the content Gain new approaches to teaching

domains for each test problem areas in the curriculum

Downloadable versions of each test Save time planning and preparing

on My Rising Stars your reading comprehension sessions

The tests cover poetry, plays, fiction and non-fiction from a variety of popular
authors including Micheal Rosen, Anthony Browne and Dick King-Smith.

29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 3 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 4 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 5 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 6 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 7 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 8 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 9 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 10 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 11 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 12 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 13 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 14 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 15 09/05/2018 13:22
29320 UPDATED Reading Comp Sampler May 2018 FINAL.indd 16 09/05/2018 13:22