For pupils in primary education, active reading can involve reading a book with a child rather than reading a book to a child. Set evaluation activities or encourage classroom discussions about a text after you have read it to help learners better understand the texts. Topic-based reading exercises, each one including a reading text, pre-reading vocab, comprehension/vocab quizzes and suggested discussion questions For longer texts or stories, you can use questions for the class to encourage students to make personal connections to the story. For example:

If you’re a tutor planning reading lessons for your tutees and you’re looking for inspiration for what to include, then you’ve come to the right place. Twinkl has plenty of ideas and resources that you can use in your reading lessons with your tutees, helping them to improve their skills and develop a love of reading at the same time. Reading Lessons for KS1 A selection of short stories for upper-intermediate to advanced learners, some with vocabulary and comprehension quizzes. These techniques encourage children to enjoy reading and get something out of it. This helps to avoid the problem of just reading for the sake of it, or because they’re being told to do it. They are “reading with a purpose”. Keeping your class engaged in class is vital, but it’s easier said than done. However, with our reading activities, that problem just became a lot easier to deal with.Don't forget about reading targets. Having a goal to work towards will make your reading sessions more structured. Sharing these targets with pupils can also motivate them to work hard and achieve more. Reading is the third of the four language skills, which are: 1. Listening 2. Speaking 3. Reading 4. Writing Build this into a group activity, by encouraging learners to swap and share their notes, and discuss each other's ideas. This is a great way to practise reciprocal reading, which reinforces active reading strategies and prompts group discussion. Have Students Summarise the Story Asking students to relate to a story or a text is a great way to encourage students to engage with the details and take note of the features patterns of a text.

Active reading aids in concentration and focus. The information doesn’t go in one ear and out the other, and it can actually be digested. Marking the text as you go along is a great way to show your engagement with it. For younger learners, highlighting key passages or phrases can help them to identify the most important aspects of a text. This active reading strategy confronts the practice of passive reading. To try this, before your students begin reading a text or story, give them each a task or 'mission'. For example, this could be a list of information or questions that students need to find the answers to. This will encourage children in the classroom to pay attention and seek out the details in a text. Texts and reading exercises for learners passionate about the environment, for example pollution and endangered species.For example: His head is in the clouds. You can picture a very tall man, because the clouds are really high up. You could begin by assessing your tutee’s current reading level using this 60-Second Reading: Reading Age Assessment . Children are required to read a selection of words out loud from the word mat, and you will need to mark whether they read it correctly or not. From their result, you can calculate their reading age. The resource also allows you to record information from a second assessment, after you’ve had time to tutor the child and help them improve. This is great for showing the child’s parents the improvements that have been made through the reading lessons. Be sure to browse through our wonderful range of reading activities for KS2 students, with each resource carefully made to meet the criteria of the KS2 reading curriculum perfectly. You can rest assured that, when you use these resources, your children won't just be hitting the books but their reading targets and objectives as well!

The resources provided by The Teacher's Corner cover a variety of literacy-focused topics such as: comprehension, word lists, centers, reading skills, vocabulary, and more. If the child you’re tutoring has a solid grasp of the phonics side of reading and they’re ready to deepen their understanding of language, perhaps in preparation for the year 6 SATs, then there are plenty of resources for you to use too. The best way to enhance and expand a child’s vocabulary is by getting them to read more. A better vocabulary will vastly improve a child’s ability to write. For example: A fairy tale might have dragons and giants but a story about a normal day at school wouldn’t.In KS1, children should be learning to read fluently while gaining a solid understanding of what they’ve read. They should also be developing their vocabulary pool, learning new words wherever possible, and improving their knowledge of grammar. As an example, you could share a pre-written acrostic poem with your students, then use our All About Me Acrostic Poem Template to give them an opportunity to recreate these features and patterns for themselves. This activity encourages children to use descriptive language and letter recognition skills while learning about acrostic poems. It also prompts them to think about themselves and their likes and dislikes while exercising creative writing skills and reflecting on the features of poetry they have learnt about. Everyone loves a reward, right? Certificates and awards are a brilliant way to boost motivation and encourage children to keep on reading, especially if they're reluctant or hesitant. A simple certificate for finishing a book could be just the motivation a child needs to start reading the next one. For older learners, this should only be the first step! Encourage them to take notes, either on a separate piece of paper, or in the margins, annotating the text as they read it. This can help them approach the text analytically, ensuring that they are engaging fully with what it is they're reading. It can also encourage them to think creatively about the text, thinking outside the box to come up with interesting and unique takes. They could jot down their own ideas about the topic, or write questions that they'd like to ask the author, the answer to which haven't been included in the text itself.

In primary education, students are learning a great many skills across many topics. This means that it could begin to feel overwhelming to students to receive a lot of information in one day of learning. If you decide to use poetry in your reading lessons, you’ll find this KS2 Poetry Detective Poem Analysis Worksheet to be a useful tool as the main activity. It’s available in three levels of difficulty, so you can choose the version that best suits the child’s ability. Whichever version they end up using, it asks them to identify the type of poem it is and record various thoughts about it, such as how it makes them feel and any similes or metaphors they find. We know children do judge a book by its cover, so we've also included a range of resources that keep lessons varied and exciting. Whether it's storybooks, comic books, or biographies - we have something for everyone. Indeed, these fab guided reading activities for KS2 will soon become main characters of your classroom! Helping everyone to find their story After reading a story with your students or child, why not ask them to summarise what they have heard? This is a great way to assess how they best engage with stories and texts.In the classroom, you can also use our fantastic Summarising Sheba collection pictured below. Summarising Sheba provides you with strategies for improving reading skills in your Year 3 and Year 4 children. Reading is an essential part of both the national curriculum and your pupils' everyday lives. Of course, we all know that reading is important, but what exactly are the prime benefits of having reading comprehension skills? Here are just a few that show why they're so critical: A good way to boost critical thinking skills, especially through discussion questions or group tasks immediately after reading. Alternatively, you could ask children to compare and contrast the language used in two different stories using this Comparing Two Stories By The Same Author Worksheet . A Venn diagram is provided, allowing children to write what’s similar and different about two stories by the same author. Short texts and reading exercises for learners passionate about history, with images, videos, audio and quizzes.