Year 6 Reading Curriculum
What is my child’s experience of reading in Year 6?
In Year 6, children continue to develop their reading inference skills (reading beyond the literal meaning of words and understanding what is implied rather than directly stated). Children read the same text in adult led groups, sharing a range of high-quality books including ‘Pig Heart Boy’ by Malorie Blackman and ‘Born to Run’ by Michael Morpurgo. Whilst reading extracts and whole texts, children develop good reading habits and skills (skim reading and scanning texts; spotting themes; talking about author’ styles). Children keep reading journals in which they reflect on their reading and carry out activities inspired by the book they are exploring.
Unique to Year 6... is that children write about, review and share books using the ‘Book Exchange’. We do our best to inspire a life-long love of reading! Please encourage your child to share book recommendations in our ‘Book Exchange’ area. This area will inspire all children in our class to enjoy new books.
All children:
- are frequently read to by the class teacher;
- regularly read aloud to an adult or a reading partner during guided reading;
- keep a reading journal;
- visit the school library regularly;
- can take a book form the class library and the school library;
- keep a log of all the books they read at home and at school.
Some children:
- take part in reading intervention groups to help them make faster progress;
- keep a reading diary;
- are heard read more frequently by school adults and volunteers;
- continue to develop their phonics knowledge in small groups.
What can I do to support my child with reading in Year 6?
Please continue to read aloud to your child and do ‘turn-taking’ at bedtime – this is not just for younger children! Give your child space and time to read alone. Make sure your child has access to plenty of texts – fiction and non-fiction - on many different topics and by a wide range of authors. Ask us for support with this – we have lots of books at school! There is also a list of terrific books on our Year 6 webpage. Have fun learning the meaning of unfamiliar words that you spot, try them out in new sentences. If you feel confident, read difficult texts to your child, and allow them the chance to listen and ask questions.
Useful questions to ask:
- What do you think the author wants readers to remember most from this book?
- What kind of book would you like to read next?
- What other subject and cultures would you like to read about?
- Tell me about what you’ve just read. Were there any words you didn’t quite understand? The word... means...; In a sentence it’s...
What quality books do we use in our Reading Curriculum?
We think very carefully about the books we share as a whole class and during guided reading. We understand that the books we choose don't just develop reading skills, they can also open up the wider curriculum and enable pupils to acquire the subject knowledge, vocabulary and ideas necessary to thrive in different subjects. Therefore, we are currently increasing the number of sets of books that link to the wider curriculum in each year group.
The grid below shows some of the key texts that we enjoy in Year 6.
Autumn term |
Spring term |
Summer term |
‘The Lion and The Unicorn’ A short story by Shirley Hughes Unit Length: 12 sessions/4 weeks Purpose: Develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills, matching particular skills to each extract. Key knowledge and skills:
‘Anne Frank’, illustrated biography by Josephine Poole ‘Peter in Peril’ by Helen Bate; ‘Survivors of the Holocaust’ by Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones; ‘Lily Renee, Escape Artist’ by Trina Robbins Unit Length: 11-12 sessions/ 4 weeks Purpose: Continue to develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; Encourage pupils to spot themes across different texts; Enable pupils to talk about different genre/ story tellers’ styles. Key knowledge and skills:
Exploring the Y6 Book Corner Collection Unit Length: 1 session Purpose: To invite pupils to explore the classroom book collection, read and share blurbs, recommend titles to each other, and inspire pupils to borrow and read more books. Key knowledge and skills:
‘Pig Heart Boy’ extract By Malorie Blackman Unit Length: 4 sessions/ 1 week & 1 day Purpose: Continue to develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; Introduce pupils to the skills of scanning a text and answering inference questions using P.E.E. Key knowledge and skills:
Extracts from five stories and an interview: Unit Length: 6 sessions/ 2 weeks Purpose: To develop pupils’ inference skills, and their ability to interpret and write about their impressions of a character. Key knowledge and skills:
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‘Hedda and the Ogre’, a fairy story retold by Amanda Graham; ‘The Snow Queen’ (extract), a fairy story retold by Sarah Lowes Unit Length: 4 sessions/ 1 week & 1 day Purpose: To assess how far pupils can ‘Show Their Good Reader Thinking’ by annotating texts under the headings of each of the eight ‘good reader’ skills. Key knowledge and skills:
Poetry that Chills Your Bones: ‘Locking Up’ by Ian Serraillier; ‘The Monster of Ghosty Bog’, ‘Whirlpool’, ‘Be Very Afraid’ and ‘Don’t Be Scared’ from ‘New and Collected Poems for Children’ by Carol Ann Duffy. Unit Length: 7 sessions/ 2 weeks & 1 day Purpose: To develop pupils’ understanding of poetic form and the techniques poets can use to write; Further develop pupils’ ability to draw inferences about character and setting. Key knowledge and skills:
‘Cloud Busting’, a novel written in verse by Malorie Blackman Unit Length: 9 sessions/ 3 weeks Purpose: To further develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; To consider different poetic forms; To complement PSHE learning. Key knowledge and skills:
Non-Fiction Texts: ‘Whales in Danger – WHY?’ Greenpeace leaflet ‘Plastic Bottles Are Killing Our Oceans’ (March 2017); ‘The Spark of New Life’ and ‘Fire Threatens Thousands of Acres’ Unit Length: 6 sessions/ 2 weeks Purpose: To enable pupils to apply their ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills to non-fiction and campaigning texts; To introduce pupils to technical vocabulary and layout devices associated with non-fiction genres. Key knowledge and skills:
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Extracts from a range of fictional, factual and poetic genres: ‘Skeleton Key’ by Anthony Horowitz; ‘The Story Of My Life’ by Helen Keller; ‘The Closed School’, a poem by Raymond Wilson; ‘Malala Yousafzai’ biography; ‘Edible Cutlery’ news feature; ‘Private Peaceful’, a play adapted from Michael Morpurgo; ‘Moonfleet’ by J.Meade Falkner (selected from ‘Aiming for Level 5 Reading’, Collins 2009 and CGP KS2 ‘English Comprehension Targeted Question Book Two’). Unit Length: 7 or 8 sessions/ 2 weeks & 1-2 days Purpose: To further develop pupils’ skills at recognising and answering different comprehension question types. Key knowledge and skills:
Telling Tales – Migrant & Refugees’ Stories: Video poems: ‘You Clap For Me Now’ and ‘I am Just Like You’; Extracts from: ‘Refugee Boy’, a novel, and the poem ‘We Refugees’, by Benjamin Zephaniah; ‘The Arrival’, a wordless graphic novel by Shaun Tan (3 sessions); ‘Inside Out & Back Again’, a semi- autobiographical story in free verse by Thanhha Lai (8 sessions); ‘A Story Like the Wind’ an illustrated fable by Gill Lewis (9 sessions). Unit Length: 20 sessions Purpose: To explore the common themes around migrants’ experiences, feelings of (not) belonging, and senses of identity, woven through different kinds of storytelling by and about refugees. Key knowledge and skills: To be able to think about ideas around voice – who gets to speak and tell their tales, and why this matters.
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Reading Spine - texts read aloud |
Reading Spine – texts read aloud |
Reading Spine - texts read aloud |
'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah 'Waiting for Anya' by Morpurgo 'The Unforgotten Coat' by Frank Cottrell Boyce ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian ‘Rose Blanche’ Roberto Innocenti, Christophe Gallaz |
'The Boy who Flew' by Fleur Hitchcock 'Hate that Cat' by Sharon Creech 'Holes' by Louis Sachar ‘The Spider and the Fly’ Tony DiTerlizzi
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'The Explorer' Katherine Rundell ‘The Boy in Brazil’ Seth Burkett ‘The Rabbits’ Shaun Tan Mother to son’ by Langston Hughes ‘Lob’ by George Linda Newbury |