Planning a Story: The Story Mountain and Show, Don’t Tell
Momo the monkey climbs the story mountain: opening, build-up, problem, resolution and ending. Learn how to plan a story in five steps, then how to "show, don’t tell" (trembling knees instead of "Momo was scared"). Pick the sentence that best shows Ellie is happy yourself.
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1:42Reading Comprehension: Finding the Answer (Retrieval)
Professor Hoot the owl reads a short story about Pip the panda and shows how to find answers in the text: read the question, pick a key word, scan for it, and answer in a full sentence. Then find where Pip walked to.
1:48Reading Comprehension: Inference (Reading Between the Lines)
Rosie the rabbit’s ears droop and she pushes her carrot away. How does she feel? Learn to infer: clues in the text plus what you already know. Then work out how Leo the lion feels, and always back up your answer with evidence.
1:55Detective Reading: Deduction from Clues
Fizz the fox reads like a detective. Snow on boots, a dripping coat and frozen fingers tell us the weather is cold and snowy without saying so, and "grumbled" tells us how Leo feels. Learn to deduce from clues and back up every answer with evidence, then work out how Rosie feels yourself.