Emperor Penguins: Survival in the Antarctic is a short information text with subheadings, a Quick Fact File and a picture caption. Across four pages, Year 5 pupils answer 11 retrieval questions that send them to each of those features in turn. The questions match the England National Curriculum objectives for reading non-fiction for different purposes. Answers are given for every question, with a note on accepting harsh for question 2.
Reading - comprehension
“Reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes”
The text mixes paragraphs, a bullet-point fact file and a caption, and the questions send pupils to each one for a set purpose.
Reading - comprehension
“Identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning”
Questions 4 and 5 ask pupils to use a subheading and a caption to find the answer.
Reading - comprehension
“Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction”
Question 10 records fact-file details in a table, and question 11 presents two facts in pupils' own words.
The text covers where emperor penguins live, how the males huddle through winters of -60°C, and a fact file listing diet, height, weight and lifespan.
Pupils find where the penguins live, copy the word that describes the blizzards, and pick the maximum depth from four options.
Pupils name the subheading about keeping warm, read the chick's caption, then mark four statements true or false.
Pupils copy height, weight and lifespan from the fact file into a table, then write two survival facts in their own words.
Retrieval practice
Set Part 1 as a ten-minute task. Most answers sit in one sentence, so you soon see who scans and who rereads from the top.
Text features lesson
Teach subheadings, fact boxes and captions first, then use Part 2 to check pupils know where to look.
Report writing
Question 11 leads well into a class fact sheet on polar animals.
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