Secrets of the Deep Sea is a four-paragraph non-fiction text about ocean zones, glowing animals, crushing pressure and underwater robots. Year 5 pupils turn each paragraph into a mind-map branch, invent a fifth branch, then write a three-sentence summary of the whole text. The sheet runs to three pages and follows the England National Curriculum objectives for summarising and retrieving information from non-fiction. Responses are open, so there is no answer key.
Reading - comprehension
“Summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas”
Each branch pulls key details from one paragraph, and the final summary joins them into three sentences.
Reading - comprehension
“Identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning”
The four paragraph headings match the four branches, so pupils see how the text's layout groups its ideas.
Reading - comprehension
“Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction”
Branch prompts ask for facts such as the 1,000-metre start of the Midnight Zone and what ROVs are used for.
Pupils read four short paragraphs headed The Ocean Zones, Bizarre Beasts, A Hostile World and Into the Unknown.
Four branches carry prompt questions, such as the depth where pitch black starts and two animals with special tricks. A blank fifth branch asks pupils to invent a category, for example food chains or shipwrecks.
Pupils use their branches to write a three-sentence summary, with a tip to combine main ideas and leave out small details.
Note-taking lesson
Model Branch 1 together on the board, then let pupils fill Branches 2 to 4 on their own.
Science link
Pair it with a science lesson on living things and their habitats. The anglerfish and the vampire squid start a good conversation.
Extension
The blank fifth branch stretches confident readers. Ask them to find out about a shipwreck or a sea myth before they fill it in.
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