Activity Introduction
Quick summary: In this lesson, students will revise key skills commonly assessed in the NAPLAN Reading assessment. They will begin by reviewing comprehension strategies such as main idea, directly stated facts, finding word meaning in context and implied meaning. Students are then given an opportunity to practise their skills by completing a NAPLAN-style activity.
This lesson is designed to provide valuable practice for NAPLAN, the national literacy and numeracy test held in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9*. It links directly to the Year 3 minimum standards for Reading, indicating that students at this level should be able to find directly stated information, locate a detail in the text, identify the meaning of a word in context, connect ideas within a sentence and across the text, identify the purpose of the text and identify conventions such as lists and those conventions used in a letter.
This lesson has been developed as part of Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week, which aims to raise awareness around the benefits of using recycled products. Take part in the Schools Recycling Right Challenge for Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week. Register your lesson or other activities today!
Learning intentions:
- Students apply a range of comprehension strategies to understand the content of texts they read.
21st century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 3 English:
- Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680)
- Identify the audience and purpose of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts (ACELY1678).
Year 4 English:
- Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELY1692).
Syllabus outcomes: EN2-4A
General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability
Relevant parts of Year 3 English achievement standards: They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, a range of punctuation conventions, and images that provide extra information. They use phonics and word knowledge to fluently read more complex words. They identify literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different parts of a text.
Relevant parts of Year 4 English achievement standards: Students understand that texts have different text structures depending on purpose and context. They explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used to engage the interest of audiences. They describe literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different texts
Topic: National Recycling Week
Unit of work: National Recycling Week – Primary
Time required: 60 mins.
Level of teacher scaffolding: High – make use of the Modelled Reading and Think Aloud strategies to demonstrate application of comprehension skills to the class.
Resources required: National Recycling Week – Teacher Example Text and Questions (printed A3 or projected for the class to view). National Recycling Week – Teacher Answers (optional). National Recycling Week Sample Script. Protecting the Planet Stimulus Text (one per student). Protecting the Planet Question Sheet (one per student – printed separately to the stimulus text).
Keywords: reading, comprehension, main idea, evidence, think aloud, implied meaning, NAPLAN.
*This lesson plan is not an officially endorsed publication of NAPLAN’s creators and administrators – the ACARA body – but is designed to provide practice for the Australian Curriculum’s compulsory NAPLAN testing scheme.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
Teacher Preparation