Engaging readers and inspiring writers Assessing pupils and

Engaging readers and inspiring writers Assessing pupils and ensuring progress at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Maddy Barnes Literacy consultant

Guided Reading: Reading between the lines Key Stage 1

KS 1 reading content domains

Emphasis on fiction Reading characters: • Appearance • Personality • Behaviour • Reactions • How they speak & what they say • Interactions with other characters

‘Aristotle’, Dick King-Smith A strange looking old lady she was, with a beaky nose and a chin that jutted out and she wore black clothes and a tall black hat on top of her stringy grey hair. Her name was Bella Donna, and it was she who decided to call her new kitten Aristotle.

‘Aristotle’, Dick King-Smith It was a thatched roof, so once Aristotle climbed up on the creeper that grew on the walls of the cottage, he could easily walk up the thatch to the single chimney. Then, because he was curious, as all cats are, he scrambled up the chimney-stack and looked down the chimneypot. At that very moment a big puff of smoke came up, right in Aristotle’s face which made him cough and sneeze and lose his balance, and down the chimney he fell.

‘Squishy Mc. Fluff The Invisible Cat’, Pip Jones All through the summer time Ava had played, Tumbling through sunshine, bumbling in shade, Jumping and skipping- the games had no end With Squishy Mc. Fluff, her invisible friend! They dressed up as pirates, and dressed up as kings, And flew like the birds (with some help from the swings)

‘My Friend’s a Gris-Kwok’, Malorie Blackman All of a sudden I felt very strange indeed. I felt squeezed and squashed and bunched and hunched up. My whole body tickled and prickled, my back most of all. I looked down, then stared. Where are my feet? Where were my shoes? My legs had gone and the carpet seemed a long, long way down. It was like being in a plane and looking down at the ground far below.

‘The Gingerbread Star’, Anne Fine Hetty had reached the very top of the tower. Hetty peeped in. There was the wizard. He was wearing a purple robe covered in beautiful gold stars. He had a pointy hat and a long white beard, and he looked just like all the wizards in the books that Hetty read at night.

‘Joe and the DRAGONSAURUS’, Berlie Doherty Joe was the first out of school that afternoon. He put his head down and charged across the playground. His voice rattled like metal chains. The air was so cold that his breath steamed out like fire clouds, and his eyes stung as if they were burning with flames.

‘The Smile’, Michelle Magorian Josh dragged the covers up over his head. His brother’s howls still pierced through his bedroom wall. They even made it past the pillow Josh had tunnelled himself under. “Waaa!” “Not again, ” Josh moaned. “Waaaaa!” Josh switched on his torch to look at the clock beside his bed. It was 4. 20 in the morning.

‘Mary’s HAIR’, Eoin Colfer I hate my hair. Mammy says you mustn’t hate anything, but I can’t help it. I hate my hair! Just look at it! It’s all bits. Brown bits, black bits, curly bits and straight bits. It looks like a big bush growing on top of my head, it would be no surprise if I woke up one spring morning to find a family of swallows nesting in my bushy hair. It’s not fair. Other girls have lovely blonde hair. The kind you can put in pigtails. I tried to put my horrid hair into pigtails once. The elastic bobbles snapped in the middle of playtime. My hair popped out, more bushy than ever. My best friend Imelda said it was like my head had exploded.

‘Claude at the circus’, Alex T. Smith At first Claude wasn’t sure what to do, so he just smiled politely and wagged his tail. Then Claude cleverly rubbed some chalk on the bottom of his shoes so his feet wouldn’t slip. He clambered up the ladder and stepped on to the tightrope. It was ever so high, so he shut his eyes and pretended he was just tip-toeing down a very thin bit of road. To his surprise, he found that he was quite good at it. He hung from one paw and stood on one leg (not at the same time). Then, because he was getting tired, he sat down halfway along and drank a cup of tea. The crowd went wild when he dunked his biscuit.

‘Horrid Henry’, Francesca Simon Miss Impatience Tutu was skinny and bony. She had long, stringy grey hair. Her nose was sharp. Her elbows were pointy. Her knees were knobbly. No one had ever seen her smile. Perhaps this was because Impatience Tutu hated teaching. Impatience Tutu hated noise. Impatience Tutu hated children. But most of all Impatience Tutu hated Horrid Henry. This was not surprising. When Miss Tutu shouted, ”Class, lift your left legs, ” eleven left legs lifted. One right leg sagged to the floor.

‘Giddy-Up Winnie!’, Laura Owen and Korky Paul Winnie filled a suitcase and a trunk. Then Wilbur came staggering along with his backpack full of fish-fin bits and his comfy-wumfy blanket and his sun glasses and his goggles and his maps and his tin opener and his whisker cream. ‘Pile it all in, Wilbur!’ said Winnie, ‘We’ll manage somehow!” They staggered outside with their luggage, and were instantly soaked. ‘Tut! That’s another thing!’ said Winnie, running back inside. ‘I forgot my umbrella and my smelly-wellies!

‘Anna Hibiscus’, Atinuke Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She lives in an old white house with balconies and secret staircases. A wonderful house in a beautiful garden inside a bag compound. The trees are full of sweet ripe fruit and the flowers are full of sweet juicy nectar because this is Africa, and Africa can be like this. Outside the compound is the city. An amazing city of lagoons and bridges, of skyscrapers and shanty towns. Anna Hibiscus lives with her mother who is from Canada; her father, who is from Africa; her grandmother and her grandfather; her aunties and uncles; lots and lots of cousins; and her twin baby brothers, Double and Trouble. There are so many people in Anna’s family that even she cannot count them all.

‘Pip Street – A Whiskery Mystery’, Jo Simmons Richard Keiths lived at number 8 Pip Street in a house with purple velvet curtains. Some people said he had been a diamond thief in his past. Some thought he was a porcupine trapper. Others said he was just a simple sausage maker. We simply don’t know. And we’ll have to live with that. Richard Keiths was now in his seventies and his only way of getting about was on his mobility scooter, which his grandson had modified. It had go-faster flames and extra power cylinders and a super big fuel tank.

‘The Enormous Crocodile’, Roald Dahl The Enormous Crocodile grinned again and his terrible sharp teeth sparkled like knives in the sun. ‘Nobody will see me, ’ he said, ‘because this time I’ve thought up secret plans and clever tricks. ’ ‘Clever tricks? ’ cried the Notsobig One. ’You’ve never done anything clever in your life! You’re the stupidest croc on the whole river!’ ‘I’m the cleverest croc on the whole river, ’ the Enormous Crocodile answered. ‘For my lunch today I shall feast upon a fat juicy little child while you lie here in the river feeling hungry. Goodbye. ’ The Enormous Crocodile swam to the side of the river, and crawled out of the water.

‘The World According to Humphrey’, Betty G. Birney After my cage was taken care of, I felt well enough to observe Mrs Brisbane more carefully. Now, Mrs Mac was tall, wore bright blouses, short skirts and high shoes. She wore bracelets that jingle -jangled. She spoke in a loud voice and waved her arms and walked all around the room when she taught. Mrs Brisbane, on the other hand, was short with short grey hair. She wore dark clothes and flat shoes and she didn’t jingle-jangle at all. She spoke in a voice just loud enough to hear and sat at her desk or stood at the blackboard when she taught.

‘The BFG’, Roald Dahl Under the blanket, Sophie waited. After a minute or so, she lifted a corner of her blanket and peeped out. For the second time that night her blood froze to ice and she wanted to scream, but no sound came out. There at the window, with the curtains pushed aside, was the enormous long pale wrinkly face if the Giant Person, staring in. The flashing black eyes were fixed on Sophie’s bed. The next moment, a huge hand with pale fingers came snaking in through the window. This was followed by an arm, an arm as thick as a tree-trunk, and the arm, the hand, the fingers were reaching out across the room towards Sophie’s bed. Sophie, crouching underneath the blanket, felt strong fingers grasping hold of her, and then she was lifted up from her bed, blanket and all, and whisked out of the window.