Print this if you can. Paper is better for this one.

Handwriting gets better with a pencil, and a finished sheet can go on the fridge. If there is no printer in the house, the same sheet works on screen · it is the same questions, marked as you go.

Do it on screen instead

Reading: a story

Read the story in Part I first. Then work down the parts in order, pointing at your evidence in the text every time.

I can — I can understand a story and work things out from it.

NameDate

Learn it — reading between the lines

A good story does not tell you everything. Some of it you have to work out from clues, and that is called inference. Always point at your evidence: for any work it out answer, be able to say which words gave you the idea.

RuleWhenExample
Right therethe answer is in the wordsWhat did he find?
Work it outthe clues are there, the answer is notWhy did she go quiet?
What do you thinkyour own view, backed by the textShould she have told him?

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Reading: a story

Page 2 of 12 · LOOK AND FIND

Part A — Look and find

Read the story in Part I, then answer these right there questions.

  1. 1. Who is the main character?
  2. 2. What did he find?
  3. 3. Where did he find it?
  4. 4. How old was the house?
  5. 5. Who did he show it to?
  6. 6. What did she do with it?

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Reading: a story

Page 3 of 12 · WRITE IT

Part B — Write it

Now the work it out questions. Give your evidence from the text.

  1. 1. How do you know the key was very old?
  2. 2. Why do you think the grandmother went quiet?
  3. 3. Why did she put it in her pocket rather than give it back?
  4. 4. Do you think Wing will find out what it opens?

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Reading: a story

Page 4 of 12 · KEEP GOING

Part C — Keep going

Write a word that means about the same.

Word box

ancientsilentexaminedeasedoddrecalled
  1. 1.very old →
  2. 2.quiet and still →
  3. 3.looked closely →
  4. 4.pushed gently →
  5. 5.strange →
  6. 6.remembered →

Part D — Use it

Which kind of question is each one? RT for right there, WIO for work it out, WDYT for what do you think.

Word box

RTWIOWDYT
  1. 1.What did Wing find?
  2. 2.Why did his grandmother go quiet?
  3. 3.Do you think she should have told him?
  4. 4.How old was the house?
  5. 5.How do you know the key mattered to her?
  6. 6.What would you have done?

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Reading: a story

Page 5 of 12 · STORY MAP

Part E — Story map

Answer each one about the story as a whole, with your evidence.

  1. 1. Who is the main character?
  2. 2. Where is it set?
  3. 3. What happens?
  4. 4. What is the mystery?
  5. 5. How does it end?

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Reading: a story

Page 6 of 12 · WHOLE SENTENCES

Part F — Whole sentences

Answer each question in a full sentence.

  1. 1. What was Wing doing when he found the key?
  2. 2. How did his grandmother react?
  3. 3. What does the ending suggest?
  4. 4. What would you ask her if you were Wing?

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Reading: a story

Page 7 of 12 · FIND THE MISTAKE

Part G — Find the mistake

Each sentence has one mistake. Write the whole sentence out correctly.

  1. 1. Wing find a key.
  2. 2. The house were very old.
  3. 3. She putted it in her pocket.
  4. 4. he showed it to his grandmother
  5. 5. She dont say anything.
  6. 6. What did she said?

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Reading: a story

Page 8 of 12 · MIXED PRACTICE

Part H — Mixed practice

These come from everything on this sheet.

  1. 1. Who found the key?
  2. 2. What was it made of?
  3. 3. Where was it?
  4. 4. How old was the house?
  5. 5. Who did he show it to?
  6. 6. What did she do?
  7. 7. Did she explain?
  8. 8. Is What was it made of? a right there or a work it out question?
  9. 9. What is the evidence that the key was old?
  10. 10. How did she react?
  11. 11. What is inference?
  12. 12. Should you give evidence?

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Reading: a story

Page 9 of 12 · THE READING

Part I — The reading

The Key Under the Floor

Wing was helping his grandmother clear out the back room, which had not been properly emptied in about thirty years. The house was over ninety years old and the floorboards near the window had gone soft with damp.

His grandmother had asked him to lift them so she could see how bad it was. He found a screwdriver and began at the corner.

The first board came up easily. As he eased the second one free, something slid sideways into the gap beneath with a small metallic sound.

He reached in. His fingers found something cold and heavy, and he pulled out a key. It was brass, dark with age, and far bigger than any key he had ever held. The handle was shaped into a pattern of leaves and the shaft was thick and worn smooth in the middle, as though it had been used a great many times by somebody who had held it in exactly the same way.

He examined it under the window light for a while. Then he carried it through to the kitchen and said, look what I found.

His grandmother was at the sink. She turned round, and she saw the key, and she went completely still.

She did not say anything. She looked at it for what felt like a very long time, long enough that Wing began to feel he had done something wrong. Her face did not change at all, which was somehow the strangest part.

Then she crossed the kitchen, took the key out of his hand quite gently, and put it into the pocket of her cardigan. Would you like some tea? she said.

That was all. She made the tea. They talked about the floorboards and about his school and about the price of vegetables, and she was entirely herself again, and the key was never mentioned.

Wing did not ask. He is not sure why he did not ask. But he has thought about that moment a great many times since, and he still does not know what he saw on her face.

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Reading: a story

Page 10 of 12 · COMPREHENSION

Part J — Comprehension

Look back at Part I. Answer each one in a full sentence.

  1. 1. What was Wing doing, and why?
  2. 2. How old was the house?
  3. 3. How did he notice the key?
  4. 4. Describe the key in detail.
  5. 5. What does the worn shaft suggest?

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Reading: a story

Page 11 of 12 · COMPREHENSION CONTINUED

Part K — Comprehension continued

Look back at Part I. Answer each one in a full sentence.

  1. 1. How did the grandmother react when she saw it?
  2. 2. Why did Wing start to feel he had done something wrong?
  3. 3. What did she do with the key?
  4. 4. How did the rest of the visit go?
  5. 5. Why do you think Wing did not ask? Use the text.

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Reading: a story

Page 12 of 12 · YOUR TURN

Part L — Your turn

Nobody marks this part. Write it your own way.

Write the next part of the story. What happens to the key? Six sentences.

Retell the story to somebody, then ask them one work it out question.

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