Summer Term 1 - Y5's reading texts:

Gazing at the stars from five storeys up, smelling the bins from five storeys below. Overheard arguments, overheard laughter. A disappearing father and a Mermaid-Queen mother; statues that sing for flesh and blood; bullies who kick you under the table; perfect red trainers - and the things that lurk in the library...Award-winning poet Joseph Coelho's astonishing new collection is a powerful and moving poetic narrative about growing up in the city.

This book is a stunning visual journey through Black British history for younger readers by award-winning historian and broadcaster David Olusoga and illustrated by Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor.

From Roman Africans guarding Hadrian’s Wall, to an African trumpeter in the court of Henry the Eighth, Black Georgians fighting for the abolition of slavery, Black soldiers fighting for Britain in the First World War, Windrush and right up today. These are the stories that brought us all together in this country.

Reading objectives from this text:

Pupils should be taught to:

Maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:

• continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks
• reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes
• increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions
• recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices
• identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing
• making comparisons within and across books
• learning a wider range of poetry by heart
• preparing poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience

Understand what they read by:

• checking that the book makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context
• asking questions to improve their understanding
• drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence
• predicting what might happen from details stated and implied
• summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas
• identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

• Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader
• Distinguish between statements of fact and opinion
• Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction
• Participate in discussions about books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, building on their own and others’ ideas and challenging views courteously
• Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, including through formal presentations and debates, maintaining a focus on the topic and using notes where necessary
• Provide reasoned justifications for their views