Reading Journal Year 4 Spring - International School of Madrid

1
Date
Book Title
Comment
2
Signed
Date
Book Title
Comment
3
Signed
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
4
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
5
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
6
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
7
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
Date
What is the title of your book?
What type of story is it and
where is it set?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What was your favourite part?
Why?
Who was your favourite
character? Why?
Star Rating:
8
Fangs by Malorie Blackman
9
1. Who was tapping on the shop window?
____________________________________________________________
2. What sort of shop was it?
____________________________________________________________
3. What did the spider think about living in the shop?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What do you think the boy is going to do?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. Complete the following sentences with one of these words:
tapped
wanted
turned
smiled
a) When the spider __________________ around he saw a boy.
b) The boy _________________ on the window and _________________
at the spider.
c) The spider _____________________ to live somewhere else.
6. Find a word in the story that means the same as:
a) beamed ________________
b) knocked ________________
c) grin
________________
7. How do you think your parents would react if you brought a spider
home to your house?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
10
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
The Mole, who had been busily spring-cleaning his
house, had come out for a rest…
11
1. Are the following sentences true or false?
a) Mole lived by the river.
______________________
b) He saw a glow-worm.
______________________
c) The rat had a boat.
______________________
d) The boat was painted blue and white. ______________________
2. How did Mole know that the twinkle he saw on the opposite bank was
not a star?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. What words tell us that Mole was excited when he first saw the boat?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. Was Rat’s boat large or small?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. Why was Mole rather unsure about getting into Rat’s boat?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. What words does the author use:
a) to describe Rat’s face?
____________________________________________________________
a) to describe how Rat brought the boat across the river?
____________________________________________________________
a) to describe how Mole got into the boat?
____________________________________________________________
12
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
As soon as the Wolf began to feel,
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on grandma’s door.
When Grandma opened it she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, “May I come in?’‘
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
“He’s going to eat me up!” she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.’
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, “That’s not enough!
I haven’t yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!”
He ran about the kitchen yelping
“I’ve got to have another helping!”
Then added with a frightful leer,
“I’m therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood.”
He quickly put on Grandma’s clothes,
(Of course he hadn’t eaten those.)
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair
Then sat himself in Grandma’s chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said–
”What great big ears you have, Grandma."
13
1. What famous story is this rhyme based on?
____________________________________________________________
2. Who is the author of this version?
____________________________________________________________
3. Can you name another story by the same author?
____________________________________________________________
4. Who does the wolf eat in this extract?
____________________________________________________________
5. Who does he want to eat next?
____________________________________________________________
6. Why was he not satisfied with his first meal?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. Find the words in the poem which rhyme with the following:
a) feel
_____________
b) bite
_____________
c) hood
_____________
d) clothes _____________
e) hair
_____________
7. What do you think will happen next in this version of the tale?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
14
Lizzy’s War by Elizabeth Beresford
This story is set in the Second World War. Miss Lock is visiting Lizzy and her mother.
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1. Why had an air-raid warning just gone off?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. Why were the heavy, orange curtains drawn across the windows?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. How do you think Lizzy felt sitting in the room with the curtains
drawn?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. Why could they not use the air-raid shelter at the school?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What had Lizzy’s mother just done before something extraordinary
happened?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. What do you think happened to leave Lizzy sitting on top of the
bookcase?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. How do you think Lizzy felt after the explosion?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
16
The BFG by Roald Dahl
A young girl called Sophie first meets the BFG.
The Giant picked up the trembling Sophie with one hand and carried her
across the cave and put her on the table.
Now he really is going to eat me, Sophie thought.
The Giant sat down and stared hard at Sophie. He had truly enormous ears.
Each one was as big as the wheel of a truck and he seemed to be able to move
them inwards and outwards from his head as he wished.
‘I is hungry!’ the Giant boomed. He grinned, showing massive square teeth.
The teeth were very white and very square and they sat in his mouth like huge
slices of white bread.
‘P... please don't eat me,’ Sophie stammered.
The Giant let out a bellow of laughter. ‘Just because I is a giant, you think I is a
man-gobbling cannybull!’ he shouted. ‘You is about right! Giants is all
cannybully and murderful! And they does gobble up human beans! We is in
Giant Country now! Giants is everywhere around! Out there us has the famous
Bonecrunching Giant! Bone-crunching Giant crunches up two wopsey whiffling
human beans for supper every night! Noise is earbursting! Noise of crunching
bones goes crackety-crack for miles around!’
‘Ouch!’ Sophie said.
‘Bonecrunching Giant only gobbles human beans from Turkey,’ the Giant said.
‘Every night Bonecruncher is galloping off to Turkey to gobble Turks.’
Sophie's sense of patriotism was suddenly so bruised by this remark that she
became quite angry. ‘Why Turks?’ she blurted out. ‘What's wrong with the
English?’
‘Bonecrunching Giant says Turks is tasting oh ever so much juicier and more
scrumdiddlyumptious! Bonecruncher says Turkish human beans has a glamourly
flavour. He says Turks from Turkey is tasting of turkey.’
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1. How can you tell that Sophie was frightened of the giant at first?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. What clues can you find in the story that tell you that the giant was
really friendly?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. How does the author describe the giant’s ears?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What is unusual about the way the giant talks?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. The BFG uses suffixes incorrectly. List three words which are incorrect.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
6. He also invents words. Give an example of a word that he has
invented and explain what he means when he says it.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. Sophie chooses not to argue with the giant. If you were her, what
would you say to him?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
18
Tom’s Midnight Garden
by Phillipa Pearce
19
1. What were the two reasons why Tom could not sleep?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. What is the difference between sleeping and dozing?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. Why was Uncle Alan so cross when he found Tom still reading in bed
so late at night?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. How did Tom feel about not being allowed to read in bed for more
than ten minutes?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. How did Tom spend his days at Aunt Gwen’s and how do you think he
felt whilst he was there?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. Why wasn’t Tom allowed to go outdoors and meet people?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. What do you think this story is going to be about? Use the title and
the front cover to guide you.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
20
Theseus and the Minotaur
21
1. What was the name of the beast?
____________________________________________________________
2. Write a description of the monster. Use the text to help describe its
appearance, where it lived and what it ate.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. What was the name of the hero and what is your opinion of him?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What problems did Theseus face?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. Choose one of the problems and explain how Theseus overcame it.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. How do you think Theseus felt when he entered the Labyrinth?
Explain your answer.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. What do you think of the ending of the story? Give reasons for your
answer.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
22
The Hodgeheg by Dick King-Smith
“Your Auntie Betty has copped it,” said Pa Hedgehog to Ma.
“Oh no!” cried Ma. “Where?”
“Just down the road. Opposite the newsagent’s. Bad place to cross,
that.”
“Everywhere’s a bad place to cross nowadays,” said Ma. “The traffic is dreadful. Do
you realise, Pa, that’s the third in my family this year.
They were sitting in a flower-bed at their home, the garden of Number 5A of a row of
semi-detached houses in a suburban street. On the other side of the road was a Park,
very popular with local hedgehogs on account of the good hunting it offered. As well as
worms and slugs and snails, which they could find in their own gardens, there were
special attractions in the Park. Mice lived under the Bandstand, feasting on the crumbs
dropped from the listeners’ sandwiches; frogs dwelt in the Lily-Pond, and in the
Ornamental Gardens grass-snakes slithered through the shrubbery. All these creatures
were regarded as great delicacies by the hedgehogs, and they could never resist the
occasional night’s sport in the Park. But to reach it they had to cross the busy road.
“Poor old Auntie Betty,” said Ma again. “It’s a hard life and that’s fact.”
“It’s a hard death,” said Pa sourly “and that’s flat too – talk about squashed, the poor
old girl was ….”
“Ssssshhhhh!” said Ma at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Not in front of the
children,” as up trotted four small figures, exact miniatures of their parents except that
their spines were still greyish rather than brown.
Three of them were little sows, named by Ma, who was fond of flowers, Peony, Pansy
and Petunia. Pa had agreed reluctantly to these names but had insisted upon his own
choice for the fourth, a little boar. Boys, he said, needed noble-sounding names , and
the fourth youngster was therefore called Victor Maximillian St George (Max for short).
Almost from the moment his eyes had opened, while his prickles were still soft and
rubbery, Max had shown promise of being a bright boy; and by now his ears and his
wits were all as sharp as his spines.
“What are you talking about, Ma?” he said.
“Nothing,” said Ma hastily.
23
1. What does Pa mean when he says that Auntie Betty has ‘copped it’?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. Where do Ma and Pa Hedgehog live?
____________________________________________________________
3. Why was the park popular with local hedgehogs?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What does ‘All these creatures were regarded as great delicacies’
mean?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. Why do you think Ma tells Pa to “Ssssshhhhh!”?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6a. What are the names of the three girl hedgehogs and what are they
named after?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6b. Do you think Pa likes the names that Ma chose? Explain your answer.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. Judging by what is said at the beginning of the passage, what
important lessons do you think Ma and Pa will need to teach their
children?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
24
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact,
that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear, for
Paddington was the name of the station. The Browns were there to
meet their daughter Judy, who was coming home from school for the
holidays. It was a warm summer day and the station was crowded with
people on their way to the seaside. Trains were humming,
loudspeakers blaring, porters rushing about shouting at one another,
and altogether there was so much noise that Mr Brown, who saw him
first, had to tell his wife several times before she understood.
“A bear? On Paddington station?” Mrs Brown looked at her husband in
amazement. “Don’t be silly, Henry. There can’t be!”
Mr Brown adjusted his glasses. “But there is,” he insisted. “I distinctly saw it.
Over there – near the bicycle rack. It’s wearing a funny kind of hat. Look!”
Mrs Brown followed the direction of his arm and dimly made out a small, furry
object in the shadows. It seemed to be sitting on an old battered suitcase and around
its neck there was a label with some writing on it.
She peered at it more closely. It seemed a very unusual kind of bear. It was
brown in colour, a rather dirty brown, and it was wearing a most odd looking hat, with
a wide brim. From beneath the brim two large, round eyes stared back at her. Seeing
that something was expected of it the bear stood up and politely raised its hat,
revealing two black ears.
“Good afternoon,” it said, in a small, clear voice. “Can I help you?”
Mr Brown looked rather embarrassed. “Well…no. Er… as a matter of fact, we
were wondering if we could help you.”
Mrs Brown bent down. “You’re a very small bear,” she said.
The bear puffed out its chest. “I’m a very rare sort of bear,” he replied
importantly. “There aren’t many of us left where I come from.”
“And where is that?” asked Mrs Brown.
The bear looked round carefully before replying. “Darkest Peru. I’m not really
supposed to be here at all. I’m a stowaway!”
“A stowaway?” Mr Brown lowered his voice and looked anxiously over his
shoulder. He almost expected to see a policeman standing behind him with a notebook
and pencil, taking everything down.
“Yes,” said the bear. “I emigrated, you know.” A sad expression came into its
eyes. “I used to live with my Aunt Lucy in Peru, but she had to go into a home for
retired bears.”
“You don’t mean to say you’ve come all the way from South America by
yourself?” exclaimed Mrs Brown.
The bear nodded. “Aunt Lucy always said she wanted me to emigrate when I
was old enough. That’s why she taught me to speak English.”
“But whatever did you do for food?” asked Mr Brown. “You must be starving.”
Bending down, the bear unlocked the suitcase with a small key, which it also
had round its neck, and brought out an almost empty glass jar. “I ate marmalade,” he
said, rather proudly. “Bears like marmalade. And I lived in a lifeboat.”
25
1. Why were Mr and Mrs Brown at the station?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. What noises were there in the station, making it very hard for Mrs
Brown to hear her husband?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. Describe Paddington bear as fully as you can. Use the text to help you.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. Where did the bear come from and why had he left his home?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. What is a ‘stowaway’?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. What did Paddington eat on his journey?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. Write a note from Paddington Bear to his Aunt Lucy describing his
arrival at the station in London. You might include details about his
journey and then how it felt to be discovered by the Brown family.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
26
The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
Butterflies live only short lives. They flower and flutter for just a few glorious weeks, and then
they die. To see them, you have to be in the right place at the right time. And that’s how it was
when I saw the butterfly lion – I happened to be in just the right place, at just the right time. I
didn’t dream him. I didn’t dream any of it. I saw him, blue and shimmering in the sun, one
afternoon in June when I was young. A long time ago. But I don’t forget. I mustn’t forget. I
promised them I wouldn’t. I was ten, and away at boarding school in deepest Wiltshire. I was
far from home and I didn’t want to be. It was a diet of Latin and school dinners and rugby and
detentions and cross-country runs and exams and squeaky beds. And then there was Basher
Beaumont who terrorised and tormented me, so that I lived every waking moment of my life in
fear of him.
I had often thought of running away, but only once ever plucked up the courage to do it. I was
homesick after a letter from my mother. Basher Beaumont had cornered me in the boot room
and smeared black shoe-polish in my hair. I had done badly in a spelling test, and Mr Carter
had stood me in the corner with a book on my head all through the lesson – his favourite
torture. I was more miserable than I had ever been before. I picked at the plaster in the wall,
and determined there and then that I would run away.
I took off the next Sunday afternoon. With any luck I wouldn’t be missed till supper, and by
that time I’d be home, home and free. I climbed the fence at the bottom of the school park,
behind the trees where I couldn’t be seen. Then I ran for it. I ran as if bloodhounds were after
me, not stopping till I was through Innocents Breach and out onto the road beyond. I had my
escape all planned. I would walk to the station – it was only five miles or so – and catch the
train to London. Then I’d take the underground home. I’d just walk in and tell them that I was
never, ever going back.
There wasn’t much traffic, but all the same I turned up the collar of my raincoat so that no one
could catch a glimpse of my uniform. It was beginning to rain now, those heavy hard drops
that mean there’s more of the same on the way. I crossed the road, and ran along the wide
grass verge under the shelter of the trees. Beyond the grass verge was a high brick wall, much
of it covered in ivy. It stretched away into the distance, continuous as far as the eye could see,
except for a massive arched gateway at the bend of the road. A great stone lion bestrode the
gateway. As I came closer I could see he was roaring in the rain, his lip curled, his teeth bared.
I stopped and stared up at him for a moment. That was when I heard a car slowing down
behind me. I did not think twice. I pushed open the iron gate, darted through, and flattened
myself behind the stone pillar. I watched the car until it disappeared round the bend. To be
caught would mean a caning, four strokes, maybe six, across the back of the knees. Worse, I
would be back at school, back to detentions, back to Basher Beaumont. To go along the road
was dangerous, too dangerous. I would try to cut across country to the station. It would be
longer that way, but far safer.
27
1. How old is the narrator when he decides to run away from boarding
school?
____________________________________________________________
2. Give two reasons why the narrator is miserable at this time.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. What escape route does the narrator use?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. Why do you think he tries to disguise his uniform?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. Do you think the narrator is being brave in this chapter?
Why? What other words would you use to describe him?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. How do you think life in a boarding school compares to life in
other schools?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
7. Imagine that you are a person travelling in the car that the
narrator hides from. Who are you? Where could you have been
travelling to that day?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
28
After you have finished your book, answer the following questions.
Title:
Author:
Why this is THE BEST!
Title:
Author:
Why this is 2nd best:
Title:
Author:
Why this is 3rd best:
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