Explore the fascinating world of animal co-operation with this engaging Year 4 non-fiction reading comprehension unit. It's based on the text Working Together by kids' author Dan Smith.
Designed to develop key reading skills through an original, curriculum-linked text, this pack supports pupils in understanding how animals work together in nature to survive, gather food and thrive in large communities.
You can teach this unit as a standalone resource. Alternatively, use it as part of our wider Real Comprehension programme, which offers themed fiction, non-fiction and poetry units across Years 1-6.
Structured sequence
The resource contains everything you need to deliver a structured sequence of comprehension lessons. The text comes in multiple formats for flexible teaching and learning. These include plain, illustrated, and PowerPoint versions, with and without key vocabulary highlighted.
We've also included an annotated version of the text to guide your close reading and highlight opportunities for clarification, visualisation, drama and discussion.
The unit follows a three-part structure that builds knowledge and understanding across the text. Each part comes with beautiful resources to develop vocabulary and comprehension skills.
You'll explore key focus words – predator, nectar, and colony – through dedicated PowerPoints and structured activities that cover definitions, usage, synonyms, antonyms and sentence creation. Pupils are also encouraged to retrieve key facts, infer meaning, sequence ideas and make personal connections to the text.
Big Questions PowerPoints and worksheets help deepen understanding, while follow-up activities revisit the whole text to consolidate learning. The resource also includes opportunities for paired discussion, sketching, note-taking and short written responses.
Included resources:
- Working Together by Dan Smith – plain, illustrated and annotated PDFs
- PowerPoint versions of the text – with and without highlights
- Vocabulary Focus PowerPoints for predator, nectar and colony
- Resourced teaching sequences
- Big Questions PowerPoints and worksheets
- Additional comprehension worksheets
- Non-fiction image cards to support visualisation
- Full teacher notes and suggestions for discussion and extension
This engaging non-fiction unit not only builds reading comprehension but also connects pupils with real-world science and geography concepts through exciting animal examples and thought-provoking activities.