This Year 6 reading comprehension unit is built around an engaging and original fiction text by children’s author Gabrielle Kent.
Class 10’s Blog: How We Saved the Plazoom Oak tells the inspiring story of a school community coming together to protect a thousand-year-old tree under threat from developers.
Rich in vocabulary and full of opportunities for critical thinking, the text captures pupils’ imaginations while prompting meaningful discussions about conservation, community and activism.
Key reading comprehension skills
The resource is carefully structured to develop key reading comprehension skills through a combination of model, choral, paired and close reading.
It includes an annotated version of the text for teachers, highlighting prompts for clarification, discussion, visualisation and drama.
These strategies support pupils in developing a deeper understanding of the narrative and characters, while encouraging empathy and thoughtful engagement with the story.
Two fully resourced lessons focus on vocabulary development, exploring the words/phrases "protect" and "turned up" in depth using interactive PowerPoints. Pupils examine meaning and usage and are guided to use the new vocabulary in their own sentences.
This pack also includes structured tasks for building comprehension skills in sequencing, retrieval, inference and prediction, alongside opportunities to respond personally to the text and connect it to broader themes and prior knowledge.
Key activities and resources
Key activities include:
- Developing a timeline of the tree’s lifespan and events from the story
- Role play and freeze-frame tasks to explore character reactions
- Responding to “Big Questions” to deepen engagement and critical thinking
- Analysing the use of collective voice and its effect
This Year 6 comprehension unit includes:
- Fiction text by Gabrielle Kent – available as a PDF and PowerPoint, with plain, illustrated and highlighted versions
- Annotated teacher text with close reading guidance
- Resourced teaching sequences for parts 1 and 2
- Vocabulary focus PowerPoints for "protect" and "turned up"
- Big Questions PowerPoints and worksheets
- Worksheets: timeline diagram; speech and thought bubbles for freeze frame activity
- Whole-text comprehension tasks
- Full teaching notes
This unit works well as a stand-alone sequence or as part of a broader reading comprehension programme. Use it alongside other fiction, poetry and non-fiction units for Year 6, all linked by the shared theme of conservation.
It forms part of Real Comprehension – a whole-school programme designed to build deeper reading skills across KS1 and KS2 through carefully chosen thematic texts.