Bring non-fiction to life with this fully resourced Year 2 reading comprehension unit, based on Talent in the House – a lively and engaging text by author Jo Franklin about Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his remarkable musical family.
With real-life detail, inspiring themes and accessible language, the unit helps children build key reading skills and connect personally with the text.
The resource includes plain and illustrated versions of the text, alongside PowerPoint formats with and without highlights.
An annotated teacher version guides close reading and highlights where to pause for discussion, drama or visualisation. These prompts support understanding and encourage rich conversations about family, effort, talent and success.
Across three structured teaching sequences, pupils explore vocabulary in depth – focusing on the words talented, perform and keen.
Each lesson is supported by a Vocabulary Focus PowerPoint that builds understanding through examples, images and sentence-writing tasks. Big Questions worksheets and PowerPoints further develop comprehension by prompting reflection and open-ended discussion.
Additional tasks help pupils revisit the full text and consolidate their learning. These include Difficult Easy questions that promote deeper thinking and a Personal Response worksheet that encourages pupils to make links between the text, their lives and the world around them.
This unit is part of the Real Comprehension programme, a whole-school approach to reading that uses high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts from Years 1-6.
This Year 2 resource pack includes:
- Talent in the House text by Jo Franklin in PDF (plain, illustrated, annotated)
- PowerPoint versions of the text (with and without highlights)
- Teacher’s annotated text with close reading guidance
- Vocabulary Focus PowerPoints for the words talented, perform and keen
- Three resourced teaching sequences
- Printable images of musical instruments for display
- Worksheets to revisit the full text
- Full teaching notes, including prior knowledge support and ideas for drama, discussion and visualisation