This Year 3 reading comprehension unit focuses on the text Ride Like You Mean It by Jo Franklin. It offers a rich and engaging way to build comprehension skills while exploring the theme of perseverance.
The story follows Zena, a young girl whose excitement over a birthday surprise quickly turns into fear and frustration – until she finds the confidence to ride a bike “like she means it”. This relatable, character-driven narrative is perfect for drawing out deep reading responses from pupils aged 7-8.
You can teach this unit as a standalone fiction sequence, or combine it with Real Comprehension’s non-fiction and poetry units for Year 3 to create a full thematic block. This whole-school programme supports reading for meaning across KS1 and KS2 with high-quality, engaging texts.
Explicitly teach comprehension
This pack is designed to help you model fluent reading and teach comprehension explicitly. You’ll guide pupils through a layered reading process using strategies like model reading, choral reading, paired discussion, drama visualisation and thought tracking.
The unit also includes opportunities to activate prior knowledge, particularly around learning to ride a bike, and help pupils connect the text to their own experiences.
The original story is provided in several accessible formats to suit different classroom needs, including plain and illustrated PDFs, PowerPoints with and without highlighted vocabulary, and an annotated teacher version that supports close reading and highlights opportunities for deeper discussion.
You’ll find clear teaching notes and a fully resourced sequence of lessons, each with a vocabulary focus to explore key words in context. Pupils will examine the meanings and uses of expecting, tilted and instead, and apply this understanding through tailored activities.
Also included are follow-up resources to reinforce retrieval, sequencing, inference and prediction, and to support personal response. You’ll explore big questions and use tools like emotion graphs, thought bubbles and visualisation tasks to deepen engagement with the characters and the text.
This Year 3 fiction comprehension pack includes:
- Ride Like You Mean It by Jo Franklin – PDF (plain, illustrated, annotated) and PowerPoint versions
- Annotated teacher’s text with close reading guidance
- Three-part resourced teaching sequence with vocabulary PowerPoints
- Big Questions PowerPoints
- Worksheets
- Visual prompts
- Full teaching notes