This Year 4 reading comprehension unit is based on a non-fiction text written especially for KS2 by children’s author Margaret Bateson-Hill.
Called Andrew Carnegie – Steel Magnate and Patron Saint of Libraries, the text explores how Carnegie rose from poverty to become the richest man in the world. It also looks at why he chose to give so much of his fortune away.
You can teach this unit on its own, or as part of our Real Comprehension programme. This is a wider sequence of themed reading units which also includes fiction and poetry texts. Our whole-school resource builds deep reading skills from Years 1 to 6.
Close reading activities
The teaching sequence in this resource is structured into three parts. Each includes a modelled, choral and paired reading, plus close reading activities supported by teacher notes.
These notes highlight where you may need to clarify vocabulary or context, or encourage children to pause for discussion, drama or visualisation. The text is available in plain and illustrated PDF formats, and as a PowerPoint – with or without highlights for display.
Each section includes a vocabulary focus lesson, using a PowerPoint and structured tasks to explore the words ambitious, determined and ruthless in context. You’ll also find ‘Big Questions’ resources and activities to deepen pupils’ thinking, as well as additional worksheets to develop key skills such as retrieval, sequencing, prediction and inference.
The unit ends with opportunities for reflection, including a personal response, an emotions graph and a revisit of key themes and events from the text.
The full pack includes:
- Original text (plain and illustrated PDFs)
- Original text PowerPoints (with and without highlights)
- Annotated teacher’s version of the text
- Vocabulary focus PowerPoints
- Big Questions PowerPoints and worksheets
- Role on the wall worksheet
- 19th-century cotton mill images for visualisation
- Revisit the text worksheets
- Full teacher notes and suggested teaching sequence