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English lesson plan · 5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 60 minutes

Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.5.1CCSS RI.5.1England: Y5/6 Reading (justifying with evidence)England: KS2 SATs Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Choose the best summary of a short text; Finding and retrieving information

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Choose the best summary of a short text; Finding and retrieving information). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Honeybees live in colonies of thousands. The queen lays the eggs. Worker bees collect nectar and pollen, look after the young and guard the hive. Drones have one job: to mate with a queen. Every bee has a role that keeps the colony alive. Which is the best summary? (Drones are male bees. / Bees are the most amazing insects in the world. / In a honeybee colony, the queen, workers and drones each have a job that keeps the hive alive. / Worker bees collect nectar and pollen.) → In a honeybee colony, the queen, workers and drones each have a job that keeps the hive alive.Prompt: A summary is short and covers the WHOLE text, not just one part.
  2. Mount Everest is the highest mountain above sea level. It is in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and China. Which mountain range is Mount Everest in? (the Andes / the Alps / the Rockies / the Himalayas) → the HimalayasPrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.
  3. In 2021, a small town opened a 'repair café'. Once a month, volunteers fix broken toasters, toys and bikes for free. In its first year, the café saved over two tonnes of items from being thrown away. Which is the best summary? (Volunteers fix toasters. / Repair cafés are better than shops. / The café opened in Wales. / A town's monthly repair café fixes broken items for free and has kept tonnes of things out of the rubbish.) → A town's monthly repair café fixes broken items for free and has kept tonnes of things out of the rubbish.Prompt: A summary is short and covers the WHOLE text, not just one part.

Hook · 6 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Mira's robot kept bumping into walls. She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas. On Friday, it rolled smoothly round the whole room. Which sentence best shows that Mira does not give up?
  • Step 1: The best evidence directly proves the point. Other sentences may be true but do not support the claim as well.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas.
  • Answer: She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas.
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor. Yet about a quarter of all ocean species depend on them for food or shelter. Reefs are built by tiny animals called coral polyps. Which sentence best supports the idea that coral reefs are very important to sea life? (Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor. / Reefs are built by tiny animals called coral polyps. / Yet about a quarter of all ocean species depend on them for food or shelter. / Coral can be many colours.) → Yet about a quarter of all ocean species depend on them for food or shelter.Prompt: Read the claim in the question first.
  2. Zara checked the weather app twice. She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks. "You never know," she said, glancing at the grey sky. Which sentence best shows that Zara is well prepared? (Zara likes the rain. / She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks. / "You never know," she said. / Zara checked the weather app twice.) → She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks.Prompt: Read the claim in the question first.

You do: independent practice · 17 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Mira's robot kept bumping into walls. She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas. On Friday, it rolled smoothly round the whole room. Which sentence best shows that Mira does not give up? (On Friday, it rolled smoothly round the whole room. / Mira has a brother. / Mira's robot kept bumping into walls. / She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas.) → She rewrote the code three times, tested it every evening and asked her brother for ideas.Prompt: Read the claim in the question first.
  2. Zara checked the weather app twice. She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks. "You never know," she said, glancing at the grey sky. Which sentence best shows that Zara is well prepared? (She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks. / Zara likes the rain. / "You never know," she said. / Zara checked the weather app twice.) → She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks.Prompt: Read the claim in the question first.

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Choose the best summary of a short text.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-5.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?

Name

Date

Score/ 8

Should Our School Keep Bees?

Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked. Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.

  1. Question 1

    Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". Which sentence from Letter B best supports the worry about safety?

    • A. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows.
    • B. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.
    • C. I agree that bees are important.
    • D. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways.

  1. Question 2

    Owls hunt mainly at night. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently. Many owls nest in hollow trees. Which sentence best supports the idea that owls are well suited to hunting in the dark?

    • A. Owls are birds.
    • B. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently.
    • C. Owls hunt mainly at night.
    • D. Many owls nest in hollow trees.

Should Our School Keep Bees?

Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked. Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.

  1. Question 3

    Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". Which detail from Letter A best supports the idea that a hive would help learning?

    • A. in many places their numbers have fallen
    • B. the roof is locked
    • C. we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes
    • D. the flat roof above the library

The Vault at the Top of the World

On a frozen island in the Arctic Ocean, between Norway and the North Pole, a narrow concrete doorway sticks out of the side of a mountain. Behind it, a tunnel leads deep into the rock. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and it holds more than a million packets of seeds from almost every country on Earth. Why keep seeds in a mountain? Farmers all over the world depend on many different varieties of crops, such as types of rice that survive floods or kinds of wheat that resist disease. If a variety disappears because of war, natural disaster or simple accident, it may be lost for ever. The vault is a back-up copy, like saving a precious file in two places. The location was chosen with care. The vault is high enough above sea level to stay dry even if ice caps melt. Inside, the seeds are kept at about minus 18 degrees Celsius, cold enough to keep many of them alive for decades or even centuries. The surrounding rock is permanently frozen, so even if the power failed, the seeds would stay cold. The vault opened in 2008. In 2015, it was used for the first time: scientists who had lost access to their own seed bank during a war in Syria withdrew samples, grew new plants and later sent fresh seeds back to the vault. The back-up had worked. No one hopes the vault will be needed often. But like a fire extinguisher in a school corridor, it is reassuring to know it is there.

  1. Question 4

    Read "The Vault at the Top of the World". Which sentence best supports the idea that the seeds would stay safe even in an emergency?

    • A. The vault opened in 2008.
    • B. The surrounding rock is permanently frozen, so even if the power failed, the seeds would stay cold.
    • C. A narrow concrete doorway sticks out of the side of a mountain.
    • D. Farmers all over the world depend on many different varieties of crops.

  1. Question 5

    The town council asked people what to do with the empty car park. Most people voted for a skate park. Others wanted a community garden. In the end, the council built both, side by side. Which sentence best shows that the council listened to more than one group?

    • A. The car park was empty.
    • B. The council asked people what to do.
    • C. In the end, the council built both, side by side.
    • D. Most people voted for a skate park.

  2. Question 6

    Kofi dragged his feet to the car. He stared out of the window the whole journey and didn't touch his favourite snack. When Mum asked what was wrong, he just shrugged. Which sentence best shows that Kofi is unhappy?

    • A. Kofi got into the car.
    • B. Kofi has a favourite snack.
    • C. Mum asked what was wrong.
    • D. He stared out of the window the whole journey and didn't touch his favourite snack.

  3. Question 7

    Zara checked the weather app twice. She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks. "You never know," she said, glancing at the grey sky. Which sentence best shows that Zara is well prepared?

    • A. Zara checked the weather app twice.
    • B. She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks.
    • C. Zara likes the rain.
    • D. "You never know," she said.

  4. Question 8

    Honey can last for a very long time. Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that had still not gone bad. Bees make honey from flower nectar. Which sentence best supports the idea that honey does not spoil easily?

    • A. Honey is sweet and sticky.
    • B. Bees make honey from flower nectar.
    • C. Bees live in hives.
    • D. Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that had still not gone bad.

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Answer key: Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?

  1. 1. A. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows.

  2. 2. B. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently.

  3. 3. C. we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes

  4. 4. B. The surrounding rock is permanently frozen, so even if the power failed, the seeds would stay cold.

  5. 5. C. In the end, the council built both, side by side.

  6. 6. D. He stared out of the window the whole journey and didn't touch his favourite snack.

  7. 7. B. She packed a raincoat, rain boots and a spare pair of socks.

  8. 8. D. Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that had still not gone bad.