Fast Finishers English: Non-fiction Ages 10-11 by Scholastic (author)

This box of Fast Finishers comprehension cards covers:

• High-interest short passages of text along with five comprehension questions that prompt students to identify and effectively cite text evidence

• A variety of genres Comprehension-helper cards that provide kid-friendly definitions, tips, and examples to help students master reading skills

On each of the 100 text cards there is a passage of age-appropriate text with an illustration and five comprehension questions related to the passage. The 10 different questions types in this non-fiction box are:

• Author’s Purpose - Questions focused on the reason the author chose to write a text. Authors may write with more than one purpose in mind.

• Cause and Effect - Questions focused on an event or action that makes something happen in a story and the result or consequence of that event or action.

• Compare and Contrast - Questions focused on looking closely at two or more things (characters, settings, plots, etc.) to see how they are similar. And looking closely at two or more things to see how they are different.

• Debate - Questions focused on a discussion between two (or more) sides with different views.

• Description – Questions focused on When words are used to create a ‘picture’ in the mind.

• Fact and Opinion – Questions focused on Facts, information that is true and doesn’t vary And Opinions, personal beliefs or feelings. Opinions do vary.

• Main Idea and Details – A literal question, one which you may remember from reading the text and can answer straight away. One to show that you have read/understood the text. A direct quotation is not required.

• Problem and Solution – Questions focused on the main problem of a story and the solution to, or outcome of, the problem or conflict. Not all resolutions are happy ones.

• Sequence of events – Questions focused on the plot and the order of events in a plot (beginning, middle, end)

• Summarise - Questions focused on creating a brief statement about a text using only the most important details.

The fifth question on each card will be a S-T-R-E-T-C-H question, a creative thinking question such as writing sentences using words/phrases from the story, describing something from the story, explaining what might happen next, describing a real-life event that’s connected to the story, asking an opinion on the story or character from the story.

Age-appropriate helper cards provide background information to help children respond knowledgeably to the comprehension questions. There are 14 helper cards in this box covering:

• Author’s purpose
• Cause and Effect
• Compare and Contrast
• Context
• Clues
• Debate
• Description
• Fact and Opinion
• Inference
• Information Text
• Main Idea and Details
• Problem and Solution
• Sequence of Events
• Summarise
• Text Evidence

Also includes a Teacher’s Booklet to provide ideas on how to use the cards and answers.