SKILLS
LADDERS –
Reading
Outcome 1
Outcome 2
Outcome 3
Outcome 4
Level 1
Outcome 5
Level 2
Outcome 6
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Outcomes/
level
descriptions
Children begin to
follow stories read to
them and they start to
respond appropriately.
Children look at books with
or without an adult and
show an interest in their
content. They begin to
follow stories from pictures
and differentiate between
print and pictures.
Children handle a book as
a ‘reader’ and talk about
it’s content. They begin to
recognise the alphabetic
nature of reading and
writing and understand
that written symbols have
sounds and meaning.
Children recognise familiar
words in simple texts and
when reading aloud, use their
knowledge of letter and
sound-symbol relationships to
read words and establish
meaning. They respond to
poems, stories and non-fiction,
sometimes needing support.
Their reading of simple texts is
generally accurate. They show
understanding and express
opinions about major events or
ideas in stories, poems and nonfiction. They use a range of
strategies when reading
unfamiliar words and
establishing meaning.
Pupils’ reading of simple texts
shows understanding and is
generally accurate. They express
opinions about major events or
ideas in stories, poems and nonliterary texts. They use more than
one strategy, such as phonic,
graphic, syntactic and contextual,
in reading unfamiliar words and
establishing meaning.
They read a range of texts with growing
accuracy, fluency and emphasis. They
read independently, using appropriate
strategies to establish meaning. They
respond to texts and express
preferences. They show an
understanding of the main points and
talk about significant details. They use
their knowledge of the alphabet to
locate books and find information.
Pupils read a range of texts fluently and
accurately. They can use appropriate
strategies in order to read independently
and establish meaning. In responding to
literary and non-literary texts they show
understanding of the main points and
express preferences. They use their
knowledge of the alphabet to locate books
and find information.
In responding to a range of texts,
pupils show understanding of
significant ideas, themes, events
and characters, and are beginning
to use inference and deduction.
They refer to the text when
explaining their views. They locate
and use ideas and information on a
specific topic from more than one
source, and use them effectively.
Pupils show understanding of a
wide range of texts, selecting
essential points and using
inference and deduction where
appropriate. In their responses,
they identify key features, themes
and characters, and select relevant
words, phrases, sentences, images
and other information to support
their views. They retrieve and
collate information from a range of
sources.
Recognise and use punctuation
as a guide to reading aloud with
expression – full stops, capital
letters, question marks,
exclamation marks, commas.
Use a range of decoding
strategies.
Self-correct miscues.
Blend and segment long vowel
phonemes.
Read on sight the appropriate
h/f words.
Recognise words and phrases
that link sentences, e.g. after,
then, next, during.
Blend and segment sounds in
consonant clusters and use this
knowledge in reading.
Recognise proper nouns in
sentences and discuss their
function
Recognise common nouns in
sentences and discuss their
function
Differentiate between common
and proper nouns
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked
to personal interest or particular
topics
Pause appropriately in response to
punctuation.
Recognise speech marks, discuss their
function and how they affect the
reading of a text.
Read ahead to determine meaning.
Read on sight the appropriate h/f
words.
Use the term ‘synonym’.
Suggest synonyms for h/f words.
Recognise a wide range of connectives
and discuss their function.
Recognise collective nouns in
sentences and discuss their use.
Recognise verbs in sentences.
Understand the difference between
verbs in the 1st. and 3rd. person
Discuss the function of verbs.
Recognise adjectives in sentences.
Discuss the function of adjectives in
sentences.
Recognise adverbs in sentences and
discuss their function.
Recognise prepositions in sentences
and discuss their use.
Use the term ‘prefix’.
Recognise root words and prefixes.
Locate words containing apostrophes,
and discuss its use for contracting
words.
Recognise words containing silent
letters.
Understand the term ’suffix’.
Locate words containing suffixes.
Generate new words using their
knowledge of suffixes.
Recognise and generate compound
words.
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked to
personal interest or particular topics.
Read on sight the appropriate
h/f words.
Use pauses, emphasis and pace
to entertain and maintain
interest.
Find relevant words in a text
without prompting.
Recognise separate clauses in a
sentence.
Identify pronouns.
Discuss the use of pronouns.
Read words that have common
letter strings but different
pronunciation, eg rough, bough,
cough.
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked
to personal interest or particular
topics.
Recognise the apostrophe and
discuss its use for possession.
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked
to personal interest or particular
topics
Identify a range of prepositions
and discuss their uses.
Identify a range of connectives
and discuss their uses..
Identify and discuss clauses in
sentences.
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked
to personal interest or particular
topics.
Pupils recognise familiar words in
simple texts. They use their
knowledge of letters and sound–
symbol relationships in order to
read words and to establish
meaning when reading aloud. In
these activities they sometimes
require support. They express their
response to poems, stories and
non-literary texts by identifying
aspects they like.
Decoding
Are the
children able
to…?
Match objects to pictures
and symbols.
Recognise symbols and words
linked to personal experiences
and interests.
Begin to distinguish between
pictures and print.
Match letters and short words.
Adv/MH/misc/SKILLS LADDERS – Reading February 2011
Follow a left to right
sequence, join in rhymes
and fill in gaps in familiar
or repetitive texts.
Recognise some letters of
the alphabet (by name,
shape or sound) and a
growing number of
everyday words and
symbols. Begin to
discriminate between
distinctive sounds and
sometimes link these to
letter patterns.
Understand that in English, in
paper based texts, words are
ordered from left to right and
from the top to the bottom of the
page.
Recognise the print structure of
a word, individual letters and
the space between words.
Differentiate between a sentence
and a line of writing.
Recognise a few familiar words
in a simple text.
Recognise a few familiar signs
and labels.
Recognise full stops and capital
letters and understand how they
affect the way a passage is read.
Recognise phonetically regular
CVC words.
Decode phonetically regular
words.
Read unfamiliar words through
using known letters and sounds.
Read on sight the appropriate
h/f words.
Locate new words and make
collections of new words linked
to personal interest or particular
topics.
Reading,
viewing and
Responding
Are the
children able
to…?
Research skills
Are the children
able to…?
Frame questions
that are suitable
for research
Find the
informationwhere to look
Follow stories read to
them, rhymes and songs
sometimes responding
appropriately.
Show interest in books and
their content.
Look at books with or without
an adult.
Respond to simple questions
about texts including audio,
moving image and written
texts, e.g. stories, songs,
rhymes and information texts.
Listen to or view a range of
moving image, audio and
written texts for increasing
periods of time. These
should include familiar
stories, fairy tales, rhymes,
traditional folk tales and
poems. Also stories and
poems from Wales and
around the world as well as
information/non fiction
texts.
Begin to ask questions about
familiar objects using ‘why’
and ‘how’ to begin their
questions.
Ask questions about
familiar objects and ideas
but move towards asking
questions about unknown
or abstract ideas.
Ask questions of others
during discussions of
objects of interest or theme
related talk.
Handle fiction and non fiction
books in the learning
environment.
Find books in the learning
environment that are linked
to topics of interest.
Find pictures in non-fiction
books that relate to matters
of interest.
Adv/MH/misc/SKILLS LADDERS – Reading February 2011
Level 1
Make predictions.
Say how they feel about
stories and poems.
Make responses using visual
aids and through emergent
writing.
Understand the main
ideas/events in a non-fiction
or story or media text.
Show awareness of story
structure and language.
Understand the actions and
feelings of characters in
simple stories.
Identify aspects of a story,
poem or media text they like
in response to questions
Level 2
Use personal experiences to
respond to texts, both printed
and media texts and give
reasons for their responses.
Locate literal information.
Understand how texts are
sequenced.
Comment on the way a book
or media text is structured or
presented.
Make predictions.
Understand the major events
in a text.
Provide at lease one example
to support their opinions.
Retell a story covering the
main points.
Suggest extensions or
alternative to plots.
Identify and discuss main
characters and how they relate
to one another.
Identify and discuss settings.
Read appropriate texts and
locate literal information.
Express preferences.
Talk about simple features of
texts.
Recognise the impact of the
choice of language and
graphics.
Level 3
Read a range of appropriate texts
fluently and accurately.
Adopt a story teller’s voice when
reading narrative texts aloud.
Find relevant information in fiction
and non-fiction texts.
Pursue their own line of inquiry
when reading.
Draw comparisons between texts,
both printed and media.
Make predictions.
Infer and deduce from their
interpretation of the text.
Justify predictions by referring to
the text.
Respond to the tension in the story.
Demonstrate an awareness of the
point of view of character in a story.
Adopt appropriate voices for
characters.
Discuss the point of view of the
author in a non fiction text.
Level 4
Recognise the ways writers
present issues and points of
view in fiction and nonfiction.
Refer to the text to support
predictions and opinions.
Show how they have made
inferences and deductions by
referring to the text.
Analyse information and use
their findings appropriately.
Answer summative and
evaluative questions which
are set out in a range of
formats.
Identify how language is used
and structured in a range of
texts.
Identify the language features
of a range of texts, audio,
visual and written.
Understand significant ideas,
themes, events and characters.
Show by their answers that
they have read beyond the
literal.
Understand why other people
may have a different response
to the same text.
Recognise the use of
metaphor.
Recognise the use of
onomatopoeia.
Level 5
Understand a range of texts,
their purpose, structure and
features.
Identify key features, themes
and characters across a range
of texts.
Summarise the main points in
a text.
Use the text as a script
manipulating the roles to
engage the reader, when
reading aloud.
Retrieve and collate
information from a range of
texts.
Draw on detail to give
persuasive answers to
questions.
Select sentences, phrases and
relevant information to justify
opinions.
Use inference and deduction
with confidence.
Explain implied meanings by
referring to the text.
Summarise their findings and
evidence logically.
Describe and evaluate
authors’ use of techniques,
e.g. narrative structure,
character action, themes or
figurative language, justifying
interpretations by referring to
the text.
Draw on a number of sources
to answer independently
literal, inferential, evaluative
and summative questions, and
to give clear reasons which
support their answers.
Make an objective response.
Locate books in the library.
Understand the way that
information books are organised
and use this in reading simple
texts.
Find and use the blurb.
Begin to make appropriate
choices about texts to be used
for different purposes.
Distinguish between fact and
opinion.
Recognise the main differences
between fiction and non fiction texts.
Use their knowledge of the alphabet to
locate books and find information.
Use dictionaries independently to find
the meaning of unknown words.
Use a thesaurus independently to locate
synonyms.
Tackle information texts with
confidence.
Retrieve and collate information
from a variety of sources and
use it to pursue their own line of
enquiry.
Suggest questions for
research
Experience and respond to a
wide range of texts including
computer based materials.
Differentiate between
information and narrative texts
and know some of the features
Find the
informationhow to use it
Make notes
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Become aware of how
information is presented;
through pictures and text.
Make links between
pictures and text.
Recognise a chapter title and
sub headings on a page
Use picture cues and initial
sound awareness to decode what
the heading and subheadings
could say
Know about the blurb
Find the Contents page.
Use the Contents page to locate
information.
Provide a piece of evidence to
support an opinion.
Discriminate between diagrams
and text and use appropriate
information retrieval strategies.
Recognise the significance of
bullet points.
Differentiate between italic and
bold fonts.
Find the Glossary.
Use the Glossary to find the meaning
of key words.
Locate the Index and use it
appropriately.
Locate the captions with photographs
and diagrams.
Evaluate the usefulness of
photographs/diagrams from reading the
captions.
Use skimming and scanning to
identify key points in a text.
Locate information from tables
Locate side headings.
Use side headings to find
specific information, locate key
words in that paragraph and
underline them.
Sort and categorise pictures
relating to a theme or word
Look at key words and match
pictures to words.
Match pictures and words for
categorising under headings e.g.
table, chair, shelves - furniture
Provide a small number of key
words associated with a picture
having a topical focus.
Suggest ideas for constructing
sentences around key words
linked to pictures as a
preparation for note taking.
Discuss how recording key
words can help record important
details from a picture.
Select four or five key words
from a simple text and highlight
them.
Discuss the relative merit of key
words taken from a simple text
and select the best ones for note
taking.
Construct sentences around key
words taken from a text.
Supply key words linked to a topic.
Organise information they have gained
from the texts.
Record answers through words,
phrases and sentences.
Use key words to construct
sentences to answer specific
questions.
Show the process of finding
information e.g.
Key Words:
Sentence answers:
many types
2 body parts
8 legs
compound eyes
Present the
research
Evaluate the
research
Adv/MH/misc/SKILLS LADDERS – Reading February 2011
Become aware of ways that
they can show others what
they have learned. E.g.
through talk, pictures, role
play etc.
Be able to say what they
have learned and how well
they have learned it.
Level 5
There are
many types
of spiders,
but all have
two body
parts, eight
legs and
compound
eyes.
Make effective notes.
Use note making to write a
summary
Use key words to form
questions to structure further
individual research.