Writing a Précis

PROCEDURAL

English›Writing Composition|Ages 10—11|ID: mt_curkA82CmO

Precis longer passages by summarising the main ideas and key information concisely while maintaining the essential meaning and removing non-essential detail

Mastery Evidence

Reduce a three-paragraph text to a single paragraph capturing all main points
Identify and remove redundant information while preserving essential meaning
Write a precis that is no more than one-third the length of the original text

Assessment Prompt

“If [child] reads a long article about a topic they're studying, can they write a short summary in their own words that captures the key points without copying sentences?”

Curriculum Standards1 alignment

Eng.UKS2.Write.Comp.2cThe national curriculum in England

Précis passages

Draft and write by précising longer passages.

English · Key Stage 2

Prerequisites1

Main Ideas & Note-Taking
hardAges 7—10

Show full prerequisite tree

Main Ideas & Note-Taking hard
Precis builds on summarising main ideas
- Main Topic of Informational Texts hard
  Summarising builds on identifying main topic in informational texts
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
    Listening comprehension foundational for informational text
- Reading between the lines soft
  Key details and inference support identifying main ideas
  - Characters, settings, and events hard
    Need story elements to extract key details
    - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
      Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
- Self-Correcting While Reading soft
  Retrieving and summarising main ideas from multi-paragraph texts requires active self-monitoring comprehension — noticing when something doesn't make sense and re-reading to fix it
  - Monitoring Comprehension soft
    Self-correcting while reading requires the awareness that decoding correctly is not the same as understanding
    - Feeling of not understanding soft
      Noticing the decoding/understanding gap is the English-specific form of the universal comprehension-monitoring habit
      - Asking for Help hard
        Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
    - Reading for Meaning hard
      Noticing the gap between decoding and understanding requires first having the foundational idea that reading means making meaning
      - Feeling of not understanding soft
        Understanding that reading means making meaning is the English-domain grounding of the universal habit of noticing when you don't understand
        
        Asking for Help hard
        Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
  - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
    Need basic reading ability to self-monitor
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Need GPC knowledge to blend
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Onsets & Rimes hard
      Phoneme awareness needed for blending
      - Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
      - Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
  - Feeling of not understanding soft
    Checking that a text makes sense while reading and self-correcting is the reading-domain form of the universal comprehension-monitoring habit
    - Asking for Help hard
      Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
  - Building sentences soft
    Sense-checking uses sentence knowledge
  - Reading with Expression and Accuracy soft
    Reading comprehension monitoring builds on earlier fluency skills
    - Building sentences soft
      Understanding sentence structure supports expressive phrasing
    - Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds soft
      Wider GPC knowledge supports fluent reading
      - Consonant Digraphs hard
        Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letters before digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Vowel Digraphs hard
        Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before vowel digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
        Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
    - Reading fluently hard
      Expressive reading builds on basic reading fluency
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
        Must be able to decode before fluency
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
      - Reading High-Frequency Words by Sight hard
        Need sight word bank for fluency
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Need to recognise letters to read sight words
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Blending Sounds to Read Words soft
        Blending helps attempt unfamiliar words but sight words bypass phonics
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
- Story Sequence and Central Message hard
  Identifying main ideas from multiple paragraphs and summarising builds on the prior skill of discussing sequence of events and how information items are related in shorter texts
  - Main Topic of Informational Texts soft
    Understanding main topic and key details of informational texts supports discussing how items of information are related
    - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
      Listening comprehension foundational for informational text
  - Reading between the lines hard
    Retelling key details builds on Y1 key details and inference
    - Characters, settings, and events hard
      Need story elements to extract key details
      - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
        Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
  - Listening to Texts Read Aloud soft
    Listening comprehension supports understanding text structure
  - Characters, settings, and events hard
    Sequence and central message build on Y1 story elements
    - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
      Need to engage with stories before identifying elements
  - Reading with Expression and Accuracy soft
    Expressive reading supports comprehension of sequence and meaning
    - Building sentences soft
      Understanding sentence structure supports expressive phrasing
    - Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds soft
      Wider GPC knowledge supports fluent reading
      - Consonant Digraphs hard
        Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letters before digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Vowel Digraphs hard
        Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before vowel digraphs
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Single Letter Sounds hard
        Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
        Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
    - Reading fluently hard
      Expressive reading builds on basic reading fluency
      - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
        Must be able to decode before fluency
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
      - Reading High-Frequency Words by Sight hard
        Need sight word bank for fluency
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Need to recognise letters to read sight words
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Blending Sounds to Read Words soft
        Blending helps attempt unfamiliar words but sight words bypass phonics
        
        Single Letter Sounds hard
        Need GPC knowledge to blend
        
        Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
        
        Onsets & Rimes hard
        Phoneme awareness needed for blending
        
        Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
        
        Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
- Non-Fiction Text Features hard
  Summarising requires understanding non-fiction text structures
  - Main Topic of Informational Texts hard
    Non-fiction structures build on Y1 informational text main topic
    - Listening to Texts Read Aloud hard
      Listening comprehension foundational for informational text
  - Book Features and Author's Reasons hard
    Understanding text features builds on Y1 book features
    - Understanding print hard
      Print concepts needed to understand book features

Unlocks2

Research & Note-Taking
softAges 10—11
Research & Source Evaluation
hardAges 11—14