Reading · Grades 5–6 and 7–8

The Pet's research desk

Your child finds a fact in a source, notes it in their own words, says where it came from, and judges which source to trust.

Your child reads the sources on the Pet's desk and puts its research right: the line that answers the question, a note in their own words, the source a note came from and a second source that agrees, or at Grade 7–8 which source to trust, an advert dressed as news, a claim with one weak source, and a question sources can answer.

Grades 5–6 and 7–8
15 min
Nothing to prepare
On the screen

Free to sign up.

Is it a good fit?

Ready if Your child reads a short paragraph on their own.
Too much today? Start with Prove it: one passage checked for what it says, before several sources.
Too easy? The Grade 7–8 level: which source to trust, an advert dressed as news, one weak source, and a question you can research.

What your child practises

Finding facts in a source
Notes in your own words
Saying where a fact came from
Which source to trust (Grade 7–8)
A question you can research (Grade 7–8)

Listen for

“Where did you read that, and who made it?”

If your child says something like this, in their own words, the idea has landed. Finishing the rounds means they took part; this is the learning.

Your part

Nothing for the game itself
Each question has a Read it to me button

Take it off the screen (optional)

Pick a question together, find two sources that agree, and write down where each came from.

The full design

What it is

Research is finding a thing out from sources you can name and trust. The Pet is researching a question and believes the first thing it reads ("I read the first line. Done!"); your child reads the sources on the desk and puts it right.

How it goes

The question being researched sits on top, then the Pet's note when it has one, then the sources one under another, each with its name and small print. In some rounds the lines of a source are buttons, in one each whole source is, and in the rest three choices come under the sources. A line, source or choice that is not the one is marked "not this one", and the Pet says why; a line of the Pet's report shows the sources it rests on under it.

The Pet

It believes the first thing it reads, never your child: one line is enough, a note needs no source, one source is plenty, a story is proof, every page that looks like an article is one. When a round is won it says what the sources showed. Its dare is the next step up: at 5–6, three sources on one question and which to trust; at the top, a question of your child's own, two sources that agree, and where each came from written down.

By band

Four rounds a play. 5–6, on "Do octopuses really have three hearts?": the line in an encyclopedia that answers it, the best note in your own words (not the sentence copied, not two words that lose the meaning), which of three sources a note came from, and the line on a second source that says the same fact in other words. 7–8, on "Does swallowed gum stay inside you for seven years?": which of three sources to trust (a doctors' page updated this year, the gum company's advert, a forum post from 2009), the page that is an advert dressed as news ("Paid for by GumFun" in its small print), the line in the Pet's report that rests on one weak source, and a question sources can answer in place of "Is gum good?".

What it grows

The writing standards ask a Grade 5 child to carry out short research using several sources and to take notes and list the sources (Common Core W.5.7, W.5.8); a Grade 6 child to gather information from several sources, judge their credibility, and quote or paraphrase them while crediting each (W.6.7, W.6.8); and a Grade 8 child to research a question of their own, using search terms well and judging each source's credibility and accuracy (W.8.7, W.8.8). The game asks for the line, the source and the reason, never a term to define.

Done, and what counts as evidence

Done means four rounds checked. "Asked where did you read that?" is an observation you may keep. The best record is off the screen: a question your child picks, two sources that agree, and where each came from written down.

What's personal

Nothing: every source is written for the game, about no real website, brand or person, and the game says so. No family facts are used. The Arabic sources are written in Arabic, with Arabic names, line for line in the same order.