Year 6 Summer test 2: Part A This text is taken from the first chapter of Kensuke s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. Kensuke s Kingdom I disappeared on the night before my twelfth birthday. July 28 1988. Only now can I at last tell the whole extraordinary story, the true story. Kensuke made me promise that I would say nothing, nothing at all, until at least ten years had passed. It was almost the last thing he said to me. I promised, and because of that, I have had to live out a lie. I could let sleeping lies sleep on, but more than ten years have passed now. I have done school, done college, and had time to think. I owe it to my family and to my friends, all of whom I have deceived for so long, to tell the truth about my long disappearance, about how I lived to come back from the dead. But there is another reason for speaking out now, a far, far better reason. Kensuke was a great man, a good man, and he was my friend. I want the world to know him as I knew him. Until I was nearly eleven, until the letter came, life was just normal. There were the four of us in the house: my mother, my father, me and Stella Stella Artois, that is, my one-ear-up and one-ear-down black and white sheep dog, who always seemed to know what was about to happen before it did. But even she could not have foreseen how that letter was going to change our lives forever. Thinking back, there was a regularity, a sameness about my early childhood. It was down the road each morning to the monkey school. My father called it that because he said the children gibbered and screeched and hung upside down on the climbing-frame in the playground. And, anyway, I was always monkey face to him when he was in a playful mood, that is, which he often was. The school was really called St Joseph s, and I was happy there, for most of the time, anyway. After school every day, whatever the weather, I d be off down to the recreation ground for football with Eddie Dodds, my best friend in all the world, and Matt and Bobby and the others. It was muddy down there. Cross the ball 56
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part A and it would just land and stick. We had our own team, the Mudlarks we called ourselves, and we were good, too. Visiting teams seemed to expect the ball to bounce for some reason, and by the time they realised it didn t, we were often two or three goals up. We weren t so good away from home. Every weekend I did a paper round from Mr Patel s shop on the corner. I was saving up for a mountain bike. I wanted to go mountain biking up on the moors with Eddie. The trouble was, I would keep spending what I d saved. I m still the same that way. Sundays were always special, I remember. We d go dinghy sailing, all of us, on the reservoir, Stella Artois barking her head off at the other boats as if they d no right to be there. My father loved it, he said, because the air was clear and clean, no brick dust he worked down at the brickworks. He was a great do-it-yourself fanatic. There was nothing he couldn t fix, even if it didn t need fixing. So he was in his element on a boat. My mother, who worked part time in the office at the same brickworks, revelled in it, too. I remember her once, throwing back her head in the wind and breathing in deep as she sat at the tiller. This is it, she cried. This is how life is supposed to be. Wonderful, just wonderful. 57
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part B This text is taken from Why is Snot Green? And Other Extremely Important Questions (and Answers) from the Science Museum by Glenn Murphy. Being Human Ahh the human body. Forged over millions of years into a finely tuned machine. Incredibly complex and perfectly adapted to its environment, it has allowed us to become the most powerful and intelligent creatures on the planet. But if you think about it, being human can be pretty gross at times. For all that we ve achieved, we still sneeze, burp, fart and poo our way through life. Like huge meaty balloons filled to bursting with snot, gas and worse. And if our bodies are so clever and complex, how come our eyes go blurry underwater? And how come a blob of ice cream eaten too quickly can bring us to our knees? Here we find out what it really means to be human. Why is snot green? Basically, because it s the result of a fight between nasty bugs and body cells that make a green-coloured goo. What?! Seriously. Snot is made of a sticky substance produced inside the nose that traps and flushes out harmful bacteria. These nasty bugs try to get up your nose when you breathe them in. The sticky stuff stops them getting down your throat and into your lungs, and it also contains cells that your body produces to fight and kill the bugs. It s these that make the green goo. Sneezing and blowing your nose help to clear it all out. Ugh. Fine. But what do they make the green goo for? The body cells form part of the incredibly clever and complex defence system in your body. They make special proteins called lysozymes, which help them bust open, eat and digest the bacteria a bit like the acid in your stomach. For this reason, we call the cells phagocytes, which is Latin for eaty-cells (which you may prefer, but biologists use phagocytes because it sounds more important and clever). It s one of these bacteria-busting proteins that has the green colour. Under the microscope: a phagocyte attacks bacteria 58
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part B But why green, and not blue or purple? This is purely because the protein contains a form of iron that reflects green light and absorbs all the other colours. Incidentally, you find a similar protein in wasabi, the type of horseradish you eat with Japanese sushi, which is why that s green too. Think about that next time you eat horseradish. Or a bogey. sushi Under the microscope: a phagocyte attacks bacteria wasabi I don t eat bogeys. I don t even pick my nose. Of course you don t. No one does. No one rolls them up and flicks them, or sticks them under the desk either. That s right. But if someone did why would the bogey change colour to dark green, brown or black? That s because once it s out of its warm, moist home in your nose, the snot begins to dry up as water from it evaporates into the air. When this happens, the phagocytes die and the greenish proteins within them break up removing the green colour from the bogey. After this, bacteria in the air settle onto the bogey and start to eat it (waste not, want not, as my mum always says). They chew up all the bits of phagocyte, dead bacteria and skin cells found in the snot, until all that s left is a dried-up mass of brownish-black protein leftovers. And even that gets eaten eventually. Hang on a minute how did you know bogeys change colour if you never pick your nose? Oops. 59
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part A Name: Class: Date: Kensuke s Kingdom 1 What did the narrator s father call the school the narrator went to? AF2 2 Look at the first paragraph, beginning I disappeared What are the main points the writer is trying to make? Tick two. He was twelve when he disappeared. He is ready to tell his story. He has finished school and college. He has had time to think. He owes it to his family and friends to tell the truth. Kensuke made him promise to wait at least ten years. AF6 3 Draw lines to match each character with something the text tells us about them. Character Something about the character the narrator was a great man Stella Artois played football as a child Kensuke loved fixing things the narrator s father had a sixth sense AF2 60 / 3 Total for this page
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part A 4 Tick to show whether the following sentences about the narrator are true or false. The first one has been done for you. The narrator is still a child. True False The narrator feels loyalty towards Kensuke. The narrator was an only child. The narrator finds it easy to save money. When the letter came, the narrator had a feeling that it would change his life forever. AF3 2 marks 5 Look at the final paragraph, beginning Sundays were always special... Find and copy a phrase that means the same as felt at home. AF2 6 This text comes from the beginning of a novel. What main purpose do you think the writer had when writing this text? Tick the best answer. to explain the main events of the novel to introduce the novel s setting to give the background to the main events to set the novel s mood AF6 61 / 4 Total for this page
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part A 7 I want the world to know him as I knew him. What does this mean? Tick one. The narrator knew Kensuke. The narrator wishes everyone could have known Kensuke. The narrator thinks Kensuke should have been famous. The narrator thinks people misunderstood Kensuke. AF3 8 How does the writer create a feeling that something bad is going to happen? Explain your answer as fully as you can, using the text to help you. AF5 2 marks 62 / 10 Total for this test
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part B Name: Class: Date: Being Human 1 Why is snot green? Tick one. One of the bacteria-eating cells in snot is green. One of the bacteria that snot fights is green. One of the bacteria-fighting proteins in snot is green. AF2 2 Look at the first section, starting Ahh the human body and finishing what it really means to be human. What points is the writer trying to make about the human body? Tick three. The human body has been around for a long time. The human body is amazing. The human body is made of meat. The human body can be disgusting. The way the human body works can be perplexing. You shouldn t eat ice cream too quickly. AF6 3 The writer says the human body is a finely tuned machine. What does he mean by this? Tick the best answer. It is temperamental. It is well balanced. It works like clockwork. It performs extremely well. AF3 63 / 3 Total for this page
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part B 4 Look at the section headed What?! What do you learn about snot from this section? Write two things. 1 2 AF2 5 Phagocytes need water in order to survive. How do you know this? Explain as fully as you can, using the text to help you. AF3 2 marks 6 In this text a lot of the headings are questions. Why do you think the writer chose to do this? AF4 64 / 4 Total for this page
Year 6 Summer test 2: Part B 7 In this text the writer characterises snot as both disgusting and useful. a) Find and copy a phrase the writer uses to show snot is disgusting. AF5 b) Find and copy a phrase the writer uses to show snot is useful. AF5 8 What purposes does the writer have for this text? Tick two. to scare to inform to help to instruct to amuse AF6 65 / 10 Total for this text 65