7 year 6 reading and writing activities to start the year off with a bang

Kick off the new school year with these 7 year 6 reading and writing activities. Perfect for sparking creativity and setting the tone for literacy success.

Looking for fun and purposeful year 6 reading and writing activities to kick off the new school year? These seven tried-and-tested ideas are perfect for building excitement, boosting confidence and setting the tone for a successful year of literacy.

Bingo challenge

As a class, create a ‘bingo sheet’ for reading and invite the children to complete it at home over the first few weeks. This could include ideas such as:

Read to someone younger
Read a page in a funny accent
Read whilst wearing a hat
Read to a group of people
Read lying on the floor
Read for 45 minutes in one go
Read to someone over the phone

The children always love coming up with their own. You could even ask them to take pictures of themselves doing some of them for a class display or website post!

Exquisite corpse

This is a bit like a writing version of the drawing activity “Consequences”. It’s a collaborative and creative grammar game that helps pupils practise sentence structure while having fun. Originally a surrealist drawing and writing game, it can be easily adapted for the classroom to reinforce grammatical knowledge and sentence construction.

Set up: Give each pupil a piece paper in portrait orientation.

Writing and folding: Each child writes a word on the top, then folds the paper to hide what they’ve written. They pass the paper to the next person, who adds the next word, folds it again, and so on. I’ve found that using the words in this order always creates a grammatically correct sentence: determiner, adjective, noun, past tense verb, adverb, preposition, determiner, adjective, noun (so nine in total - make sure the children write small enough to fit nine words vertically down the page!)

Unfold and share: Once all parts have been added, unfold the paper and read the completed sentences aloud. They’re often grammatically correct - but wonderfully silly! For example: The enormous banana danced wildly under the hungry pool.

Vote for a class story

If you've already selected a book that aligns with your initial topic, consider saving it for the following term. By then, students will have the background knowledge needed to better understand and engage with the text - an idea supported by Doug Lemov’s theory on embedding non-fiction. Instead, give your class the opportunity to choose their first book. Present a selection of 5–6 high-quality texts (or more, depending on your time constraints) and explore them together. Show the covers, read the blurbs, and perhaps share the first page of each. Then, invite the children to vote for their favourite!

Dear Future Me

Invite the children to write a letter to their future selves, to be opened at the end of the academic year (this is also a good opportunity for an initial writing assessment). They might include how they’re feeling about the start of the year, personal goals, things they’re excited about, or any worries they have. Be sure to model the activity first, perhaps by writing your own letter to share with the class. Once completed, collect the letters and store them somewhere safe until the end of the year. For an extra special touch, consider burying them in the school grounds and planting something on top: something that will grow and bloom over the year, just like them!

“The rights of the reader”

Inspired by Daniel Pennac’s The Rights of the Reader, this simple yet powerful activity helps year 6 pupils see reading as a personal, enjoyable experience - not just something they do for school.

Start by asking, “What makes someone a reader?” Then introduce Pennac’s 10 reader’s rights, using real examples and encouraging honest discussion. For example:

The right to not finish a book – helpful when choosing free reading texts
The right to read anything – comics, cookbooks, news articles, and even SATs revision guides all count
The right to re-read – many children return to favourites like Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Tom Gates.

Next, split the class into small groups and assign a “right” to each. They create a short sketch, cartoon strip or freeze-frame to illustrate it. Keep it playful! Reading can be serious and silly.

Finally, turn the rights into a display. Children can add quotes, drawings or reading tips linked to each one (you could even link this to the “bingo challenge” above). This becomes a lasting reminder that reading should be full of freedom and choice.

As an extension, pupils could write a short reflection: Which right do you use most? Least? Why?

This activity works well at the start of term: it reminds pupils that they are real readers, with real reading rights - and that reading in year 6 isn’t just all about SATs!

Master sentence structure

It seems to be a never ending bugbear for year 6 teachers: so many children don’t understand what a sentence actually is - and some still aren’t using capital letters and full stops correctly. If you're trying to help your class move away from writing how they speak, The Writing Revolution (TWR) by Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler offers a clear, practical solution. Though published in the US and aimed primarily at secondary education, its structured, explicit approach to writing instruction has proven highly effective in British primary classrooms as well.

The book breaks down writing into manageable techniques suitable for all age groups, with activities labeled as “Level 1” (primary) and “Level 2” (secondary). The first chapter (Sentences: The Basic Building Blocks of Writing) is ideal as a foundation for daily English starters, focusing on developing a strong understanding of what makes a complete sentence. Key strategies include:

Identifying fragments orally: Children recognise sentence fragments and add missing parts to complete them, using familiar content from other subjects.
Correcting standalone fragments: Pupils rewrite fragments on whiteboards as full sentences, often using current curriculum topics.
Spotting fragments in text: Students read short paragraphs and correct embedded fragments.
Unscrambling sentences: Words are jumbled and must be ordered into coherent sentences.
Fixing run-on sentences: Children learn to separate or connect main clauses using appropriate punctuation or conjunctions.

These exercises improve grammatical understanding and sentence structure. TWR also promotes sentence expansion through techniques like "kernel sentences", "because, but, so", and appositives, helping students craft more complex, meaningful writing across the curriculum.

Book round robin

Invite each child to bring in a favourite book they’ve recently enjoyed. Pair up the children and label them A and B. Each child takes one minute to share with their partner why they love their chosen book and why others should read it.

Once both partners have shared, have child B rotate to the next seat, forming a new pair with a different child A. In a class of 30, after a full rotation, each student will have received 15 book recommendations. With so many suggestions, there’s a good chance everyone will find a new book they’re excited to read!

Year 6 is about more than just SATs. These activities strike a balance between structure, creativity, and pupil voice - perfect for boosting confidence and enthusiasm right from the start. You might also explore LbQ’s reading activities as a refreshing alternative to traditional reading tasks. Here's a great example for UKS2: The Ocean's Child.

If you'd like to see more resources from Learning by Questions and try them out with your pupils, you can get a free, no obligation trial of their SATs Springboard: a personalised roadmap for your year 6s.