Ready Steady Read Together
Refugee: Fiction Lesson 5
Quiz Time
Start
Questions about the book so far...
Picture Me
Which image is the best match for ‘stay under the radar’?
Sequence Me
Put the events in the correct order:
A) Aleppo had neon malls, glittering skyscrapers and football stadiums.
B) People first lived in the area where Mahmoud lives now.
C) The city was full of bombed-out buildings and heaps of twisted metal.
D) The Old City, the Heart of Aleppo, was built.
Click if correct
Check
Tick Me
What does Mahmoud’s story have in common with Josef and Isabel’s stories?
Tick two:
A threat of violence or injury
B forced to wear an armband
Check
C food shortage
Click if correct
D farms have shut down
Link Me
Link each character from the unit with the ‘push factor’ for them to leave their country:
1 Josef
A To escape armed conflict or war
2 Isabel
B To escape discrimination and persecution
Check
3 Mahmoud
C Lack of food and basic necessities
Click if correct
Speaking Spotlight
TV Journalist
Explore
TV Journalist
What challenges have you faced on your journey so far?
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your life before everything changed?
What event or moment forced you and your family to leave your home?
Who has helped you or supported you along the way?
How did you feel during that moment, and what thoughts were running through your mind?
What do you hope will happen next for you and your family?
Decide roles: Josef / Isabel / Mahmoud and a TV journalist.
Vocabulary
Explore
Hover for definitions!
lurched
mortar
thrashed
rubble
debris
wreckage
Explore
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Let me read today's text
Explore
Mahmoud Aleppo, Syria – 2015
The whole prayer took Mahmoud about seven minutes. While he’d been praying, Waleed joined him. Mahmoud waited for his brother to finish, then rolled up their mats and went back to his homework. Waleed went back to watching cartoons. Mahmoud was just starting a new equation when he heard a sound over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song. A roar like a hot wind rising outside. In the second it took for the sound to grow from a breeze to a tornado, Mahmoud dropped his pencil, put his hands to his ears, and threw himself under the kitchen table. By now he knew what an incoming missile sounded like. ShhhhhHHHHHH – THOOOOOOM! The wall of his apartment exploded, blasting broken bits of concrete and glass through the room. The floor lurched up under Mahmoud and threw him and the table and chairs back against the wall of the kitchen. The world was a whirlwind of bricks and broken dishes and table legs and heat, and Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet. His breath left him all at once, and he fell to the floor with a heavy thud in a heap of metal and mortar.
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Mahmoud’s ears rang with a high-pitched whine, like the TV when the satellite was searching for a signal. Above him, what was left of the ceiling light threw sparks. Nothing else mattered in that moment but air. Mahmoud couldn’t draw a breath. It was like somebody was sitting on his chest. He thrashed in the rubble, panicking. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t breathe! He flailed wildly at the debris, digging and scratching at the wreckage like he could somehow claw his way back to a place where there was air. And then his lungs were working again, raking in great gulps. The air was full of dust, and it scratched and tore at his throat as it went down, but Mahmoud had never tasted anything so sweet. His ears still rang, but through the buzz he could hear more thuds and booms. It wasn’t just his building that had been hit, he realised. It was his whole neighbourhood. Mahmoud’s head was hot and wet. He put a hand to it and came away with blood. His shoulder ached and his chest still seared with every hard, desperate breath, but the only thing that mattered now was getting to his mother. His sister. His brother. Mahmoud pulled himself up out of the rubble and saw the building across the street in raw daylight, like he was standing in midair beside it. He blinked, still dazed, and then he understood. The entire outside wall of Mahmoud’s apartment was gone.
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Strategy Stop
Teach
Your turn
Practise & Apply
Use your text
Practise & Apply
1) By now he knew what an incoming missile sounded like. Circle the word which best completes the sentence.
The word closest in meaning to ‘incoming’ is…
noisy
surprising
expensive
approaching
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
2) For how long had Mahmoud been praying?
Acceptable Answers:
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
3) Using information from the text, place a tick (✓) in one box in each row to show whether each statement is true or false:
True
False
Mahmoud was doing his history homework when the missile hit.
Many buildings in Mahmoud’s neighbourhood were also hit by missiles.
The ceiling light above Mahmoud was sparking.
The only thing that mattered to Mahmoud was to get outside to safety.
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
4) Name two things that show that Mahmoud was desperate to protect himself and survive the attack.
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud…threw himself under the kitchen table
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud…put his hands to his ears
took cover
covered his ears
Text Mark Evidence - nothing else mattered in that moment but air - he flailed wildly at the debris, digging and scratching at the wreckage like he could somehow claw his way back to a place where there was air
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud pulled himself out of the rubble
focused on breathing / getting air
scrambled out of the wreckage
Click on the evidence to reveal acceptable answers
RevealEvidence & Answers
5) Remembering the whole text, put the following events in order. Write a number 1-5 in each box.
Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet from the force of the blast.
Mahmoud was listening to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Mahmoud went to find his mother, sister and brother and saw the wall was gone.
Mahmoud heard a sound and knew it was an incoming missile.
Reveal Answer
Mahmoud rolled up his and Waleed’s prayer mats.
Feedback: Who did what well?
FindRead Talk
EchoRead
ChoralRead
ReadingStrategy
Answers & Text Marks
Other...
To be a book lover, you could...
write alternate endings.
Reveal
Imagine how the story could have ended differently.
If you like this book, you might like...
Copyright Notice
This document has been supplied under a CLA Licence with specific terms of use. It is protected by copyright and, save as may be permitted by law, it may not be further copied, stored, re-copied electronically or otherwise shared, even for internal purposes, without the prior further permission of the Rightsholder. Extracts sourced from: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017 Schools must purchase the original text for full content.
RSRT Y6 L5 Refugee
Literacy Counts
Created on November 21, 2025
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Urban Illustrated Presentation
View
3D Corporate Reporting
View
Discover Your AI Assistant
View
Vision Board
View
SWOT Challenge: Classify Key Factors
View
Explainer Video: Keys to Effective Communication
View
Explainer Video: AI for Companies
Explore all templates
Transcript
Ready Steady Read Together
Refugee: Fiction Lesson 5
Quiz Time
Start
Questions about the book so far...
Picture Me
Which image is the best match for ‘stay under the radar’?
Sequence Me
Put the events in the correct order:
A) Aleppo had neon malls, glittering skyscrapers and football stadiums.
B) People first lived in the area where Mahmoud lives now.
C) The city was full of bombed-out buildings and heaps of twisted metal.
D) The Old City, the Heart of Aleppo, was built.
Click if correct
Check
Tick Me
What does Mahmoud’s story have in common with Josef and Isabel’s stories?
Tick two:
A threat of violence or injury
B forced to wear an armband
Check
C food shortage
Click if correct
D farms have shut down
Link Me
Link each character from the unit with the ‘push factor’ for them to leave their country:
1 Josef
A To escape armed conflict or war
2 Isabel
B To escape discrimination and persecution
Check
3 Mahmoud
C Lack of food and basic necessities
Click if correct
Speaking Spotlight
TV Journalist
Explore
TV Journalist
What challenges have you faced on your journey so far?
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your life before everything changed?
What event or moment forced you and your family to leave your home?
Who has helped you or supported you along the way?
How did you feel during that moment, and what thoughts were running through your mind?
What do you hope will happen next for you and your family?
Decide roles: Josef / Isabel / Mahmoud and a TV journalist.
Vocabulary
Explore
Hover for definitions!
lurched
mortar
thrashed
rubble
debris
wreckage
Explore
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Let me read today's text
Explore
Mahmoud Aleppo, Syria – 2015
The whole prayer took Mahmoud about seven minutes. While he’d been praying, Waleed joined him. Mahmoud waited for his brother to finish, then rolled up their mats and went back to his homework. Waleed went back to watching cartoons. Mahmoud was just starting a new equation when he heard a sound over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song. A roar like a hot wind rising outside. In the second it took for the sound to grow from a breeze to a tornado, Mahmoud dropped his pencil, put his hands to his ears, and threw himself under the kitchen table. By now he knew what an incoming missile sounded like. ShhhhhHHHHHH – THOOOOOOM! The wall of his apartment exploded, blasting broken bits of concrete and glass through the room. The floor lurched up under Mahmoud and threw him and the table and chairs back against the wall of the kitchen. The world was a whirlwind of bricks and broken dishes and table legs and heat, and Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet. His breath left him all at once, and he fell to the floor with a heavy thud in a heap of metal and mortar.
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Mahmoud’s ears rang with a high-pitched whine, like the TV when the satellite was searching for a signal. Above him, what was left of the ceiling light threw sparks. Nothing else mattered in that moment but air. Mahmoud couldn’t draw a breath. It was like somebody was sitting on his chest. He thrashed in the rubble, panicking. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t breathe! He flailed wildly at the debris, digging and scratching at the wreckage like he could somehow claw his way back to a place where there was air. And then his lungs were working again, raking in great gulps. The air was full of dust, and it scratched and tore at his throat as it went down, but Mahmoud had never tasted anything so sweet. His ears still rang, but through the buzz he could hear more thuds and booms. It wasn’t just his building that had been hit, he realised. It was his whole neighbourhood. Mahmoud’s head was hot and wet. He put a hand to it and came away with blood. His shoulder ached and his chest still seared with every hard, desperate breath, but the only thing that mattered now was getting to his mother. His sister. His brother. Mahmoud pulled himself up out of the rubble and saw the building across the street in raw daylight, like he was standing in midair beside it. He blinked, still dazed, and then he understood. The entire outside wall of Mahmoud’s apartment was gone.
From: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017. Licensed under CLA. Do not copy or share.
Strategy Stop
Teach
Your turn
Practise & Apply
Use your text
Practise & Apply
1) By now he knew what an incoming missile sounded like. Circle the word which best completes the sentence. The word closest in meaning to ‘incoming’ is…
noisy
surprising
expensive
approaching
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
2) For how long had Mahmoud been praying?
Acceptable Answers:
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
3) Using information from the text, place a tick (✓) in one box in each row to show whether each statement is true or false:
True
False
Mahmoud was doing his history homework when the missile hit.
Many buildings in Mahmoud’s neighbourhood were also hit by missiles.
The ceiling light above Mahmoud was sparking.
The only thing that mattered to Mahmoud was to get outside to safety.
Reveal Answer
Practise & Apply
4) Name two things that show that Mahmoud was desperate to protect himself and survive the attack.
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud…threw himself under the kitchen table
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud…put his hands to his ears
took cover
covered his ears
Text Mark Evidence - nothing else mattered in that moment but air - he flailed wildly at the debris, digging and scratching at the wreckage like he could somehow claw his way back to a place where there was air
Text Mark Evidence Mahmoud pulled himself out of the rubble
focused on breathing / getting air
scrambled out of the wreckage
Click on the evidence to reveal acceptable answers
RevealEvidence & Answers
5) Remembering the whole text, put the following events in order. Write a number 1-5 in each box.
Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet from the force of the blast.
Mahmoud was listening to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Mahmoud went to find his mother, sister and brother and saw the wall was gone.
Mahmoud heard a sound and knew it was an incoming missile.
Reveal Answer
Mahmoud rolled up his and Waleed’s prayer mats.
Feedback: Who did what well?
FindRead Talk
EchoRead
ChoralRead
ReadingStrategy
Answers & Text Marks
Other...
To be a book lover, you could...
write alternate endings.
Reveal
Imagine how the story could have ended differently.
If you like this book, you might like...
Copyright Notice
This document has been supplied under a CLA Licence with specific terms of use. It is protected by copyright and, save as may be permitted by law, it may not be further copied, stored, re-copied electronically or otherwise shared, even for internal purposes, without the prior further permission of the Rightsholder. Extracts sourced from: Refugee by Alan Gratz © 2017 Schools must purchase the original text for full content.