The Comprehension Keys were designed to be used by teachers and teaching assistants to support the teaching of reading during shared, guided and one to one sessions. However, some teachers are finding that the children are keen to use them to support their independent, paired and group reading sessions and a more ‘child-friendly’ set of keys is currently being planned.

The main purpose of the keys is to provide a useful range of question stems to help children develop their understanding and thinking about texts at different levels. The question stems are all based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. In our work with teachers, we have found that many are comfortable asking questions which help assess children’s basic comprehension of a text, but welcome support with questioning to develop higher levels of thinking. An important key to unlocking understanding is the skilled use of questioning hence the question stems cross-referenced with the QCA assessment focuses.

The activities on the backs of the keys are reminders of some of the many practical ways children can be encouraged to engage and interact with text to embed and further unlock their understanding. There is soon to be a downloadable webinar available to support colleagues who may not be familiar with some of those mentioned.

Colleagues in schools regularly acknowledge that there are not enough hours in the day to find/download/make resources etc. The keys were designed to collate and develop information which can be located in many different places (see the further reading) and to make it into a bright, user-friendly resource to enhance every classroom where reading is taught and enjoyed.

Stephanie Johnson
Learning Adviser
Education Excellence

The Comprehension keys are a HUGE hit in my class room. They really stimulate the children into thinking deeper about the books they are reading as it encourages them to adapt the questions to the book they are reading. I use them in Guided Reading sessions and the children are always keen to pick the questions that we should ask and have no idea that they are being challenged!! The question stems are really useful as it takes the pressure off me, the teaching assistant and the children from having to think of a question to ask! The suggested activities on the back of the keys are also very useful and, although we haven't used them to their full potential, the children really engaged with them and it encouraged the quieter children to resopnd.
More recently in the classroom the children have been asking to use them during quiet reading sessions to enable them to ask their reading buddy questions about the books. I am hoping that the children will also use them when they are reading with younger children in the school. I have nothing but praise for these keys and my only issue is that they haven't made smaller sets for the children and I don't have enough copies!!
Hilary - Year 3 Primary School Teacher