Reading and writing are at the heart of every child’s education. But strong literacy isn’t just about recognising words, it’s about understanding, expressing, and thinking critically. Reading comprehension allows children to make sense of what they read, while writing helps them process and communicate those ideas. Together, these skills build a powerful foundation for lifelong learning. In this article, we’ll explore what reading comprehension really means, when it’s taught, and how tools like Kaligo can support and strengthen it every step of the way.
What Is Reading Comprehension?
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand, interpret, and make meaning from the text a child reads. It goes beyond simply decoding words; it involves thinking about what has been read, remembering key details, and drawing connections to prior knowledge.
Good comprehension means a child can:
- Understand the meaning of the words and sentences
- Follow the structure and sequence of a story or text
- Make predictions about what might happen next
- Talk about and explain what they’ve read
- Ask and answer questions about the content
Reading comprehension is a vital part of becoming a strong reader, and it’s often developed through a mix of reading, discussion, and writing activities.
When Is Reading Comprehension Taught?
Reading comprehension is introduced from the very beginning of a child’s reading journey, often in Reception (ages 4–5), when children begin to talk about pictures, characters, and events in simple stories.
According to the Department for Education’s Reading Framework, comprehension should be nurtured through rich conversations, story sharing, and high-quality texts in the early years. This helps children build the oral language and background knowledge essential for understanding what they read.
It becomes a more structured focus in Year 1 (ages 5–6), when children are expected to:
- Answer questions about what they’ve read
- Retell stories in their own words
- Make simple inferences and predictions
As they move through Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2, comprehension skills deepen to include understanding vocabulary in context, identifying themes, comparing texts, and forming opinions.
In short, reading comprehension is taught alongside phonics and word reading, and continues to develop throughout primary school as texts become more complex and thinking becomes more critical.
How Does Kaligo Help with Reading Comprehension?
By learning to write, Kaligo supports reading comprehension by combining phonics, handwriting, spelling and AI-powered feedback into one personalised, digital learning journey. By writing with a stylus on a tablet, learners get real-time support while developing both motor and cognitive literacy skills.
- Phonics: Kaligo’s scaffolded phonics exercises help children recognise sounds and link them to letters, a critical first step in decoding and understanding words. This foundation allows children to read with more accuracy and confidence.
- Writing: By encouraging children to form letters, write words, and construct sentences, Kaligo builds the skills needed to express ideas and understand written text both key components of comprehension.
- SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar): Fun and interactive SPaG activities improve vocabulary, grammar awareness, and sentence structure essential for making sense of what children read.
- Personalised and Self-Paced Learning: With AI-powered feedback and intuitive progression tracking, Kaligo adapts to each child’s needs. This ensures that children are working at the right level to strengthen comprehension, without feeling overwhelmed.
- Engaging Interface & Independent Learning: Kaligo’s inclusive design encourages independent reading, writing, and listening reinforcing comprehension skills across all literacy areas.
By blending interactive phonics, writing practice, and grammar activities, Kaligo gives children the tools they need not just to read words but to understand and connect with them.
When children write about stories, they retain vocabulary better, improve sentence structure, and develop deeper comprehension.
Our phonics module also builds sound-letter awareness in line with the National Curriculum, helping children prepare for milestones like the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.
Fun Activities to Strengthen Reading Skills
Here are four creative activities that combine reading, handwriting, and imagination perfect for home or classroom settings:
- Book Quote Handwriting Practice
Choose a favourite line from a story and copy it in your neatest handwriting. This boosts spelling, memory, and language appreciation. - Reading Adventures
Let Kaligo’s friendly mascot, Kalicat, guide learners through interactive phonics-led stories that build early reading skills. - Story Retelling Exercise
After reading a short book, ask children to summarise the story in their own words. Use Kaligo’s handwriting tools to support sentence structure and spelling. - Create Your Own Ending
Invite children to write a new ending to a favourite story or create a new one starring Kalicat! This activity strengthens creativity, grammar, and story comprehension.
Start your free Kaligo trial today and support reading and writing success in your classroom!
