Roll the cubes before, during and after reading a story to encourage comprehension skills. Each side asks a question, such as “what do the pictures on the cover tell you about the story?” and “What is the main idea of the story?”

Reasons to Love:

•Encourage children to discuss their reading with these dice which add an element of surprise about what the topic for discussion might be.

•Model good discussion during Guided Reading sessions, and then let the children use them independently to discuss their own reading.

•These cubes would work well for groups of children reading the same book, or during a library session where the children are swapping books and want to tell someone about the book they have just read.

Learning Outcomes:

•Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction.

•All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum.

•Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech.