Comprehension
EYFSLIT-R-D001
Understanding and responding to what has been read aloud, including retelling stories, anticipating events, and using new vocabulary (ELG 8).
National Curriculum context
Comprehension at EYFS is developed primarily through adult-led shared reading and storytelling. Children are not yet expected to read independently, so comprehension is achieved by listening to texts read aloud. The ELG focuses on three interconnected skills: retelling stories in own words (which demonstrates active engagement and internalisation of narrative structure), anticipating key events (which shows the child has developed a sense of story arc and can make predictions), and using and understanding recently introduced vocabulary (which reflects the role of rich reading diet in expanding spoken language). These skills are developed through high-quality, repeated reading of picture books, traditional tales, and non-fiction. At Reception, oral language and comprehension are the gateway to all later reading — a child who has heard and internalised hundreds of stories, discussed characters and events, and accumulated a broad vocabulary is well placed for the transition to decoding and meaning-making at KS1.
3
Concepts
1
Clusters
0
Prerequisites
3
With difficulty levels
Lesson Clusters
Practice: Story Retelling, Vocabulary in Comprehension, Anticipation of Story Events
practiceConcepts (3)
Story Retelling
skill AI FacilitatedLIT-R-C001
The ability to retell a narrative heard or read aloud using one's own words, maintaining the correct sequence of events and using story language. Story retelling at EYFS demonstrates active comprehension: the child has understood and internalised the narrative well enough to reconstruct it. Secure retelling incorporates story structure (beginning, middle, end), character reference, and key plot events. It is not memorised recitation but a reconstruction using the child's own language enriched by story vocabulary.
Teaching guidance
Use props, puppets, story maps, and story stones to support retelling. Model retelling explicitly before expecting children to do it alone. Provide repeated readings of the same text before expecting independent retelling. Accept and value diverse retelling approaches — oral, through play, through drawing. Teach story language frames ('One day...', 'Suddenly...', 'In the end...') as tools for retelling. Pair children to retell to each other.
Common misconceptions
Children sometimes confuse retelling with giving a personal opinion or response to a story. They may describe how the story made them feel rather than sequencing what happened. Some children retell only the ending if that was most memorable. Scaffolding with a simple three-part structure (what happened first, in the middle, at the end) helps.
Difficulty levels
Beginning to retell a familiar story with adult prompts, recalling some key events but not always in the correct order.
Example task
After hearing 'The Three Little Pigs' several times, ask: 'Can you tell me the story?'
Model response: 'There was a pig and he builded a house. And the wolf blowed it down. And then... the brick house.' The child recalls key events but jumps around in sequence.
Sometimes retelling a story in the correct sequence with key events, beginning to use story language ('once upon a time', 'then', 'in the end').
Example task
Retell 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' using a story map or picture prompts.
Model response: 'Once upon a time there were three bears and they went for a walk. Then Goldilocks came to their house. She ate the porridge — the first one was too hot, the second was too cold, and the baby one was just right. Then she sat in the chairs and the little one breaked. Then she went to sleep in baby bear's bed. Then the bears came home and she ran away!'
Retelling stories accurately in sequence, using story language and vocabulary from the text, and including details about characters' feelings and motivations.
Example task
Retell a recently heard story without picture support, including how the characters felt.
Model response: Full retelling with correct sequence, story language ('one day', 'suddenly', 'finally'), character names, and emotional detail ('The bear was frightened because he had never been alone before. He felt brave when he found his way home.')
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.
Anticipation of Story Events
skill AI FacilitatedLIT-R-C002
The cognitive skill of predicting what will happen next in a story based on knowledge of story structure, character, setting, and genre conventions. Anticipation demonstrates that the child is actively constructing meaning as they listen, using what they know about narrative patterns to generate expectations. At EYFS, this is typically stimulated through oral prediction activities during shared reading. Increasingly sophisticated anticipation involves drawing on character motivation, genre conventions, and thematic patterns rather than just previous plot events.
Teaching guidance
Pause during reading at high-anticipation moments and ask 'What do you think will happen next? Why do you think that?' Accept and discuss multiple predictions. After the event, return to predictions and evaluate them. Use highly patterned and repetitive stories (cumulative tales, quest narratives, problem-resolution structures) where anticipation is built in. Discuss how familiar knowledge of character traits helps us predict (e.g., 'The wolf is always trying to trick someone, so he will probably...').
Common misconceptions
Children often confuse prediction with preference ('I think she'll find the treasure because I like treasure'). They may also make random guesses rather than evidence-based predictions. Explicitly asking 'Why do you think that?' and connecting predictions to story evidence helps develop genuine inference.
Difficulty levels
Beginning to show awareness that stories have patterns — noticing repeated phrases or predicting what comes next in a very familiar text.
Example task
While reading 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', pause before the repeated refrain. Does the child join in?
Model response: The child says 'We can't go over it, we can't go under it' along with the reader, showing they know the pattern repeats.
Sometimes predicting what might happen next in a story based on the pictures, the title or what has happened so far.
Example task
Show the child the cover of an unfamiliar book. 'What do you think this story might be about? Why do you think that?'
Model response: 'I think it's about a boy who gets lost in the forest because he looks scared and there are big trees. Maybe he finds his way home at the end because stories usually end happy.'
Anticipating key events in stories based on knowledge of narrative structure, character behaviour and genre, and adjusting predictions as the story unfolds.
Example task
Pause part-way through a new story. 'What do you think will happen now? Why?'
Model response: 'I think the fox is going to trick the hen because foxes are usually the tricky ones in stories. And he keeps saying he's her friend but he's looking at her in a sneaky way in the pictures. But I bet the hen will outsmart him at the end.'
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.
Vocabulary in Comprehension
knowledge AI FacilitatedLIT-R-C003
The active use and understanding of newly introduced vocabulary encountered in stories, non-fiction texts, rhymes, and poems. At EYFS, vocabulary in comprehension involves both receptive knowledge (understanding what a word means when heard) and productive use (being able to use the word appropriately in one's own speech, discussion, and play). Rich vocabulary knowledge is directly predictive of reading comprehension at KS1 and beyond. This concept encompasses Tier 2 vocabulary (general academic words used across subjects: enormous, delicate, transparent, anxious) as well as Tier 3 words specific to topics being studied.
Teaching guidance
Explicitly highlight new vocabulary during shared reading: stop, say the word, explain or elicit its meaning, use it in a sentence, and invite children to use it. Revisit target vocabulary across the week in different contexts. Create vocabulary displays and word cards in the reading area. Encourage children to use target words in their own talk, play, and drawing. Sentence stems that include the new word can scaffold early use.
Common misconceptions
Children sometimes know a word receptively but are unable to use it productively. They may give a definition-like response ('enormous means big') but not use the word in natural speech. Providing multiple meaningful exposures in varied contexts, rather than definitions alone, supports productive vocabulary acquisition.
Difficulty levels
Beginning to understand the meaning of new words encountered in stories when the adult explains them, but not yet using them independently.
Example task
While reading, the adult explains 'enormous means really, really big.' Observe if the child responds to the word in context.
Model response: The child nods and points to the picture: 'That IS enormous!' They understand the meaning in context with adult support.
Sometimes understanding and using vocabulary from stories and teaching in appropriate contexts, making links between new words and known concepts.
Example task
After reading a book featuring the word 'miniature', observe if the child uses it during the week.
Model response: During small-world play later that week, the child says: 'These are miniature people for my miniature house.' They have transferred the word to a new context.
Using new vocabulary from stories, non-fiction and teaching accurately in discussion and play, demonstrating understanding through correct usage.
Example task
During a science activity about habitats, observe whether the child uses vocabulary from the week's reading.
Model response: The child says: 'The caterpillar lives on the leaf — that's its habitat. It needs the leaf for food and for shelter from predators.' They use 'habitat', 'shelter' and 'predators' accurately, having encountered them in a non-fiction text earlier in the week.
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.