Asking questions is such a fun comprehension reading strategies to teach! It’s among one of my favorites for sure!
I love the mystery in it. I love how the books used for this skill get readers asking questions that make them want to keep reading.
*This post contains affiliate links.
**The free, printable page can be found at the END of this post. Click on the teal, download button.
Teaching Learners about Asking Questions
Readers ask questions before, during, and after reading. This is how we prep our minds to learn or read more. But not every kind question does this for readers.
We need to be explicit about the kinds of questions that are “good” questions to ask as we are reading. This is especially important for beginning readers and struggling readers, who probably won’t understand the difference unless we spell it out. Here are three simple guidelines below.
Good questions:
- are something we really wonder about
- are questions we don’t already know the answer to
- may require more reading/research
Of course, the books we choose to model asking questions makes all the difference. Feel free to find a book list for asking questions right here on my blog, too!
Asking Questions using “Grandfather Twilight”
One of my favorite books for teaching learners this comprehension skill is Grandfather Twilight. I love it because it elicits questions at the beginning, middle, AND end of the book.
You can use our simple Asking Questions printable for questions before, during, and after reading. These are some of the questions my K and 2nd grader had. I recorded their questions in the chart.
Looking at the cover, learners can record questions they have before reading like, “Why does he look like he’s glowing?”
While reading, learners will have questions like, “What will he do with the pearl?”
After reading, learners may still have questions like, “Does he do this every night?”
After reading, we also explored their questions together. Who exactly is Grandfather Twilight and what exactly is happening in the book? These are some great discussions to be had!
Find all the posts in our Teaching Comprehension Reading Strategies with Picture Books series!
Enjoy teaching!
~Becky
This is so helpful and TRUE! This blog really speaks to me! It is really a great blog post to read and I found some interesting tips. So thanks for sharing it with us.