Curiosity is a significant part of a child’s development. Curious children seek out solutions and explore new situations and ideas. All while building their knowledge of the world. It seems all too appropriate then, that an important part of a child’s primary school career is spent cultivating the language needed to ask and answer questions. One way this is done is through asking and answering questions about the books that they read.

Question Words in the Standards

The Kindergarten Common Core Standards, taught in most California classrooms, requires children to ask and answer questions about literature (or fiction) and informational texts (or non-fiction). These standards follow students until 3rd grade. Consequently, students have four years to master asking and answering questions about a text.

Looking at the Standards

Here is a look at the standards for asking and answering questions about literature. In kindergarten, the standard states, “with prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.”

In 1st grade “with prompting and support” is removed so that the standard reads, “ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” Consequently, once a student moves on to 1st grade he or she is expected to be able to ask and answer questions without the help of an adult.

By 2nd grade, students need to know all the question words, the standard says, “ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.”

Key details in the text can refer to story elements like setting, characters and their traits, major events, problems and solutions.

Thus, as your student needs to be more and more independent as they move up through the grade levels. What that means is that over a two year period, from kindergarten to 1st grade, a student is incrementally learning how to ask and answering questions and that, ultimately, this will indicate the student’s comprehension of the text.

In the Classroom

In your child’s classroom, or in your own classroom, the question words should be posted. The question words are who, what, when, where, why, and how. Even for children as young as 4 or 5, being exposed to this visual (and having the teacher reference it) will help orient their learning.

Some teachers, especially those of language learners, teach the subjects of question words explicitly. For instance, who questions ask about people, what questions ask about things, when questions ask about time, where questions ask about places, why questions ask about reasons, and how question ask about procedures (among other things like quality or quantity).

Asking and answering questions is an activity in oral language development. Consequently, these standards should produce a conversion between the teacher and students.

Continuing the Conversation at Home

Chances as, if your child is a native English speaker going into an English speaking classroom, they already have a good command of asking questions (especially “whyyyyyy?”). Sometimes there is confusion about the use of certain words, but for the most part these get sorted out before entering Kindergarten.

So how do we get students to start asking questions about the books we read to them (and then later that they read themselves)? It starts with good modeling. Modeling how to ask questions can begin in small chunks as a bedtime routine. Look at the front cover of a book you would like to enjoy with your child. Ask questions about what you see there. This would be a great time to start exposing them to words like characters, setting, events. Here are a few examples of questions that you can start asking your child early on: Who is this character? What is the setting of the story? When does this happen in the story, beginning, middle, or end?

You may have to do some explaining with words like characters and setting, but your child will catch on quickly if you are consistent. After you’re done reading, re-visit a few of the questions that you asked when you began reading. Again, this should be quick, maybe 1 – 2 questions a night. Additionally, this practice can be done with simpler books as wells as chapter books. Merely asking a child (a 2nd grader for instance), “what happened in this part of the story?” will do wonders for their comprehension and prep them for doing this activity in the classroom.

Once your child becomes an expert in answering your questions, it’s time to flip the script. You can easily make this into a game where your child asks you questions about the text (either before or after) and requires you to provide answers. Your child’s teacher will be impressed by how well your child processes what is read in the classroom, guaranteed.

Conclusion

As with most of the articles I write, time spent conversing one on one with your child does the most good for their development. Conversing with purpose and in alignment with what they will experience in school makes this time all the more meaningful. If you’re looking to further maximize reading with your child, especially at bedtime, check out this article 5 Ways to Make Reading Time More Meaningful.

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