Questions to Ask When Reading

Asking questions before, during, and after reading is a useful tool in guiding your child’s learning when reading a book together. The questions below come from the BC Ministry of Education website and can be found in the section entitled “Student Achievement – PLOs and Achievement Indicators”. I have reformatted these questions to be a little more parent friendly.

Kindergarten – Suggested Questions/Prompts to Scaffold Learning

Before Reading:
· Look at this book’s cover/ pictures/ illustrations. What do you think this story/ poem/ book might be about?
· Is there anything in the pictures that reminds you of other books? From looking at the pictures, who might be the main character? Tell me what you think this character might be like.
· What do you already know about . . . ?
· What do you think will happen?
· When we are reading this book what shall we look/ listen for?

During Reading:
· What does this picture tell us about the story/ topic?
· What do you think will happen next?
· What are you wondering about as I read this page?
· Ask the question, “Does that make sense?”
· Which letter/ word do you think would fit here?

After Reading:
· Help me put these pictures in the same order as they happened in the story.
· Tell me about the pictures on this page. How did they help you read? What did you learn from looking at the pictures?
· Can you find the part where . . . ?
· Let’s look at our early predictions. What did we find out during the story that changed our ideas?
· Make a picture of your favourite part of the book/ poem/ story in your head. Describe your picture to me.


Grade 1 – Suggested Questions/ Prompts to Scaffold Learning

Before Reading
· Look at this book’s cover/ picture. What clues do the pictures give you about the story?
· Have you read or heard any other books before by this author?
· Is there anything in the pictures that reminds you of other stories?
· From looking at the pictures, who might be the main character? Tell me what you think the main character might be like.
· What do you already know about this topic?
· What would you like to learn about this topic?
· What do we know about this author?

During Reading
· Does that make sense? Is that the way we say it?
· Does that sound right?
· Does that look right?
· Check your prediction. How close were you?
· What do you think will happen next?

After Reading
· What did you learn from looking at the pictures?
· Can you find the part where . . .?
· Read me the part where . . . .
· Was there a word on this page that was hard for you? What can (or did) you do to figure it out?
· What can you tell me about . . . ?


Grade 2 – Suggested Questions/ Prompts to Scaffold Learning

Before Reading
· What clues did the pictures give you about the story?
· What do the illustrations tell you about the characters?
· What do you already know?
· What do you think will happen?

During Reading
· Does that make sense?
· Does that sound right? Is that the way we say it?
· Does that look right?
· What do you think will happen next?
· What connections are you making as you read this part?

After Reading
· Read the part where . . .
· Point to the words that were hard for you. How did you figure them out?
· What were some questions you asked yourself while you were reading?
· What questions do you want to ask the author?
· Tell about one big idea or piece of information you learned from reading this book.


Grade 3 – Suggested Questions/ Prompts to Scaffold Learning

Before Reading
· Look at the cover and read the title. What do you think this book/ selection will be about? What makes you think that?
· Look through the book/ selection. Show me a feature (heading, diagram, table of contents, index) that helps us. How does it help us?
· What questions do you have about (topic)? Tell me about it. What do you already know about . . .?

During Reading
· What are you visualizing from your reading?
· Were there any parts so far that did not make sense to you at first? What did you do to help yourself figure them out?
· What do you think will happen next?

After Reading
· Find the part that tells/ shows . . .
· What questions are still in your mind about this book/ selection?
· Look back at the questions you had before reading. Which of them can you answer now? What did you find out?
· What message do you think the author wants to send to the readers? What are some of the details in the book that helped you decide that?