Using Details To Answer Questions

When someone reads you a story, small details help you understand it better. Details tell you who is in the story, what happens, where it happens, and when it happens. When you use these details, you can answer questions about the story the right way.

Details are small pieces of information in a story. They are like puzzle pieces. Each detail tells you something small, but when you put them together, you understand the whole story.

Some details tell you about a person or animal. Some details tell you about a place. Some details tell you about a time, like day or night. When you notice these details, you can use them to answer questions.

Four small questions help you find the right details in a story: who, what, where, and when.

Who asks about the person or animal in the story. What asks about the thing that happens. Where asks about the place. When asks about the time.

Think about a story where a dog named Max plays in a park in the morning. Who is in the story? Max the dog. What happens? Max plays. Where does it happen? At the park. When does it happen? In the morning. Each answer comes from a detail in the story.

Detail: A small piece of information in a story, like a name, a place, or a time.

Who: The question that asks about the person or animal in a story.

What: The question that asks about the thing that happens in a story.

Where: The question that asks about the place in a story.

When: The question that asks about the time in a story.

Answer: The reply you give when you use a detail to respond to a question.

When someone asks you a question about a story, you look for the right detail. You do not guess. You think back to the words or the picture and find the detail that matches the question.

Think about a story where a girl named Rosa finds a shell at the beach on a sunny day. If someone asks, "Who found the shell?" you answer using the detail: Rosa. If someone asks, "Where did she find it?" you answer: at the beach. If someone asks, "When did this happen?" you answer: on a sunny day. Each answer comes straight from a detail in the story.

Think about a story where a boy named Sam feeds his fish before school. If someone asks, "What does Sam do?" you use the detail from the story to answer: he feeds his fish. You do not add something the story did not say.

After you hear or read a story, try asking yourself who, what, where, and when. Say the answers out loud using details from the story, not your own guess.

Look at a picture from a story. Point to the person or animal and say who they are. Point to the place and say where the story happens. Then try to guess when it happens by looking for clues, like the sun, the moon, or snow in the picture.

Ask a family member to read you a short story. After you finish, ask each other one who question, one what question, one where question, and one when question. Answer using details from the story.

Related lessons

• Recalling Information To Answer Questions