Forming Questions About Reading

You will learn how to form deeper questions at every part of reading, before you start, while you are reading, and after you finish. Asking good questions helps you check if you really understand the story. It also helps you dig into the details and big ideas hiding inside the words.

Before you even open to the first page, you can ask questions using clues like the title, the cover picture, and the chapter names. These questions help your brain get ready to read.

Try asking yourself, "What do I think this story is about?" or "What do I already know about this topic?" Thinking about these questions first makes it easier to understand the story once you start reading it.

The most important time to ask questions is while you are reading. Good readers stop every few pages to check on themselves. This is called checking your understanding.

You might ask, "Why did the character make that choice?" or "What does this word mean?" If a word or a part of the sentence confuses you, stop and ask a question about it instead of just reading past it.

You can also ask, "What do I think will happen next?" This kind of question is called a prediction. Predictions keep your mind active and help you notice new details as the story goes on.

After you finish reading, it is time to ask questions that pull the whole story together. Try asking, "What was the main idea of this story?" or "What did I learn from reading this?"

You can also ask yourself, "Could I explain this story to a friend?" If the answer is no, go back and reread the parts that felt confusing. Rereading helps you find details and evidence you may have missed the first time.

Simple questions with who, what, and where help you find facts. But deeper questions use words like why and how, and they make you think harder about the story.

Imagine a story about a girl who plants vegetables instead of flowers in her garden. A simple question is, "What did she plant?" A deeper question is, "Why did she choose vegetables instead of flowers?" Answering that question means looking closely at the story for clues about her reasons.

Deeper questions help you understand not just what happened, but why it happened and how it connects to the bigger ideas in the story.

Predict: To guess what might happen next in a story using clues you have read so far.

Main idea: The biggest, most important point the whole story is about.

Check understanding: Stopping to make sure you know what is happening in the story so far.

Deeper question: A question that uses why or how and makes you think harder about reasons and ideas.

Evidence: Proof or clues found in the story that help answer your questions.

Reread: To read a part of the story again to find details you might have missed.

Pick a short book and ask one question before you start reading, based only on the title and cover picture. Then stop after every few pages and ask yourself one why or how question about what just happened.

When you finish the book, ask yourself what the main idea was and try to explain the story to someone else using your own words. If you get stuck, go back and reread the part that confused you.

Related lessons

• Asking Text Comprehension Questions