QUESTIONING
STRATEGY

PARENT USES FRIENDLY QUESTIONS TO ENCOURAGE THE CHILD TO TALK ABOUT THE BOOK

Ask a wide variety of question types, using the CROWD technique:
Completion Questions:  Have your child fill in the blank in the sentence.  (ie: “Alexander had a ________ ________ No Good, Very Bad Day.”)

Recall Questions:  Factual questions about the story. IE:  “Do you remember what Alexander found in his cereal?”

Open-Ended Questions:

Do you think....?

How would you feel if...?

Tell me about your...?

Wh-Questions:

Who do you think...

What do you think...

Where do you think...

When do you think...

Why do you think...

Distance Questions: Connects the story to real life.  (ie:  “Have you ever had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?  Tell me about it.”)

Friendly questions encourage your child to learn to think for himself, use longer sentences and develop language and vocabulary skills.

When asking factual questions consider asking your child to tell you what they “think” the answer is to reduce the stress of requiring them to come up with one specific “right” answer.

Ask only 1-2 questions per page.

Ask different types of questions each time you read the book.

You do not have to ask questions every time you read a book.

 

SUGGESTED BOOKS FOR QUESTIONING

Mary Wore Her Red Dress. By Merle Peek

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. By Judith Vioist

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear By Audrey Wood

Fire Engines By Anne Rockwell

Better Not Get Wet, Jesse Bear! By Nancy White Carlstrom