Asking Questions: Reading Comprehension
3-4 minutes
One of my favorite memories of time spent with my young children was reading aloud. We carved out time each day to read. Reading was always a part of our daily routine, and it wasn’t reserved as quiet time for a sleepy child to settle down prior to drifting off to dreamland.
For us, reading was active.
We read stories to prepare for many life events – the birth of a new sibling, starting school, visiting the sick or elderly, a conflict with a friend, the loss of a beloved pet. Reading stories that aligned with our life events gave me the opportunity to broach subjects that were challenging.
There is always a book to pave the way for an important conversation.
We read to learn and we read to laugh or for the sheer delight of losing ourselves in the pages of a book.
No matter how little my listeners were, I involved them in the story and paused to get their opinions or ask them questions about what we were reading. These techniques are not hard, and they are a way to build comprehension strategies with your beginning reader.
Asking Questions ❓
As you read with your children, remember the 5W’s to ask your questions. Ask your children Who, what, where, when, and why as you read.
The first four questions are all about literal comprehension.
Who are the characters?
What are they doing?
Where is the story taking place?
When is the story taking place?
But it’s that last W – the why questions – with which you can create magic.
Why questions ask for inference or evaluation. These are the questions for which there may be no right answer, but by asking the questions, you engage your reader in critical thinking and invite them to actively connect with the story.
Why are the characters doing what they are doing?
Why do they feel as they do?
The first question – why are the characters doing what they are doing – invites your readers to think about cause and effect. The cause is what propels the action. The effect is what happens thereafter.
As you read, ask your children for the reasons why something is happening.
Look at these simple examples from The Cat in the Hat.
CAUSE EFFECT
Why are the children sitting inside? It’s too wet to play.
Why does the cat do the silly tricks? He is trying to create fun.
Why is the fish upset? He knows mom will be mad.
Why do the kids clean up? Their mom is coming home.
The Power of WHY 💪
The next questions – why do the characters feel as they do – asks for inference.
We can infer that the children are disappointed by the rain. We can infer that the cat is a fun character or that the fish is a worrier. We can also infer that the children’s mother who says few words at the end of the story has a set of rules for the household.
Asking your children why questions as you read helps them to think past the surface and read between the lines. These questions invite critical thinking.
Sometimes we read books we didn’t like, and these too posed opportunities to ask important questions – the kinds that invite evaluation and analysis.
What didn’t you like?
Why didn’t you like it?
What did the characters do that you didn’t like?
How might the story be better or have an ending you like more?
Finding Meaning🔎
Whether or not they liked the book, I always asked my children to think about deeper meaning in the book.
Why do you think the author wrote this story?
Is there something that we can learn from it?
These are open-ended questions that have no right answers, and you might be surprised by the information that you get from your children when you pose the question. The Cat in the Hat is a fun story, and there isn’t necessarily a moral included. But you never know what your child might say. Some possibilities for The Cat in the Hat could be:
You can always figure out something fun to do.
Don’t let strangers in the house.
Follow mom’s rules.
Always clean up your messes.
Posing this question is more important than the answer you’ll receive (or not) because the question signals to your children that there might be more to the story than meets the eye, and this knowledge, even at a young age, can pave the way for the future when they are asked about symbolism and theme.
Creating Connections 🖇️
And finally, use your reading time to make an active connection to life, because reading isn’t passive. The Cat in the Hat asks:
Should we tell her about it? Now what should we do?Well…What would YOU doIf your mother asked you?Allow your children to answer the question! It invites them to respond directly to the text, and they should. Their thoughts are important, and you can use their answers as a springboard to have a conversation that allows you to impart your values on the subject of truthfulness, such as “I’d always prefer to know the truth, even if you think I’ll be angry. I’ll forgive you because people make mistakes.”
Reading is more than just decoding. Decoding is what allows your beginning reader to sound out the words, recognize them, and get them off the page. But active reading is about comprehending – understanding what the story says and deriving meaning from it. Inviting your child to think about the story and to consider what is stated, as well as what is not explicitly said, paves the path to comprehension.
Enjoy your journey.
