Question Prompts for Reading Comprehension
Creating question stem cards and organizing them in a way that makes them easy to use is one of the best things I did to enhance the quality of my questioning during reading instruction.
I noticed I was getting in the habit of asking the same types of questions during read aloud, whole class novel studies, guided reading and other reading activities. I knew my students could really benefit from exposure to more types of questions and prompts that encourage them to cite text evidence.
Why is Questioning Important?
Questioning is a life long skill. It isn’t just used in reading. We ask questions about what we see, read and hear all the time. Knowing how to ask questions, what types of questions to ask and how to find answers to questions is a skill students will carry with them forever.
Asking questions before, during and after reading helps students…
- focus the intent of their reading
- dig deeper into a text
- clarify meaning
- be aware of why they are reading a text
- clarify the authors purpose and point of view
How I Generated Question Prompts
Using the College Career and Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, I pulled together a huge list of question prompts. I knew these prompts could be used with a wide variety of literature and informational texts.
I created question prompts in each of the Anchor Standard Strands, including:
- Key Ideas and Details
- Craft and Structure
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
How I Organized My Question Prompts
I typed up a question card for each of the different question prompts I had listed. I am currently at 187 question prompts!
To organize all these cards, I typed the related standard number on the bottom of each card, and copied the questions on a different colored card stock for each standard.
To complete my project, I hole punched each card in the upper left corner, and assembled them all onto a binder ring.
How I Use My Question Prompt Cards
The question stem cards I made can be used for practically any text students encounter. I use these question prompts with my students during reading, science, social studies, math, and health. Anytime we are reading a text, I try to intentionally use questions to fit the text. Some examples of how I use the question prompts in subject areas other than reading:
- Social Studies– when we are reading about the American Revolution, I incorporate texts from different authors and we analyze the author’s purpose, point of view, what the tone of the text is and how those things influence us as the reader
- Science– this is a great opportunity to ask questions about academic vocabulary, main idea, details, and structure of text. When doing science experiments with my students, I ask intentional questions about how the text is organized, word choices, and author’s purpose.
- Health– health texts have a lot of opportunities for cause and effect questioning, academic vocabulary, and text structure.
- Math– this is another subject full of academic vocabulary, leading to questioning about how to determine word meanings. Sequencing and author’s purpose are also things I ask questions about in math texts, especially when reading about the “how-to” of math formulas and algorithms.
I encourage you to organize your own questioning in a way that easily allows you to incorporate question prompts from all standard areas and across all subject areas.
Looking for a Set of Question Prompt Cards?
If you like how I created and organized my questioning cards, are looking for a set of questions that are ready for you to print and go, I have the set of cards I use in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Just click on the image below to see more details about the product!
How Do You Organize Your Questioning?
What are your questioning strategies? How do you organize your question prompts so you don’t get stuck asking the same questions all the time? I would love to hear your suggestions!
