Asking Questions is always tough in kindergarten. How many times have you heard a guest in your classroom say, “Does anyone have a question?” You know what’s going to happen and before you can scream “NOOOOO” and stop them, you have ten hands pop up.
“I have a question. My dog had puppies.”
“Did you know I kicked a goal this weekend?”
“My baby sister spit up at the bus stop today.”
Yep, questions are hard. That’s why we have to TEACH them about asking questions. I created a set to help my Kindergarten teachers TEACH asking questions.
Asking Questions: Start with an Anchor Chart
You know I love an anchor chart…and creating the anchor chart with the students can start your unit off on the right foot. We start with a song because singing is the best. THEN, we create the anchor chart by reading a list of words…if the word is an asking word and in our song, we add it to the chart. Another idea is having students participate in writing the statement about asking questions.
If time is short, have them contribute to known words, like in the example.
Asking Questions: Whole Group to Small Group
We need to make sure we are providing explicit instruction and this sentence sort is the best. Students could read the sentences, determine if it starts with an asking word and ends with a question mark to create this sort. This is also a fun time to practice reading with expression. Students can independently create their own sort, circling the question words and coloring the end marks.
The quicker they recognize asking words, the quicker they can respond correctly when someone asks for questions.
Familiar Text for Asking Questions
Another great way to practice asking questions is leading them through questions about familiar texts. Who went up the hill? Where did they go? Where was the water? When did they go? Why did they go? How does Jack feel? We don’t always know all the answers, but we can teach them to think about the text and give “good” or “acceptable” answers. It’s acceptable that Jack and Jill might have to go the well every morning. It is also acceptable to think Jack would be hurt. We could have asked “Why did they fall?”
You’ll love the answers to that one. Once I had a student tell me, “because Jack was acting a fool.”
Students can practice with many familiar texts including their poem of the week. They know the poem, they’ll be able to answer questions about it.
Asking questions can be easy…if we start with explicit instruction and continue with practice, practice, practice. I do have a Small FREE set, just click the link.
The Asking Questions full set is also available on TPT. It has so many options, you can teach this for days and days and days.
This set includes:
- Pre-Made Anchor Chart (full-color and b&w)
- Pre-Made Anchor Chart Bookmarks
- 3 Options Student-Led Anchor Chart models (all materials included)
- Asking Questions Song
- 3 Options Interactive Notebook Pages
- Whole Group Questions vs Statement Anchor Chart Materials
- Independent Questions vs Statement Chart
- Asking Questions Quick Check
- 14 Poems, Nursery Rhymes, and Short Passages for Asking Questions (full-color and b&w)
- Small Group and Independent Center with 6 Familiar Stories and Recording Form
- Small Group and Independent Center with Sentence Completion and Recording Form
- Asking Questions Assessment
- Answer Keys
The Asking Questions set is also in the Reading Comprehension BIG BUNDLE.
