Questions you can ask your child about what they’re reading
The best thing you can do for your child right now is letting them read real books and texts. This is much much better than having them do arbitrary worksheets or workbooks on reading strategies and skills. For your kids who can’t yet read independently, see the links on this site for reading with and reading to your child. But for your kids who can already read books on their own, what’s helpful is if you take some interest in what they’re reading by asking them questions along the way. [Note: this can be particularly powerful if you are reading the same book, but if you can’t, that’s fine too!]
Generic Prompts/Questions
- Tell me a little about what you’re reading.
- What’s happening in your book right now? (fiction)
- What are you learning in your book? (non-fiction)
Specific/Guiding Questions for Fiction
- What are you learning about the setting? characters?
- What’s the main problem or conflict in your story?
- How did it resolve?
Specific/Guiding Questions for Nonfiction
- What do you already know about the topic?
- What are you learning that’s new?
- What are the most important things you’re learning?
