Whitmore-Bolles News

The Importance of Asking Questions

Several parents gathered in our team room this morning to learn more about supporting their children with a specific comprehension strategy: asking questions while reading.

When you see someone using this strategy, you’ll observe readers who are “actively involved in reading by asking themselves questions before, during, and after reading a selection, thus increasing their comprehension of the material.” (Boushey & Moser, 2009) Children need this strategy so that they can remember important details and information, as well as monitor their own comprehension. It is important for students to be able to ask their own questions, and so we are sharing the document below with open-ended questions, or sentence stems, that you can use at home with your child. You can use these questions with any book that your child is reading.

Sentence Stems

For more information about this important strategy, please pick up a copy of the Parent Pipeline across from the main office. You can even comment on this blog post and we will send a copy home with your child!

Reference: The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, “The Sisters.” Copyright © 2009. Stenhouse Publishers