Helpful Tools and Hints

Here are some questions you, as parents, can ask to help ensure your child comprehended his or her reading:

1. Before reading, ask questions such as:

• What do you think the story will be about?  What gave you that idea?  Discuss the title and illustration on the cover.

• What kind of book do you think this might be? (Ex: For lower grades you might discuss if it will be funny, sad, fiction or non-fiction.  For upper grades, you can discuss what kind of genre the book might be, such as historical fiction, science fiction, non-fiction, etc.)

2.  During reading, ask questions such as:

• What do you think will happen next?

• Why do you think that event happened?

• Who are the main characters and what is their part in the story?

3.  After reading, ask questions such as:

• What did you like most or least about the story?

• Which character interested you the most?  Why?

• Was there anything in the story you didn't understand?  If so, what?

• Did you expect the ending to be that way?  If not, what did you think would happen?