“I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.”
D Level Fiction Questions
Thinking within the Text Retelling
o What is the main idea of the story (central message or lesson of the story)?
o What are some key details from the story (2 to 3), ?
o Retell the story including characters, setting, problem, and solution.
o How did the story end?
o What happened before or after ________________?
o Who is telling the story? Fluency
o What punctuation do you notice on page __________?
o How does this punctuation help you read? (pausing, voice inflection etc.)
o What are these marks called? (point out quotation marks) Why did the author use them?
o What did you notice about (a bolded word from the text)? How does the author want you to read that word?
Thinking beyond the Text Predicting
o During Reading – How do you think the book will end?
o What else might the characters like or do?
o After reading the text, predict what might happen next or what the character will like or do. What clues helped you with this prediction? Making Connections
o How are the characters the same as you?
o What does this story remind you of?
o Can you think of another book that is similar to this one?
o How is the (topic, characters, ending) similar to (title of another book)?
o How is the character the same in this book as in previous books?
o How are the characters and what happens to them in this story the same or different as in a story that you know?
Synthesizing
o Before Reading – What do you know about (topic of book or character)?
o What did you learn about __________ after reading this book? Show where you found this information.
o What are the characters doing in this picture?
o What did you notice about all the things the characters were doing? Inferring
o How were the characters feeling in the book? How do you know?
o What kind of character is _________? How did the author show what this character is like?
o Why did the character ______________? How do you know?
o What pictures helped you know __________? How did the pictures help you?
o How did the author show ___________?
Guided Reading Goal Questions
o Why do you think __________?
Thinking about the Text
o Analyzing
o What was the same about the ________ in the book?
o What did you notice was different? (change in pattern, text features, etc.)
o What was funny in the book? How do you know?
o What do you notice that made the story funny or surprising?
o Talk about what happened at the beginning of the story. Then what happened (events). What happened at the end?
o What did the author do to make the characters or situation interesting?
o What are the major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information?
o How do the illustrations and details in a story help to describe its characters, setting, or events?
o Critiquing
o What did you like/dislike about this (book, beginning, characters, ending)?
o What did you like/dislike about the illustrations in this book?
o What did you think about (book, beginning, characters, ending)? Why?
D Level Nonfiction Questions
What do you already know about this topic? (prior knowledge)
What predictions can you make because of your experiences and what you know?
What connections can you make to other books about ______?
What is something new you have learned from reading this book?
What interesting information did the author choose for this text?
What happened first in the text? next? next?
What does this illustration or text feature mean?
Why was the title a good one for this story?
What do you think of this book? Does it have interesting information?
What did you learn about this book through pictures/graphs?
What does this picture/ map/graphs, etc. mean?