Last week, I announced that I was going to begin a blog series on exploring the ELA standards. Today, I bring you the first blog post in the series. I am going to start with the first standard in Literature AND Informational domains: Ask and Answer Questions.
[Ask and Answer Questions]
What are the Standards?
The ask and answer standard spans kindergarten, first, second, and third grade, as well as both domains (informational and literature). In fourth grade, the focus will shift to drawing inferences.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.1- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1- Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1- Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1- Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate an understanding of key details in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1 – Ask and answer questions to demonstrate an understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1- Ask and answer questions to demonstrate an understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
Five Key Tasks for Teachers:
1. Get students’ prior knowledge on questioning with an anchor chart and lots of accountable talk.
Start with a simple anchor chart with the words “What is a question?” Have students record their answers on sticky notes and place them on the chart. Then, have a discussion about what questions are and why we intentionally use them when we are reading.
2. Distinguish between asking and answering questions.
(Anchor chart from RL1.1, RL2.1, RL3.1 Lesson)
Make sure students know how to ask a question and answer a question. Teaching students to answer questions is much easier (at least for me) than teaching them to ask questions. Students have answered questions their entire lives. They know the skill of listening to the question and figuring out the answer. The skill of reading a text and asking questions before, during, and after is a tough skill in teaching.
Try with a very basic fictional text that they know well, such as The Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks. Have them create a few questions and answer a few questions with a partner. If you’re studying informational texts, show images of items and ask them to create questions based on the pictures. Or find a popular topic that primary students like, such as dinosaurs or sharks and ask questions for them to answer.
(Printables taken from my RI.2.1 unit.)
Using passages and real fiction/nonfiction stories is very important for kiddos to get practice. Whether you’re teaching them to ask about an informational topic or a fictional story they just read, students will need to learn how to answer text-based questions and ask questions based on pictures and events in the text.
3. Distinguish between thick and thin questions.
(Anchor chart from my RI.1.1 mini-lesson)
Whether they’re called thick, thin, strong, simple, or easy-peasy, teaching students to go DEEPER with their questioning is very important. Start by making an anchor chart and use the provided questions on the topic of sharks. Students have to decide if the question asked is a strong question or a simple question.
(Mini-Lesson Anchor Chart-toppers and Printable taken from my RI.2.1 unit.)
Students will need practice in defining the difference between strong and simple questions. However, you don’t want to use the activity and stop there. As they work through asking and answering questions lessons (and even in day-to-day lessons), make sure that student’s answers are always strong and text-based. Facilitate discussions around the asking and answering of questions, reinforcing good examples with praise and recording them on your charts!
4. Teach the text-based strategy.
(Activity taken from my RI.1.1 lesson)
Text-evidence is a huge skill for primary students. Teaching them how to find an answer by looking back in their text will help them throughout middle school, high school, and college. The more they practice, the stronger they will get.
(Passage and Questions taken from RL.3.1 and RI.1.1)
These skills can be scaffolded so that students truly master the skill. Start with guided prompts that require students to color/underline/highlight text evidence for specific questions or skills. Later, as students have picked up this skill, prompt them to note the text evidence on their own.
5. Let them practice in many different ways.
While passages and comprehension questions are always a huge skill for students to master, we don’t want to limit them to the same activity each day. During my centers and small group activities, I would try to use task cards and interactive notebook activities to help practice the same skill while still changing things up.
(Task cards taken from RL.3.1, Interactive Notebook Template taken from RL.2.1)
Ideas for Practice:
- Turn and Talk activities, whole group
- Task Cards
- Interactive Notebooks
- Passages
- Read to Self Self-Checking Cards
- Read to Someone Self-Checking Cards
Mentor Texts for Ask & Answer Questions
Need some strong read alouds and mentor texts for this standard? All the books that are linked below are linked to affiliate Amazon links.
Ask and Answer Questions (RL1.1, RL2.1, RL3.1)
Key skills to hit: questioning, inferring, predicting
- Why by Richard Torrey
- The Raft by Jim LaMarche
- Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant
- First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
- Baghead by Jarret Krosoczka
- Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
- Hello, Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari
- Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
- Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
Ask and Answer Questions (RI.1.1, RI.2.1, RI.3.1)
Key skills to hit: answering text-dependent questions and asking strong questions for more information
- Odd Boy Out by Don Brown
- Hurricanes! by Gail Gibbons
- What Makes a Magnet? by Franklyn Branley
- What If You Had Animal Ears? by Sandra Markle
- Whose Tools Are These? by Sharon Katz Cooper
- A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla
Resources That Are Ready to Go!
Check out these Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade units in my Elementary Nest shop!
Do you want your own Deconstructed Ask & Answer Worksheet?
FREE ASK & ANSWER DECONSTRUCTED STANDARDS PRINT-OUTS
Grab the pre-made deconstructed standards for Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade here! This will help you fully understand each standard while you’re planning your instructional unit.
We recently did a deep dive into the ask-and-answer standard by deconstructing it and discussing the important elements of this ELA standard. To read more about it, head over to that blog post by clicking here!
This blog post is the first post in a blog series! Next up is retelling and recounting!
