How do you know what he knows?

It’s easy to think that once we’ve been through the daily ritual of reading the school reader, that the job is done. Not so. As reading is about gaining meaning from text we need to see what our children have understood about what they have read. Or in reading terms, we need to check their comprehension.

Many children can show reading fluency - being good at decoding words and drawing upon picture clues - but their understating of the finer details of the story may be minimal.

Blank’s Levels of Questioning helps us to know what questions to ask to check comprehension. Level 1 questions are the most direct with level 4 questions probing understanding to a greater degree.

Just tonight after Oscar read a story about what to do if there’s a fire in the house I asked him, “What would you do if you smelled smoke?” He replied with a cheeky grin, “I’d check to see if dad was cooking a bbq!”

Try a few of these questions with your child. You may be surprised at his answers!

Blank’s Levels of Questioning

Level 1 – Right There
Find one like this.
What’s this?
What colour is this?
What did the...say?
What can you see?
Show me the...
Is it X or Y?
Who is this?

Level 2 – Think and Search
Find one that is/can...
What’s happening?
Who is...?
When did...?
Where’s the...?
Finish this sentence...
What is this for?
Tell me about this thing?
What does it do?
Find one that is X and Y.
How are these different?
What else is X? (category)
What else could they...?

Level 3 – The Author and You
What will happen next?
What is...going to say?
How did he...?
How else could he do it?
How are these the same?
What’s your favourite...?
Tell me one that’s not...
What is a...?
Which one is...?
How did he feel?
What have they done so far?

Level 4 – In Your Head
What will happen if he...?
Why did you pick that one?
How did that happen?
What could he do?
What would you do if...?
Why is it made of that?
How can we tell?
Why can’t he...?
Why do you like that one?
If you were X, what would you say/do?

(Reproduced thanks to the grade 1 teachers at Immanuel Lutheran College, Sunshine Coast, Australia)