How to Ask Your Child Open Ended Questions During Reading
Whether your child is 6 months old or 6 years old, asking her open-ended questions when reading is important. It gives your child the opportunity to add her own response to the dialogue. It also encourages her to think about different perspectives of the story. Analyzing these varying aspects of the story increases reading comprehension and the ability to look at ideas from multiple facets. As a parent, learning how to ask open-ended questions is easy.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
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1
Ask questions that have neither a correct nor incorrect answer. An example of an open-ended question is: What would you do if a monkey was chasing you? Your child's answer could be any number of things; therefore, the question is open-ended.
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Focus on all the possible answers your child could say rather than one you desire to hear. Don't steer the question to a specific outcome. An example of steering the question is: Do you think the sky is really blue? This question is not necessarily closed-ended, but it doesn't give him much room to express a point of view.
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Be imaginative. The point of asking open-ended questions is to provoke thought in your child. The more thought-provoking your questions, the more he will think about the answers and analyze the story's content.
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4
Ask your child open-ended questions periodically throughout the story. While asking a question after every line may be tedious, asking a question every page or two will add to the story time experience. This will make it more fun for you and your child.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Be silly and fun with some of your questions. This will keep your child's interest piqued and make story time an exciting event.
Don't let your child interrupt to express various thoughts out of turn. Establish a respect for the person reading the story and show that there is a time when additional dialogue is appropriate.
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