Looking for reading comprehension questions?

[kls126s]

In 4th grade my teacher would have us read books and then we'd go up to her desk and she'd ask us a few questions to make sure we'd actually read and understood the whole book. (What I really remember is how terrible her smoker / coffee drinker breath was when she whispered to you during reading conferences, but anywhooo...:D)

I'm looking for a resource like that to use. It's looking like I may be working with some other older kids besides my own and on such short notice I'm not sure I'll have everything read that I will assign.

So - can anyone point me to a website where there are lists of readers with comprehension questions for each?

[Kristine out of lurking]

Weeeelllll. Keri, what I think you really want is to ask broader questions, "Tell me about the main character," "What did you like best about the book," "Where and when did it take place," "Did you like the ending, and why or why not." Instead of being passive, it encourages the child to become more engaged in the story.

You can also check out bookadventure.org (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/www.bookadventure.org). That will give you lots of fill-in-the-blank kinds of questions. But those won't teach your kids much about enjoying a book, or get them thinking in the way that I know you would want them to think. (Okay, I don't "know," but I'm pretty well sure!)

The difference would be in asking, "From what town in Wisconsin did Laura and her family move?" to "Why did Pa want to move? What did Ma think about it?"

Just my rambling thoughts as I'm trying to do laundry and make my dh think I'm fixing dinner (as HE bbqs, lol).

[Karen in CO]

Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus (http://www.rfwp.com/series24.htm) is a great little book with questions for a variety of books. They have several levels now. Once you get used to asking those types of questions, it is easier..

Check out Deconstructing Penguins from your library. It follows a couple of moms that started a book group for kids.

Teaching the Classics is a program that will teach you how to teach literary analysis but is probably much more than what you need at this stage.

[kls126s]

Two useful answers. Gotta love it.

Kristine - I agree those are the types of questions I'm looking for. I'm just looking for stop-gap-ready-made question lists since I'm scrambling to prepare for a student I didn't expect and will not have preread everything right at the beginning.

Karen - I remember hearing about Deconstructing Penguins, but haven't read it. Thanks for the recommendation. And thanks for the other book rec too.

[kayinpa]

Hi,

Check out Book Adventure.com http://www.bookadventure.com/

and Drawn into the Heart of Reading (http://www.heartofdakota.com)