reading picture books - activity ideas and questions while reading with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students

Before, During, and After Reading Questions and Activity Ideas

In the course of a school year, you will (hopefully) read countless books to and with your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.  Check out these questions and activity ideas that you can use before, during, and after reading a text with your class.Before Reading / Pre Reading Questions and ActivitiesThere are several no prep strategies you can use before …

teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to ask meaningful questions about a text

How to Teach Students to Ask Meaningful Questions About a Text

Students ask thoughtful, surprising questions all the time, even from a young age.  But for some reason, once they are encouraged to ask meaningful questions in a school setting, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students freeze up – especially if they are supposed to be asking questions about a text. By providing a little scaffolding, upper elementary students can learn …

7 Reasons to Try Socratic Seminars with your Upper Elementary Students

7 Reasons to do Seminar Style Discussions in Your Class

Written by guest blogger Jessica Thompson I always thought I did a good job of facilitating classroom discussions. I would ask questions that required critical thinking, a student would answer, we would discuss, and I would ask another question for another student to answer. I would be so proud of their responses and the learning that was occurring. Then I …

36 questions to help you teach main idea and supporting students - questions based off of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy to encourage higher order thinking

Questions for Your Main Idea and Details Lessons

When teaching upper elementary students about main idea, we often stick with the same questions over and over again.  What is the main idea of the passage?  What details from the passage support the main idea? While these are good questions that students need to know how to answer, there are many other aspects to main idea that students need …

Questions for teaching theme to upper elementary students so you don't keep asking "What is the theme of the story?"

Higher Order Thinking Questions for Teaching Theme

When teaching theme, we tend to focus on questions that center around how to find the theme of a story – questions like, “What is the theme?”  But your upper elementary students will understand theme better and more comprehensively when you use a variety of questions for teaching theme. Use the 36 questions below to help you as you teach …

would you rather questions for compare and contrast lessons - both fiction and nonfiction in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grae

Using “Would You Rather” Questions to Compare and Contrast

“Would You Rather” questions are often used as ice breakers or team builders in the upper elementary classroom. You might have used them to get your kids talking at the  during a Christmas party or end of year party. If used thoughtfully, however, “Would You Rather” questions can be used as a fun way to practice comparing and contrasting with …

higher order thinking questions to help your point of view lessons in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade

Point of View Questions for Higher Order Thinking

Want to get your students thinking more critically during your point of view lessons?  Use the list of higher order thinking questions and stems below to help your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students think about point of view in a variety of different ways.  The 36 point of view questions are organized with Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind.You can also …

36 Questions to Help Make Teaching Character Traits Easier - Promote Higher Level Thinking in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students

Character Trait Questions for Higher Order Thinking

As teachers, we are constantly questioning our students. We all know how important it is to ask our students higher level thinking questions, but often the questions we think of on the spot are more knowledge or comprehension based questions. Questions that encourage students to analyze, apply, or evaluate their learning are harder to come up with on the spot. …

Questions for your text feature lesson plans to help promote higher level thinking in 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders

Higher Order Questions for Your Text Feature Lessons

When we question our students about text features, we often focus too much on having students identify different nonfiction text features.  While this is essential, it is equally important to get our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students thinking more deeply about text features – moving past knowledge and recall questions and into more higher order thinking questions. Below, find …