Questioning

Kelli Mauch
  

Potpara, L. & Prap L. Why?                                          
This book has lots of questions about animals. For example “Why do zebras have stripes?” or “Why do kangaroos have pouches?.” The book provides both real and silly answers to the questions presented throughout this book. This is a very fun book that kids would greatly enjoy.

Strategy connection: This book shows students that it is ok to have questions. Some of these questions may seem silly but they are questions that many students could possibly have. Although there are both silly and real answers provided students are able to see that questioning is normal and people may have the same questions as them.




Curtis, J. Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery

This book is full of different questions that arise when a little boy lets go of his balloon. This book will make you think about what happens when you let a balloon go up into the sky. Questions throughout the book range from “Do they keep going up? Can they ever just stop?” to “Are they always alone? Do they meet up in pairs?”

Strategy Connection: This book would be a great book to introduce questioning. It gives many examples of lots of different questions. As silly as some questions are throughout the book it will encourage students that no question is to silly to ask if they are really wondering what the answer is to the question they are pondering.



Steig, W. When Everybody Wore a Hat
This book is about the author’s life growing up back around 1916. The author says how they had no TV’s, very few electric lights, car, or telephones. He also talks about how his family came to America from the Old Country. The book talks about his parents speaking many different languages to the activities and things that him and each of his family members did.

Connection to strategy: This is a great book to get kids to ask questions about what life way back before they were alive. What did kids do before there was TV and video games? There were also other situations that do not come up very often for kids the question and that is the fact that he talks about his parents arguing. Is it normal for parents to argue? Do all parents argue? There are many questions this books could trigger in a students mind. It would be a great book for students to keep track of their questions as they are reading.


Carly Friedland


Barrett, J. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

The book tells the story of the town Chewandswallow, a place where the weather came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone ate came from the sky. It rained soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and peas. Te wind blew in storms of hamburgers. The residents of Chewandswallow had a great life. They always had delicious food falling from the sky, so they never had to buy food. However, when the weather starts to take a turn for the worse, the residents of Chewandswallow need to figure out how to get themselves out of a big mess.

Strategy Connection: This story portrays a situation that could never happen in real life. When children are shown the idea of this crazy town, they can begin to question the events in the story. Some questions that are likely to arise include: Why does food fall from the sky? Is there any kind of real weather in Chewandswallow? What happens if you don’t like the food that falls? Can the food hurt a person if it falls on them? How do they clean up the food that falls on the ground? When the food storms begin, what will happen to the people of Chewandswallow? These are only a few of the questions that students may come up with. Some of these questions are answered in the text, and others are left to be discussed and debated.




Hoban, R. Bread and Jam for Frances.

Frances is a very picky eater. The only food she likes to eat is bread and jam. Her mom makes lots of delicious food for the whole family, even baby Gloria. But Frances prefers bread and jam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One day, Frances’s mom does not make her eggs in the morning, a special lunch, or spaghetti for dinner. Frances only gets bread and jam. Frances soon realizes that there are other foods for her to try and she no longer wants to eat just bread and jam.

Strategy Connection: This book promotes questioning because it gets children to think about their own life. Frances’s situation is one that they may come across in their lives. Frances is also a very curious creature, so children will probably have questions about her. Some questions may include: why does Frances only eat bread and jam? Why doesn’t Frances like other food? Why does Frances sing about everything? Why does Frances get upset when her mother gives her bread and jam and not other foods? Will Frances ever try other foods? Some of these questions can be answered in the text, and others are not answered.




Dr. Suess. The Lorax.
The Lorax is about the Street of the Lifted Lorax. It used to be a beautiful place with lots of Truffula Trees. It was colorful and clean. Then one day, the Once-ler came to town. He saw the trees and chopped one down to make a Thneed. He made money on his Thneed, and continued chopping down trees to make more. The Lorax came to the Once-ler and warned him that he must stop chopping down the trees. However, the Once-ler did not stop and continued cutting down tree after tree. The animals could no longer live there, the water and air were polluted, and it was no longer green and beautiful. It warns readers of the dangers of cutting down trees and what it can do to the environment.

Strategy Connection: This book relates to real life because it shows the dangers of hurting the environment. Students can come up with many bigger questions from this book. Some examples of questions include: Why won’t the Once-ler listen to the Lorax? What is going to happen to the land? What would happen if all the trees were cut down in real life? These questions can lead to debate and discussion.

Lily Harrison



Houston, G But No Candy

Lee loves her Hershey’s bars. She goes every day to the local store and buys one for a nickel. But one day, the store no longer has candy bars. Lee learns it is because of the war. Her Uncle Ted soon leaves to fight in the war and Lee works with her family on the home front to help in the war effort. Still, Lee hopes every day for candy and she also hopes for her Uncle Ted to come home. The war keeps going but eventually it ends and Uncle Ted returns with a Hershey’s bar for Lee. Lee is so excited to eat it but when she takes a bite, she realizes candy is less important than the return of her Uncle and goes to spend time with him instead.

Questioning Strategy Connection: This book can help to promote questioning by taking children into a different time in our history yet still keeping the story relevant to them through the idea of candy. By investigating a different time in our history, children will be able to come up with questions about what life was like during World War II, why World War II began, etc. Using historical fiction can be a great starting place to ignite children’s interests and help them to develop questions and sometimes answers, as they read.



MacLachlan, P Sarah Plain and Tall
Sarah Wheaton answers an advertisement to become a wife of a widow with two children. She has never met this man or his two children before but moves from Maine anyways to become their mother. With her, she brings her cat Seal and the children fall in love with her. But Sarah misses the sea and one day takes the buggy to town and the children worry she is leaving them to return to Maine. Yet, Sarah returns because she loves the children and their father even more than she loves the sea. Sarah and “Papa” marry and they become one happy family.

Questioning Strategy Connection: Sarah, Plain and Tall would be an excellent choice to promote the strategy of questioning because it too, takes place at a different historical time. Since children are so unfamiliar with any time period different than their own, reading about the prairie and moving a thousand miles away from one’s home to get married to a stranger can help spurn different questions. Reading about anything that is different than what we are used to is a great way to teach questioning because new ideas come with a multitude of questions.




DePola, T Now One Foot Now the Other
Bobby does everything with his grandfather, Bob. Bob helped Bobby learn to walk, they’d always play with blocks, and Bob would tell Bobby wonderful stories. Yet one day, Bobby’s grandfather had a stroke and was in the hospital. He learned that Bob couldn’t talk, walk, and didn’t know who anyone was. Bobby didn’t know what to do and he missed Bob very much. Bob came home from the hospital and Bobby was scared of him because he was so different. But Bobby refused to believe that Bob didn’t know who he was and started to help Bob by teaching him to eat, told him stories, and taught him to walk. Bob grew stronger and stronger every day.

Questioning Strategy Connection: Using this story can help to promote students’ questions about the process of getting older and what happens when a person has a stroke. This story is a great starting point for allowing students to develop their own questions about both topics and can inspire them to find out the answers. It is a great learning tool for asking questions and trying to find out answers through the text or in other sources.


Sam Leone




Shulman, L The Moon Might Be Milk

The book is about a girl who questios what the moon is made of. Throughout the book she asks some of her animal friends what they think the moon is made of. The animals have different answers. All the animals’ answers contain an ingrident. The girl and the animals finally goes to her grandmother’s house to ask her what she thinks the moon is made of. When the girl and animals arrive at the house, they find all the things they thought the moon was made of on the kitchen counter. The grandmother uses all the ingridents to make cookies. The girl believed that the moon is one giant sugar cookie.

Strategy connection: The book uses the questioning strategy because it shows children that they should not be afraid to ask questions. This book makes students think of questions that they have about different things they observe in the environment. Also this book promotes students to seek answers to their own questions. The teacher might ask the children what they think the moon is made of and they can research this to support there question. Also, the teacher can students think of own question they are curious about.



Lowry, L Number of Stars

The book is about a ten year old girl and her best friend living during World War II. In 1943, there life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and Nazi soldiers. The Nazi start invading Demark, and the Jewish girl has to move into best friends house. She has to pretend she is part of the family. The Non-Jewish girl has to hide and protect her friend from the Nazi.
Strategy Connection: This book helps children think about the holocaust and question what they would do for their best friend. Also, I think it is important for children to read about hardships that World War II children went through. Students will have a lot of questions on what life was like during the Holocaust so the teacher should provide the opportunity for students to share their questions. Teachers should write a question on the board and have the students respond to the question and promote them to ask new questions. Through out the book students should be asked questions and they are responsible for finding the answers. Students should have the opportunity to share their emotions and feelings about what they think about the book and talk about any lingering questions they might have.



Brown, L.K.,Brown M When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death (Dino Life Guides for Families)

This book explains death to children. This book uses simple language to explain how someone feels after a loved one dies. This book explains of to honor the memory of someone who has died. The book answers questions about students’ curiosity about death.

Strategy connection: This suggestion is for a parent who has to explain death to child. Even a teacher can use this book if the students undergo a death in elementary school. When I was in elementary school my teacher died. Many students had questions about death and why it happens. This book could help answer questions about death and what it feels like to experience death. Students might have question about death and ways to discuss anything with parents or teachers. This topic is very difficult topic to discuss but this book provides a good way for students to ask questions and get answers about this topic.



Chelsea Vanderlinden

Babbit, N Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting is a children’s novel about Winnie Foster, a girl, who is offered a chance to live forever. Through her friendship with the Tuck family she learns about a secret spring that has given them the Tucks eternal life. Winnie must help protect the family while she learns about their experience being immortal. Winnie must also deal with the contrast between the Tucks and her strict, overprotective home.

Strategy Connection:
Fiction text should promote questioning though plot and text details that bring up issues relatable to the students themselves. Tuck Everlasting will force students to think about deep issues connected to life and death. It would give students many topics and levels of questioning to consider leading to new understandings of freedom and nature’s cycle of life. These issues could be explored and unpacked through class discussions, graphic organizers, reflections, research, and other projects.



Degen, B & Cole, J The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body

This Magic School Bus story includes facts and information embedded in the fictional story of a class taking a field trip inside the body of student with the help of their ‘magic school bus.’ The storyline is a funny fantasy about the class’ adventure as they learn about the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body by actually traveling through them. The text is both entertaining and informative with engaging illustrations and side storylines.
Strategy Connection:
Students can practice reading with a question in mind as they enjoy reading the text but also distinguish fact from fiction. If they are prompted to deal with certain questions before they read, they can use the book like an informational text to read for data. Many o f the other strategies for non fiction, including question webs and “I wonder….” Responses can also be used. The text is extremely engaging and provides an introduction to the topic but can also lead to questioning that prompts further research.
Strategy Connection: As children begin to think about schema and strategy instruction, memories and the objects, visuals, and experiences that trigger them, become very important. This book provides a jumping off point to begin talking about experience and how our experiences shape how we interpret texts, objects, and experiences. It calls to attention that our schemas are different and may lead to different interpretations. This would be an excellent book to utilize before a strategy unit on activating and connecting previous knowledge.




Bang, M. When Sophie Gets Angry...really, Really Angry...
This picture book is about Sophie’s response to getting really really angry. After a fight with her sister, Sophie is livid about being forced by her mother to share her toy. The text talks about Sophie’s anger building up like a volcano and her process of slowly calming down (and all the emotions in between). The text uses expressive illustrations to help students connect to Sophie’s feelings.
Strategy Connection:
When Sophie Gets Angry… really Really Angry can promote questioning in an early elementary classroom or with a group dealing with emotional/behavioral disorders. It is a great example of a non-informational text that can be used with questioning strategies that go deeper than literature comprehension and expansion. There are many “thick” questions about appropriate behavior, personal feelings and interacting with others that are brought up in this text. The questioning in this book can also be used with Harvey and Goudvis’ inferential thinking activity to help students understand appropriate anger management.