Getting Children to Talk About Books

I am participating in #SOL18. Thanks to the twowritingteachers blog team for creating this safe space to write, read, and respond to other writers!

Here are some questions to guide book discussions, literature circles, and reading conferences. If students are leading small book discussions, they can choose the three to five questions they would like to use to stimulate discussion, or they can create their own questions.  Of course, not all the questions need to be asked. The important thing is to have a conversation in which students layer each other’s responses by adding details, disagreeing and explaining their thinking, making predictions, inferring, evaluating or rating, talking about author’s craft, or asking their own questions.

Did the story end the way you expected it to end? What clues did the author give to you?

What did you notice in this book?

Did you like the illustrations? Explain.

This story reminds me of . . . (Think about your own life)

Name one problem in the story and how it was solved.

Who was the most important character in this book? Why do you think so?

One thing I would add to the story would be . . . because . . .

The funniest part of this story was . . . because . . .

My favorite part of the story was…because….

Did your feelings about what you had read change as you were reading?  Explain.

Something that made me angry, sad, or uncomfortable was . . . It made me feel this way because . . .

If a friend asked you about this book, what would you say?

What is the author trying to tell us by writing this story?