Mini-Lesson

Asking Questions

Mini-Lesson: Grades 4-6

Objective: Students will ask questions - and search for answers - as they read.

1. Pass out the latest timeforkids.com news story, A Mighty Mouse. Have students read the headline and subhead. Then, encourage students to share questions these may have sparked. Explain that asking questions - and searching for answers - helps readers to stay focused and remember information from a story.

2. Demonstrate asking yourself a question based on the first paragraph of the article. For example: It says here that the rodent's skull was found in 1987, but that scientists did not publish their research on it until last week. I wonder: What took so long? Why is this discovery being announced now, more than 20 years after the fossil was first found? I'm going to jot down this question and look for an answer as I read.

3. Encourage students to write down their own questions and underline the answers they find as they read the rest of the article.

4. Have students share their questions and answers. Ask: Did anyone find an answer to my question? Did any of your questions have more than one answer? Which questions were not answered in the article?