Each of these should be modeled and encouraged as children listen to and read texts. (See figure 4.4
in chapter 4 of this ELA/ELD Framework for brief descriptions of these strategies.) Questioning is the
focus of this section.
During the transitional kindergarten through grade one span, children build skill in answering and
asking questions about grade- and age-appropriate text. Both processes are related to comprehension
(NICHD 2000). Teachers strategically use questions to guide and monitor children’s understanding of
the text. Because their purpose is to support children’s understanding of text, questions should be,
for the most part, text dependent; that is, they should require attention to the text. When teachers
use predominantly text-independent questions, they render engagement with the text unnecessary
as children are capable of participating in discussions without having listened to or read the text.
Text-dependent questions guide children in attending to, thinking about, and learning from the text.
Children learn to examine the text in order to answer questions. An emphasis on text-dependent
questions in no way suggests that children are discouraged from drawing on their experiences and
understandings of the world to interpret text. In fact, this is what thinking, critical readers do.
Questions posed by teachers include ones that extend children’s thinking beyond literal
understandings of the text. Higher-level questions, those that prompt inference making, synthesis,
analysis, and critical thinking, are crucial for all children to consider throughout the years of schooling,
including during transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grade one, if they are to achieve the
goals described in the introduction and chapter 2 of this ELA/ELD Framework and displayed in the
outer ring of figure 3.1 in this chapter.
Figure 3.4 provides examples of text-dependent and, for contrast, text-independent questions for
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater (Atwater, Atwater, and Lawson 1988). This
chapter book may serve as a read aloud selection for kindergarteners and grade one children who are
ready to engage with longer texts over a period of weeks.
Figure 3.4. Examples of Text-Dependent and Text-Independent Questions for Mr.
Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence AtwaterText-Dependent Questions Text-Independent QuestionsLiteral Comprehension Questions:- What surprising package arrived in the
mail? - Why was the package sent to Mr. Popper?
- What reason is suspected for Captain
Cook’s declining health? - What is Captain Cook’s response to Greta?
- How do the penguins affect the Poppers’
lives?
Inferential Comprehension Questions: - How do the Poppers feel about owning
so many penguins? What in the book
contributes to your conclusion? - Based on the events in the story up to this
point, what do you think will become of
the penguins and the Poppers? Why do
you think so? - What surprise package would you like to
receive in the mail? - Have you ever seen a penguin?
- What do penguins look like?
- Have you been to a zoo? What animals
most interested you? - Penguins are birds that cannot fly. Why do
you suppose that is? - In this story, Captain Cook is sad. What
are some reasons a character might be
sad? - Would you like to own several penguins?
Why or why not? What animals do you
own?
140 | Chapter 3 Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 1