Open Ended Questions-Prompting Children to Think - Powered By OnCourse Systems For Education

Ask, and get your students to ask each other THICK questions:

Here are some of my favorite THICK questions for fiction, and some for nonfiction.

Open Response “THICK” Questions for Fiction
Grades 3-5

BEFORE. . . Read the title, book jacket, and flip through the text, then:

Write what you know about this topic ~ the setting, the situations in pictures. . . .
Make a prediction. What clues helped you? Read the first page. Do you need to revise your prediction?
Write questions you have about this text.
Do you think this story will be funny, sad, scary or something else? Why?
Read the first page. Does the author make you want to keep reading? Do you think you will like this story? Why or why not?
Do you think this story COULD happen in real life? Why or why not?
Where does the story take place? What makes you think so?
Who is the main character? What clues did you use?
Do you have any connections ~ is the author, illustrator, or subject matter familiar to you?

DURING

What questions do you have so far? Were previous questions answered?
Describe in detail what you think the main character or setting looks like. (Visualizing) What adjectives and adverbs in the story helped you visualize?
What connections are you making?
Which words are you stuck on? Did you figure out their meanings? What are the meanings?
What do you think will happen next? How do you think the story will end?
Who is your favorite character so far and why?
If a character is telling the story, who is it? Describe this character.
Does the main character remind you of yourself? Compare and/or contrast.
What are some clues of how the main character is feeling?
What are some reasons that the main character does what he/she is doing?
How does the story make you feel and why?
What problem does the main character have? How do you predict will he/she will solve it?
Is the story what you thought it would be about? If not, what surprised you?
Summarize what has happened so far.
If you could talk to the main character, what would you say?
Would you like to live in this place or time? Tell why or why not.
What obstacles does the setting provide that the main character must overcome? Would this story work in another setting?
Is there an antagonist (someone who provides an obstacle) to the main character? What details lead you to say this?

AFTER

CHARACTER TRAITS: In a word, describe the main character. Support this one word using specific actions of the character from the story.
Was the author trying to teach a lesson? If so, what was the lesson?
Would you recommend this book to others and if so to who?
What unanswered questions do you have?
Tell what the problem was, and how the character solved his problem.
If the story happened to you, how would you feel?
Were you surprised at any parts? Which parts?
What advice would you have given the main character?
Which character did you like most and why?
Which character was most like you? How?
Describe how the character changed from beginning to end of the story.
What was the climax of the story?
Was this fiction or realistic fiction? How do you know?
What connections did you make?
Summarize the ending.
What 5 questions would you ask the author? Pick one, and write how you think the author might answer it.
What was the author’s message?
How would the characters’ actions change if there was a different setting or time period?
How would the solution change if it happened in a different setting or time period?
Did the characters change during the story (round) or stay the same (flat)?
Describe 2 events that portray the character’s personality.
What scene would make a good trailer for a movie? Would this book work well as a movie?
If you eliminated one of the characters, how would the story change?
If you were the main character, would you have done things differently? What? How? Why?