Routine · Comprehension
Where is the answer?
Sort questions by where the answer comes from: right there in one place, spread across the text, or from the reader's own thinking.
- Time
- 8 to 12 minutes
- Skill
- Comprehension
- In a session plan
- Library only
When to use it
For students who only look for answers word for word, or who answer from memory without checking the text.
Materials
- A short text
- Questions of each kind
- Three cards: in one place, across the text, in my head
Steps
Get ready
Show the three cards and explain each kind of answer.
I do
Read a question, think aloud about where the answer will be, find it, and place the question under the right card.
We do
Do two more questions together, one of each harder kind.
You do
The student answers the rest and says where each answer came from.
Student: Answers and names the source: one place, across the text, or own thinking.
Check
The student writes one question of each kind about the text for you to answer.
If the student...
Answers a question from their own ideas when the text gives the answer.
Ask them to show you where in the text it says that. Find the right place together, and have them answer again using the text.
Tips
- Own thinking answers still need a reason that fits the text. Ask what in the text made them think it.
- In a group, give each pair one question to sort and defend.
Original routines written by Literacy Trail. In the app, every routine is filled with your student's lesson.
Related routines
- Predict, clarify, question, summarizeWork through a text in chunks using four thinking moves, with the student gradually taking the teacher's role.15 to 20 minutes · Library only
- Talk about the author's choicesTreat the text as something a person wrote and ask what the author is trying to say and why they wrote it that way.10 to 15 minutes · Library only
- Picture-book read-aloud with promptsRead a picture book aloud, stopping at planned points for open questions that get the student thinking and talking.10 to 15 minutes · Library only
- Story map and retellFill a simple map of a story's characters, setting, problem, main events and ending, then retell from it.8 to 12 minutes · Library only
Have this routine filled in for every lesson
In Literacy Trail, the session plan picks a routine for each block and fills it with the words, sounds and sentence from your student's lesson. Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial.