Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes multiple example questions that use interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" contain What, Why, and How questions (e.g., "What is the function of the alphabet?", "Why is there a standard order...", "How does an animal's design..."). The post-reading "Questions" section asks students specific interrogative questions (e.g., "What two animals talk in the story?", "Why do you think we have the alphabet?"), prompting students to answer using those question words. The skills list explicitly expects students, with prompting and support, to ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 instructs caregivers to "discuss where the musk oxen live, what they eat, how people use them, and what threats they face," which explicitly uses the question words where, what, and how. Activity 3 asks the child to act like a musk ox while the adult "guess[s] what your little musk ox is doing," prompting use of the interrogative what. The review and activities require children to respond to oral prompts about musk oxen, giving students opportunities to hear and answer questions framed with those interrogatives.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are directly asked "what a herd is" and prompted to explain the meaning of "herd," which uses the question word "what." During the reading, the text instructs the adult to "ask your child what 'herd' means," requiring the child to understand and respond to a 'what' interrogative. The rest of the activities prompt student responses (e.g., saying letters, counting, saying the sight word "you") but do not introduce other question words.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to answer a direct question in the Getting Started review: "Ask her what a herd is," which requires understanding the interrogative 'what.' In Activity 1 students are prompted to "discuss what the environment is like" and to identify places "where" musk oxen can be found (Canada, Greenland, Alaska), which provides contextual use of 'what' and an implicit use of 'where.' These instances show some opportunities for students to hear and respond to question words.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson includes explicit questions using interrogatives that students are expected to answer: Activity 1 asks, "What number is one more than 1?" and "What number is one more than 2?". The Getting Started review directs an adult to ask the child, "what a herd is," requiring the child to respond to a 'what' question. The Reading Workshop asks the child whether he liked the book and explicitly asks "why or why not," requiring the child to understand and respond to 'why' questions.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes teacher prompts and explicit questions that use interrogatives: Question #1 begins with "Who...", Question #2 and #3 begin with "What...", and Question #4 elicits a response with "Why...". The front-cover prompts ask "what" and "how" (e.g., "Ask what he thinks the words 'Hondo' and 'Fabian' mean" and "ask how the picture might relate to the title"). The skills list states that students will, with prompting and support, "ask and answer questions about key details in a text," which implies practice with question formation and response.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives: prompts include "Ask your child what two animals are in the book..." and Q1 gives example prompts such as "What happened at the beginning of the story?" Q2 and Q3 ask "How do you think the characters feel..." and "How do you feel...", and Activity 2 asks "what letter it starts with." These items require students to understand and respond to the question words what and how in context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked explicit interrogative prompts such as "Ask your child what sound the letter H makes," and the lesson title/activity "How Do We Move?" frames movement exploration with the question word how. The teacher prompt "What does she like to do with the friend?" asks students to respond to a what-question about their social experiences. These prompts require students to comprehend and answer question words in context.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are directly asked questions using the interrogative 'what' (e.g., "Ask your child what a character is." and "What number is one more than 4?" / "What number is one more than 5?"). Students are asked to give opinions using 'what' questions about names (e.g., "Ask him what he thinks about the names 'Hondo' and 'Fabian.'" and "what would he name his dog or cat?"). Students are prompted to respond to and practice answering these 'what' questions in multiple activities (counting/number identification and discussion about characters and names).
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to answer questions that use interrogatives: Questions to Explore include "How is size determined?" and "How do changes in the environment affect living things?" The Reading And Questions section asks multiple explicit question-word prompts such as "What is an island?", "What were some of the creatures…?", "What changes happened…?", and "Would you like to visit the little island? Why or why not?" During read-aloud interactions the child is asked to find the title and author and to answer what she notices on the cover, providing practice responding to spoken questions.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives such as "Ask your child what season it is," "Ask your child what the new season is," and "Ask him what accessories he will need now." The guide also prompts discussion with questions like "Talk about how the different seasons affected the island" and "Ask your child how the different seasons affect him," which uses the question word how and requires spoken responses.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks students explicit questions such as "What number is one more than 7?" and "What number is one more than 8?", giving students practice answering a 'what' interrogative. The retelling prompt asks the child to "tell you the story..." and suggests using guiding questions to support retelling, which could prompt students to answer or use question words. Activity 3 asks students to find examples of where animals move and to act out movement in the air, on land, or in water, which engages students with the concept of 'where'.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 asks the child, "Do you know how waves form?" and has the child observe and decide what he thinks causes the waves, prompting use of 'how' and 'what'. Activity 2 asks, "How would winds move around the island?" and has the child act out motions in response to that question. These prompts require the child to hear and respond to interrogative words and to answer or demonstrate based on those questions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked and prompted to answer questions using interrogatives throughout the activities (e.g., Activity 1: "compared to what?", "how do we know…?", "what would we do…?", "which one is the longest/shortest?"). Activity 2 asks students to respond to questions such as "Where do you think the back cover is?", "Did you like it? Why or why not?", and "What was your favorite part?". Activity 3 models question prompts for writing and speaking, for example: "What season was it when you visited?", "What animals did you see?", and "Did you see anything unusual?".
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked and prompted to answer explicit questions that use interrogatives: the unit question "How does structure affect function?" and Reading Questions such as "What parts of animal structures did you learn about in the book?" and "Could two homes have different structures from each other? How?" Activities prompt verbal responses (e.g., comparing animals and naming similarities/differences) that require answering those question words.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked explicit interrogative questions such as "How are animals' structures similar and different?" which prompts them to use and respond to 'how'. Students are asked "What jobs do their tails do? Why are they shaped the way they are?" which prompts them to use and respond to 'what' and 'why'. Students are prompted to think about what an animal might need or use a tail for and to explain the tail they created, giving practice in answering content-based questions using interrogatives.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked explicit 'what' questions: the lesson instructs to "Ask your child what he thinks the word is" and includes QUESTION #2: "What kind of information did you learn from this book?". Students read the book and answer these comprehension prompts using the interrogative word 'what.'
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 directs students to discuss an animal's body parts and explicitly mentions discussing how they are used, where the animal lives, and what it eats, which requires use of the question words how, where, and what. Activity 2 is titled "Who Has a Part Like This?", prompting students to act out animals and implicitly use or respond to who in the game. The initial prompt asks the child to name an animal whose tail has a special job and to describe that job, which elicits use of descriptive question language.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 students are asked comparative questions using the interrogative "which" (e.g., "which one is longer?" and "which one is shorter?") as they compare and order tails. In Activity 2 students are asked content questions using "what" ("What was the first section of the book about?") and evaluative questions including "why" ("Why or why not?") and yes/no prompts ("Did he like it? Did he learn something new?"). The optional extension asks a measurement question using "how" ("how many paper clips long the tail is?").
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to answer several 'what' questions during read-aloud and discussion (e.g., "What does she notice?", "What season does she think is depicted?", "What do the children want to find?", "What kind of leaves?"). Students are also asked 'why' and 'how' questions (e.g., "What clues give her that idea?", "Do you think the children enjoyed their leaf hunt? Why or why not?", "How did the children feel?", "How did you feel when the search was over?"). The skills list explicitly includes counting to answer 'how many?' questions and the leaf-hunt activities require students to respond to guided interrogative prompts during discussion and counting tasks.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to answer explicit 'what' questions: "What kind of mountain is it?" in the book review and "What features do some of the leaves have in common? What are some differences among the leaves?" during leaf sorting. The activities require students to respond to those questions and to count and categorize based on their answers, showing direct use of the interrogative 'what'.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are directly asked "what words describe the forest, the waterfall, the lake, and the skunk?" and are prompted with "ask your child what word the author uses to describe the forest," requiring them to answer using the question word what. Students are prompted to identify and repeat the descriptive word (e.g., "dark" -> "dark forest"), which has them respond to an interrogative prompt.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer several explicit "what" and "how" prompts during the plant activity (e.g., "What does your child think a tree root is like...?," "What is the difference between the stem...?," "What sizes and shapes do leaves come in?"). In the counting activity students are asked to determine "which group has more" by counting and to answer "how many more" leaves the smaller group would need in the optional extension. These prompts require students to respond to and use question forms beginning with what and how.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are asked direct questions after reading the book, including "Why or why not?" and "Would she recommend it to a friend?", which require them to respond to a why-question and explain. In Activity 3 Option 1, students are prompted with the explicit question "For what could she be searching?" as they imagine a hunt and generate ideas. Activity 3 also instructs an adult to "ask questions to help her generate ideas," indicating oral questioning will be used to prompt student responses.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Reading and Questions section has parents ask the child explicit interrogative prompts such as "What is flickering?," "How does the boy feel?," and "Why was the boy both crying and smiling?," which require the child to understand and answer what/how/why questions. The Questions to Explore at the top also pose several "How" questions for students to consider. Activity 2 has students give and follow positional clues (e.g., "above the sofa," "under the table," "beside the cabinet"), which involves locating items and using spatial language related to asking or answering where-type prompts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked content questions using interrogatives, e.g., "Ask your child what she thinks 'soaring' means" and "How do the words around it help give clues about its meaning?" Students are prompted to identify insects and explain their reasoning with prompts like "Ask your child to determine if each of the creatures is an insect" and "What clues did he look for?" Students are also asked to discuss "how to know for sure" when deciding whether collected bugs are insects.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are prompted to answer 'what' questions in Activity 2: "ask him what the number of fireflies would be if he added one more." Activity 3 also uses a 'what' question: "what is the opposite of hot? (cold)." The lesson includes a "Questions" section header, implying question work, but contains no explicit prompts for other interrogatives.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 students are asked repeatedly, "How many fireflies do you have now?" which requires understanding and responding to the interrogative phrase "how many." In Activity 3 students are asked "what his favorite summer activity is," prompting them to understand and answer the question word "what." In Activity 2 students are asked direct questions using question words such as "Why or why not?" and "How would he feel...?", requiring comprehension and response to "why" and "how."
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson instructs adults to ask the child questions using interrogatives (e.g., "Ask her what she sees," "Ask her why she has that opinion"). The provided comprehension questions include multiple question words: "What was Grandma Tildy's life like... ?" and "How did she solve each predicament?" Activity 2 prompts use of "Who" ("Who came third? Who came fifth?") and asks students to answer and practice ordinal responses.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to explain what happened in the story, which prompts them to use the question word "what." Students take turns acting like animals while a partner guesses who they are, giving practice with "who." Students are asked to describe how an animal would help Grandma Tildy, which prompts use of the question word "how."
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives in multiple places: Activity 1 asks "What is Grandma Tildy doing? What kind of work is she doing? Why is she doing that?" and later prompts such as "What did the canary provide for her?" and "Did the elephant provide for a want or a need?". Activity 2 includes modeled spoken questions in the puppet script: "What's that? Who is knocking at my door?" and asks the child to answer and retell the story ("Ask your child what came next.").
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are prompted to answer questions such as "what would happen if there were two enormous elephants?" and "How many big ears and big feet would there be?", so they practice responding to what/how interrogatives. During reading, students are asked comprehension questions including "Did she enjoy it? Why or why not? What was her favorite part of the story?", which requires them to respond using why and what question words. The guidance also asks the child to think of a different ending, prompting them to respond to an open-ended (what/why) question.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to answer multiple WH-questions in the Reading and Questions section (e.g., "What problem...?", "What did they think...?", "How did the old man...?", "Why were the cats quarreling?", "What happened...?"). Getting Started and Activities also use question words to prompt responses (e.g., "Ask your child what he sees...", "How can objects be compared and contrasted?", "What do the cats have in common? What are some differences...?"). Students practice answering these interrogative prompts during discussion and while completing the Venn diagram comparison.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson instructs the adult to ask the child, "How did the quarrel end?" and to ask "how the word was used in the book," giving students practice answering a how-question. It prompts the adult to ask "Which cat ended up being the pretty cat?" and to ask "What lesson does the story teach?", providing use of which- and what- interrogatives in comprehension discussion. Multiple explicit question prompts are given for the child to answer during and after reading.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes parent prompts that use several interrogatives: parents are instructed to ask "Who does she think Mother Goose is?" and to ask "What parts are silly or ridiculous?" and "Which ones does your child like, and why?" The Questions to Explore and activity prompts also use "How" (e.g., "How do you identify rhyming words?" and "How else can she move in a circle?"). Reading prompts ask children to supply missing end-words and to explain why words rhyme, prompting use of "why" and "what" in discussion.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to talk about what happens in January and specifically asked, "What is the weather like?", which requires them to understand and answer a "what" question. The Months of the Year activity asks students to describe and discuss characteristics of months, prompting at least one explicit interrogative response from students.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are prompted with direct questions using interrogatives such as "what" and "why" (e.g., "Ask your child what her favorite poem is so far, and why"). Students are also asked "what shape the lids form" and to "tell you how she decided to group them," which uses "what" and "how." In the rhyming poem activity students are asked "what word rhymes with 'fiddle'?" and "What could rhyme with 'dee'?" so students practice answering "what" questions about words.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 asks the child to identify the die-cut circle and the ball and to name as many spheres as she can, which elicits responses about what the objects are. The activity also directs the adult to put the ball somewhere and ask the child to explain where it is compared to another object, and gives example child responses such as "the sphere is on top of the shelf" or "the sphere is next to the dog." The reading and writing activities engage the child in naming and describing objects and locations through poems and dictated writing.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted with explicit question words in multiple places: the "Questions to Explore" asks "What distinguishes one shape from another?" and "What are the purposes of fiction and non-fiction literature?" During reading students are asked "Did the book tell a story or teach you new facts?" and "How do you know?" and asked to "Name some true facts in the book." In activities students are asked "How many sides does the triangle have?" and "What is the difference between a circle and an oval?", and they answer, sort, count, and describe shapes.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to answer direct questions using "what," e.g., "Ask her what she sees on the front" and "Ask her what shape the letter O is (a circle)." Students are also asked to explain reasoning using the question word "why," e.g., "Ask her to predict whether this is a fiction book... Why does she think this?" These prompts require students to understand and respond to at least two interrogatives (what, why).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked explicit 'who' and 'what' questions when prompted to identify who in the book wants something and what he wants (e.g., "who in the book wants something and what he wants"). Students answer 'which' and 'what' questions about shapes during Activity 2 (e.g., "Which shape has flat three sides? Which one is equally round all the way around? What is its name?"). Students are asked to tell when the music seems scary or cheerful and to talk about how the music changes, engaging the use of 'when' and 'how' in discussion of the story's soundscape.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked in Activity 1 to observe owls and answer questions such as "what is different and what is similar" and "What can the owls in the book do that real owls cannot do?", requiring use of the question words what and how. The Reader's Theatre script includes an explicit interrogative line, "Where's Mommy?", which students read aloud and can respond to. The activities prompt students to answer and discuss these interrogative prompts during observation and dramatization.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to answer repeated "How many..." questions during the owl counting and story problems (e.g., "Three baby owls flew to the tree...How many are in the tree now?", "How many owls are still in the tree?"). Students are prompted to predict quantities without counting (e.g., "how many owls he thinks will be in the sky if 5 are in the tree"). Students are asked to identify which book is fiction or non-fiction and to note "what clues" and "which one" supports using the interrogatives what and which.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked and answer several WH questions such as "What does she notice about these four pictures?" and "What does she think they represent?" Students respond to content questions using "what" (e.g., name the four seasons; "What are your favorite activities during each season?"). Students are prompted with "How" and quantity interrogatives during math (e.g., "How many apples have fallen from the tree?"), and they answer seasonal questions using "What" (e.g., "What season does she think it is now...").
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson includes parent prompts that use interrogative words: it tells the adult to ask, "if he remembers what causes the seasons!" and to "Talk with your child about what the weather is typically like during this season where you live." The activities also prompt the child with questions such as "Is it winter, spring, summer, or fall right now?" and "Is anything falling from the sky?" which require spoken responses about seasons and weather.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson includes a direct question using the interrogative "What" in QUESTION #1: "What gift did the tree give Arnold in each season?" which requires the child to answer a 'what' question. Activity 2 repeatedly asks "how many" (e.g., "ask her how many apples are in the other tree?" and "figure out how many apples would be in the right tree"), giving practice with the interrogative "how"/"how many." Several prompts ask the child to respond to questions (e.g., naming seasons, giving adjectives), providing opportunities to answer orally.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer explicit question-word prompts such as "How does each member of the family contribute to this project?" and "Ask your child why he thinks the family worked together to do these jobs," which use how and why. Students are also asked to identify and explain music-season connections with prompts that use which and what: "ask your child if he can tell which season is being described and what makes him think about that season." These prompts require students to respond orally using interrogative understanding.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked "What shape is this?" and label objects as "circle" or "sphere," providing practice with the question word what. Students are asked "where and when The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree took place" and prompted with "What is the setting?" and to identify where and when stories take place, providing practice with where and when. Students look through books and share the setting and the clues that helped them identify the season, which requires answering location- and time-related questions.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to ask and answer questions using interrogatives such as "What," "How," "Who," and "Which" in the Reading and Questions section (e.g., "What do you see?", "How do you know?", "Identify the author and the illustrator"). The skills list explicitly requires that students, with prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Activity prompts ask students comparative questions using interrogatives (e.g., "Ask your child who is longer... Which is the longest dinosaur?"), giving students practice responding to question words.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are prompted to answer questions using interrogatives: they are asked to name their favorite dinosaur and one characteristic (a 'what' question). The teacher script asks the child what 'sprawl' means and how he can guess that meaning, and later asks what new information he learned and what else he would like to know—providing opportunities to respond to 'what' and 'how' questions.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students answer and respond to multiple 'how' questions in the Questions to Explore (e.g., 'How can using imagination help solve problems?', 'How are shapes alike and different?'). Students answer several 'what' questions during the read-aloud and comprehension check (e.g., 'What color does she see?', 'What do you think about Harold's adventure?'). Students identify and sort shapes using 'what' prompts and describe attributes with question prompts (e.g., 'What shape are these buildings?', 'What makes a rectangle?', sorting purple squares and rectangles).
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives such as "What shape is the moon in the story? Does the moon always look that way?" and "What color does he think will be formed by yellow and red?", and are asked "which two he thinks will combine to form purple." These prompts require students to comprehend and respond to question words (for example, what and which) during the moon phases and color-mixing activities. Several activities prompt students to answer verbally about observations (moon shape, colors) using those question words.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked explicit comprehension questions that use the interrogatives "What" and "How" (e.g., QUESTIONS #1–#4: "What do you think...", "How did he figure out..."). The Review section asks students "how" they use their imagination and asks "which" two colors make purple. The Word Play section asks "What does 'trim' mean?" and "What does the word 'drew' usually mean?", and Activity 3 asks "How does she know?", giving students repeated practice answering and thinking about questions beginning with what, how, and which.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives: the review asks, "Where is she going?" and "Which ones are flat shapes? Which ones are solids?" Activity 1 prompts students with "What does his neighborhood have in it?" and "Why or why not?" and asks "what places would he include?" These prompts require students to listen to and answer questions using question words (what, where, why, which).
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to answer specific comprehension questions that use interrogatives (e.g., "Who was looking for blueberries...?", "Why did they each want blueberries?", "What happened on the mountain?", "How did the story end?"). The cover discussion includes prompts using question words (e.g., "What does he notice? What does he think the book will be about?"), and the "Questions to Explore" section contains "How" questions for students to consider.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked directly "What clues show us that?" and are prompted to look through the book to find and name those clues. Students are asked to "describe what 'hustle' must mean," which requires answering a 'what' question about meaning. Students are also asked to "act out how they move," which involves responding to or demonstrating information linked to the interrogative how.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are prompted to answer 'what' questions: the teacher asks the child 'what it means to hustle' and 'what he thinks people did with this blueberry dye.' Students are asked to retell the story in their own words after reading Blueberries for Sal, which can prompt responses to content questions about the story. The lesson repeatedly uses prompts that require the child to respond to spoken questions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are prompted to identify the story's time period (the "when") and to look for clues that show the setting is in the past. The activity directs adults to ask students specific interrogative questions such as "what kinds of clothes are the characters wearing?" and "what did people use to cook, or listen to music, or drive...?" Activity 3 refers to giving and receiving "questions" about writing, implying some experience with question-based interaction.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson contains multiple prompts that use the question words 'how' and 'what' (e.g., "How does water change and influence the environment?", "How do colors affect our world?", "How did the author make you feel about rain?", "Ask her what she notices about the small words on the cover.", "Ask her what she knows about rain already."). Students are also asked to describe experiences with rain using prompts that include 'what' and 'how' (e.g., "What did she do?", "Talk about different kinds of rain...").
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked direct interrogative questions such as "What is coming down from the sky when it rains?", "How does it look?", "How does it sound?", and "How does it feel?", requiring comprehension of 'what' and 'how'. They are also prompted with "Ask him how it is formed" and "Ask him which one is greater," giving practice responding to 'how' and 'which' questions. Students respond to hypothetical prompts like "What would happen if you left the ice cube out?", practicing understanding of question-word phrasing in problem situations.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to "tell you how 14 is made (a group of 10 and 4 more)," which requires the child to answer a how-question. The lesson also asks which of two numbers (9 and 7) is smaller, prompting the child to respond to a comparative question using "which." A "Reading And Questions" section is present, indicating question-and-answer interaction after reading, though specific interrogatives are not listed there.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked "How does rain form?" and guided to explain the process, directly using the question word how. Students are prompted with "What happens?" when observing the jar experiment and asked to answer why condensation causes rain. Students are asked to identify where water is on Earth (rivers, lakes, oceans), and are asked "what another word for ‘downpour' could be," providing multiple explicit instances of interrogative usage (how, what, why, where).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 instructs the adult to "Ask your child why she thinks writers like to use color words," which requires the child to understand and respond to the interrogative 'why'. The child is prompted to give reasons and to write or dictate sentences about favorite things using color words, eliciting an explanation in response to a 'why' question.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked and prompted to answer multiple question-word prompts such as 'What basic needs do people have?' and 'How do jobs help people meet their needs?' during the unit planning. During reading and discussion students respond to questions like 'What time of day is it?', 'How do you feel about nighttime? Why?', and 'What does the author seem to think about nighttime? How can you tell?' which require use of 'what', 'how', and 'why'. Activity prompts also ask students to describe and imagine (e.g., 'Ask your child what animals might be awake during the night' and 'Ask him to imagine which sounds he might hear...'), giving practice responding to interrogative prompts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1 students create paper-doll puppets and role-play characters who ask and answer explicit questions such as "Where do you get your fruit?", "Where do you get your vegetables?", "How close is the nearest store?", "What do you like to do for fun?", and "Where do you shop for clothes?". Students are instructed to ask each other these questions and answer based on their character's setting. The review and activity prompts also require students to respond to adult questions (e.g., name a night sound), providing additional practice in answering questions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The Getting Started review directs an adult to ask the child "what '5 minus 1' would equal," prompting the child to answer a 'what' question. The review also asks the child to name one difference between life in the country and life in the city, which requires the child to respond to a question about differences. Activity 3 explicitly asks "What landforms does he see?" and has the child identify features in the book and create models of them.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to compare two numbers and answer "which is greater," exposing them to and requiring use of the interrogative "which" in a speaking context. Students are also asked "how" they think people ought to treat natural resources, prompting them to use the interrogative "how" to explain their reasoning.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks students to generate and share questions about a book, giving explicit examples that use interrogatives (for instance, "where in the country the book is located," "what a baby raccoon is called," and wondering "why the author chose to include some information"). Students are instructed to spend time independently with the book, identify a question or two they want to know more about, share those questions aloud, and research answers if appropriate. The activity frames question-asking as a reading strategy and prompts students to produce and discuss their own questions.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Reading and Questions section directs adults to ask the child a variety of interrogative prompts (e.g., "Why do you think the book is titled Marshmallow?", "How did Marshmallow act when he first came...?", "What did Miss Tilly find...?"). Activity 1 includes a quantitative question for the child to answer ("How many more marshmallows are needed to make 15?") that requires use of a question word phrase. Activity 2 instructs the adult to present scenarios and ask the child questions, prompting the child to respond to social-question prompts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson explicitly instructs adults to "Ask your child what it means to hesitate," which has the child answer a 'what' question. It tells adults to "Ask your child what the rules of your home are," asking another 'what' question. It also directs adults to "Ask your child why the rules are important and how they help the family to function smoothly," which has the child answer 'why' and 'how' questions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked, "Ask her how she can compare the size of the animals," which prompts them to answer using the question word how during the measuring activity. Students are also asked to "determine which animal is longer," which requires responding to a comparative question form. The reading section prompts students to retell the story in their own words after reading, encouraging oral response though it does not supply specific question words.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to "talk with your child about how Owen and Mzee's friendship was similar to and different," which uses the interrogative 'how' and requires explanatory responses. Students are asked to "explain the number 14 in his own words," prompting them to produce explanatory language in response to a prompt. Students are also asked a direct yes/no question ("Ask him if he would hesitate before jumping into a cold swimming pool"), which requires responding to a spoken question.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives such as "What shapes does she see in it?" and "What about if you stack three?" which require use of 'what'. Students are asked "how many faces" and "How do they sound different from a story?", prompting use of 'how'. The writing activity includes a fill-in-the-blank story with the prompt "He got lost when ________," which requires students to provide a response using 'when'.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes multiple WH-questions that students are asked to answer (e.g., "What gift was Momo given…?", "Why couldn't she use them at first?", "When it finally did rain…?", and several "How" questions in the Questions to Explore). The skills list explicitly expects students, with prompting and support, to ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Directions repeatedly prompt adults to ask the child questions (e.g., "Have your child look at the front cover… ask what he sees," "Ask your child how Momo felt…"), giving students opportunities to respond to interrogatives.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked conversationally "what would be an unfortunate thing to happen on someone's birthday," prompting them to answer using the question word what. Students are prompted to retell the story in their own words using pictures, which could elicit responses to questions about characters and events. Activity 2 asks students to name number pairs and includes the prompt "what number goes with that one to make 10," which has students respond to a what-question in a math context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer direct interrogative questions such as "What are clouds?" and "How are they alike and different?" Students are also asked "in what kind of weather she would appreciate a fan," and prompted to explain what the prefix "un-" means (an embedded "what" question). Several teacher prompts require students to respond to question words 'what' and 'how.'
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked questions that use interrogative words: for example, they are asked "What did he like about the book?" and "Why or why not?" after reading Umbrella. Students are also asked to "point to where he wrote his name," which uses the question word where in a prompt. Students are prompted to "figure out why the word is capitalized," requiring them to answer a why question about text features.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly highlights the sight word "how" and opens with Questions to Explore that use "How" and "Why" (e.g., "How can words show relationships?" and "Why is sequence important?"). During reading, students are asked direct interrogative questions such as "How was the frog able to get away at the end?" and "Do you think that was a kind action? ... Why or why not?", requiring them to answer with causal language. Students are also prompted to identify animals and the book's setting (e.g., "identify the animals she sees," "Which animal...?," "what do you think will be the setting?"), which asks them to use question words like what/which and why to support answers.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson prompts the child with several 'what' questions: "Ask your child what it means to escape." and "What does he know about these animals? What are some things they have in common? What are some differences among them?" The sorting activity asks the child to come up with ways to sort animals, which uses 'what' to elicit descriptions and categorizations.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are shown the sight word card "how" and asked to read it in the sentence "How did the frog get away?". Students are prompted in review to answer an open question using "how" ("Ask your child how a puppy might try to escape the back yard."). Students read the word "how" aloud during a second reading and practice saying it in context.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students read and hear the repeating question "How will frog get away?" and are guided to notice the question mark and that the sentence is a question. Students are asked to ask and answer questions aloud with examples using 'what' ("What time is it?", "What are we having for lunch?"). Students are prompted to think of and write a question about an animal and practice writing a question mark.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted with explicit question-word prompts such as "How did people from long ago live differently?" and "What does it mean to be a good citizen?" during the Questions to Explore. In the Reading and Questions section students are asked 'what' and 'how' questions (e.g., "What do the animals do throughout the book?"; "How did it make him feel?") and are asked to describe kindness in their own words after watching the video. The counting activity also asks students question-word prompts about ordinal relations (e.g., "what number comes after 4?").
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Review section explicitly asks the child a question using the interrogative "how" ("Ask your child how she felt after doing her acts of kindness"), giving one direct instance of a question word in use. Activity 3 asks students to act out scenes and "feel free to add other dialogue," which provides an opportunity for students to produce and respond to questions during role play.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson prompts the child with several interrogative prompts: it asks, "which act of kindness he found to be especially kind or thoughtful," and asks "how one small act of kindness... resulted in a series of kind acts." Activity 2 explicitly directs the adult to "Ask your child what it means to subtract," prompting the child to respond to a 'what' question. Activity 3 asks the child to "name" actions for animals and to identify examples, which requires answering questions about characters and actions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer a direct 'what' question when asked, "what rules she follows to be a good citizen, both in the world and in her home," and then dictate those responses to create a posted list. Students verbally produce and record answers to that prompt, practicing comprehension and use of the interrogative word 'what' in a meaningful context.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 directs an adult to ask the child "how many acts of kindness he thinks were performed," prompting the child to answer the interrogative "how many" while counting steps. Activity 1 also encourages the child to supply each number as you step, which requires responding to a quantitative question word form (how many). Activity 3 includes prompts for the child to respond to questions (e.g., "Ask him if he can think of one more detail"), providing additional practice in answering teacher questions.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes multiple teacher prompts that use question words: "What does she see?" and "What instruments from the book were new to you?"; "When the musicians all joined together, what did they form?"; and "How did the audience respond to the orchestra?". Activity directions ask "How many instruments are playing now?" and encourage the child to communicate observations orally. The reading questions and activities require students to answer interrogative prompts (what, when, how, how many) based on the book and activities.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson includes direct questions to the child such as "Ask your child how many instruments are playing during a solo," and prompts that ask "what he thinks it would be like to play in an orchestra" and "Which instrument would he enjoy playing?" Activity 1 also asks the child to "look for natural resources" and "ask your child if he sees some natural resources used in making some of the instruments," which elicits yes/no and content responses. The handwriting and classification activities prompt the child to respond to guided questions about letters and ways to sort instruments.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked explicit interrogative prompts such as "how many instruments are playing during a solo?" and "A duet?" which require them to respond to a how-question. Students answer several what-questions about shapes and instruments (e.g., "What is it called?", "What is the same and what is different between the can and the roll?", and "What does she notice?"). Students are also asked yes/no shape questions ("Is it two-dimensional or three-dimensional?") that require interpreting question forms.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked "how many instruments are playing during a solo" and must answer using the interrogative form to indicate quantity. Students are asked "which senses he could use to learn about this instrument" and must identify senses in response to a question word. Students are also asked to name a job and indicate whether it provides goods or services, requiring short-answer responses to teacher prompts.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students are asked to tell "how many are here and how many are missing" and write the matching equations, giving practice with the interrogative phrase "how many." In Activity 2, students are prompted with direct questions such as "What rhymes with book?" and asked to identify "which words rhyme," and the prompt "How about dog?" also uses a question form, so students practice with "what," "which," and "how."
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The skills list includes "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text," and the Reading and Questions section directs adults to ask the child questions (e.g., "Why is [a color] his favorite?", "What does he see?", "How are colors formed?"). The lesson provides a set of comprehension questions that use interrogatives (e.g., "Where does Little Yellow live compared to Little Blue?", "What did Little Blue and Little Yellow do for fun?", "How did the families feel in the end?"). Activities also prompt students to answer "What happens when blue and yellow are combined?" and "What shape are these?"
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to answer direct questions using interrogatives: e.g., "Ask your child what she remembers about friendship," "Ask your child what two colors can combine...," "Ask your child how to make the dough green," and "Why was it important for Little Blue to obey his mother?" The child is also asked to identify shapes by answering "what shape she has made (spheres)." These prompts require the child to comprehend and respond orally to question words such as what, why, and how.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked what two colors combine to make purple and answer (red and blue), directly using the interrogative word "what." Students are asked how many more stickers are needed to make 14 and calculate/place four stickers, responding to a "how many" question. Students are asked to name one quality of a good friend and to answer questions after reading, which requires responding to oral prompts.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked explicit 'how' questions in Activity 2 (e.g., "How does he show the parents…?" "How does he show Little Blue's feelings…?" "How does he show the park…?") and are asked to describe events (e.g., "ask her what happened to those characters"). Students are also prompted to name items (e.g., name the three primary colors) and to explain (e.g., explain the number 19), which requires responding to prompts that function like questions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 the child is asked questions that use an interrogative phrase: "Ask how many circles are left" and "How many circles have been crossed off?" prompting the child to answer using "how many." In Activity 2 the child is asked to identify speakers with the prompt "Can he tell who is speaking?", requiring understanding of the interrogative "who." These prompts require students to comprehend and respond to specific question words in context.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked and prompted with multiple interrogative prompts such as "What makes a person great?" and "What are important symbols and people in our country?" Students are asked to identify "whose picture is there" on the dollar bill and to explain "why he is famous," and they are prompted to answer "What is alike and different?" when comparing images. The Skills and math prompts also direct students to respond to "How Many?" questions and to answer questions like "Are his answers correct? What are the correct answers?"
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson includes teacher prompts that use interrogatives: adults are instructed to "Ask your child if he remembers one myth about George Washington," "Ask your child if he knows the name of his state," and "Ask him what he notices about [the flag]." The materials also prompt counting and reasoning with a question word: "Challenge your child to count the number of stars on the flag (50). Ask him why he thinks there are 50 stars." Students are also asked to "find the USA" on a map, which elicits location-based responses.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer and discuss questions using interrogatives in several places: "Ask your child why he thinks these qualities are important" and "Talk about what qualities he admires in Benjamin Franklin." During review, students are asked to "name two symbols of the United States" and are "challenged to explain why they were chosen as symbols," which requires use of the question word why and the prompt what/name.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson includes several adult prompts that use interrogatives: it asks the child "why an author might include information in those boxes" and to answer "why or why not" she enjoyed the book. The lesson also asks "How does your child like to celebrate her birthday?" and "What her favorite part about her piece is," prompting oral responses to 'why', 'how', and 'what' questions. Students are repeatedly asked to respond to those question words during discussion and sharing activities.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to answer question words such as How and What: Questions to Explore asks "How do people adapt to change?" and reading questions include "How could you tell..." and "How did the quilt help both girls?". Students are also asked "what a quilt is" and "what moment in a story the illustration depicts," and activities prompt students to name shapes and answer "what shapes you have created."
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked "what wood shavings are," which requires them to respond to a 'what' question. Students are prompted to "talk with your child about what character qualities Daniel Boone must have had," again using the interrogative 'what.' The review prompts ask students to identify shapes and name letters, which involve answering teacher questions and responding verbally to prompts.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 prompts students with question words such as "what" ("Ask your child what role he thinks illustrations play...") and "how" ("How does he think she feels?", "How does that help him understand the book even more?"). Activity 3 gives explicit writing prompts using "where" ("Where did you get your item?"), "what" ("What does it look like?"), and "how" ("How do you feel when you have your item with you?"). Activity 1 asks students "which" shapes are two-dimensional or three-dimensional and has students respond to spoken clues by identifying shapes, giving practice in answering interrogative prompts.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked specific 'what' questions (e.g., "What did the frogs think was inside the egg? What was really inside?" and "Ask her what she sees" on the book cover). Students are prompted to answer 'what' questions about personal experience ("What was it?" when asked if she has found something extraordinary). Students are also prompted to use 'how' in discussion questions ("How were their friendships similar and different?" and "Ask your child if this book is fiction or non-fiction and how she knows").
Lesson 2
Day 2
The egg-observation activity uses multiple question prompts that students answer: "What did the frogs think it was?," "What kind of an animal is a chicken?," and a series of prompts such as "What color is it?," "What size is it?," "What shape is it?," and "How much does it weigh?". Students are also asked yes/no and how-type questions like "Is it flexible?," "Are magnets attracted to it?," and "Does it float or sink?," which require interpreting and responding to interrogative forms. The prompts guide students to describe and report observations using question words (what, how, does/is).
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to answer questions using 'what' (e.g., "Ask him what comes next" when identifying numbers). Students are asked to explain differences using 'how' ("Ask your child how that differs from the life cycle of a frog"). Students are asked to recall and describe stages of life cycles in response to these prompts, requiring verbal answers to teacher questions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson asks the child to answer a direct "what" question: "ask her what she liked about the book An Extraordinary Egg." The reading section also highlights the quoted line "Look what I found!" so the word "what" appears in spoken text that the child hears. The writing workshop prompts the child to offer one thing she likes and one idea for change, which requires the child to respond to prompts that function like questions.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to answer and discuss question-word prompts such as "How are living things well-suited…?" and "What are the effects of one person taking more than he or she needs?" in the Questions to Explore. Reading prompts ask students to say what they observe, locate where zebras live on a map (where), predict how the zebra will be greedy and explain how the zebra was greedy and what happened (how, what). Math skills and activities explicitly ask students to count to answer "how many?" questions and to create and solve story problems that use quantity questions.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to "give an example of being greedy," which requires them to answer a prompt using a question-word structure. Students are asked "what she would do" when designing a new coat, explicitly using the interrogative word "what." Students complete a Zebra Research organizer (Appearance, Predators, Diet, Habitat) and dictate a report, which requires answering questions such as what zebras eat and where they live.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives: for example, they are asked "why" being greedy is negative and asked "what" some animals have in common or what is different about them. After reading, students are prompted to retell the story using illustrations and to predict "what would have happened" if the zebra had not been greedy, and to "count how many" in sorted groups. Students are also asked questions that prompt use of "how" (e.g., how a cave would make him feel) and to explain the criterion used for sorting.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to identify books that had animal characters and to name similarities and differences between books, prompting responses to 'what' or 'which' (e.g., "Ask your child to identify some books that had animal characters"). The guide explicitly asks "Which ones had an outdoor setting?" and asks students to identify the setting of each, which targets location words (where-type understanding). The text asks students to identify which three books were non-fiction and to "explain why those books were favorites," prompting use of 'which/what' and 'why' in student responses.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted with explicit question-word prompts such as "What are the scientific facts...?" and "How can one idea inspire another idea?" The reading directions instruct an adult to ask the child "why he thinks it was written" and "How would it make a young child feel?," and Question #1 asks the child to decide based on a picture. Activity 2 asks the child to guess "how many ‘wraps'" it will take, which requires understanding a how-question.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to explain "what" a lagoon is and "what" a goon is, prompting use of the question word what. Students are asked to explain "why" they like a chosen page after reading, prompting use of the question word why. In Activity 1 students answer "How many..." questions (how many ghosts are playing, how many more are needed) and respond to "which" to compare groups, using interrogative forms while counting and solving story problems.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson instructs the adult to ask the child questions about the bat mask activity: specifically, "Ask her if she knows what kind of bat she is, what she eats, and anything else about herself from her knowledge of bats," which uses the interrogative word "what." The review section also prompts the child with questions (e.g., name two pairs of numbers whose sum is 10), showing question-and-answer interaction is part of student activity.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked explicit 'How many?' questions (e.g., "How many are there?" and "Now how many stars are there altogether?") and are prompted to add stars and count totals. Students are also asked to divide the stars "in as many ways as possible," which frames a counting task using the interrogative idea of 'how many' or 'how many ways.'
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked explicit interrogative questions such as "Why is gratitude important?" and "How have certain people shaped and affected our American history?" in the Questions to Explore. The Reading and Questions prompts ask students "what" they see and "what" they like about Thanksgiving and ask them to summarize "why" Thanksgiving has been celebrated, while map activities have students identify locations and the ocean crossed (practicing "where" information). The Skills list includes that, with prompting and support, students should ask and answer questions about key details in a text, which positions students to use interrogative words during discussion.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to recall details by answering direct questions such as "Why did the Pilgrims leave England...?", "What was the name of their ship?", "What is the place where the Pilgrims landed now called?", and "How did the Indians help the Pilgrims?". Activity 1 also asks "How long did the first Thanksgiving celebration last?", giving practice with duration questions. Activity 2 and the wrap-up ask students to predict and respond to questions like "How would the Pilgrims have felt?", which uses the interrogative "how."
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 explicitly asks the adult to "discuss with your child how the help Pocahontas provided was different...," which requires the child to hear and use the interrogative word "how." The Getting Started review instructs the adult to "Ask your child to offer something she learned about the very first American Thanksgiving," prompting the child to respond to a spoken prompt. There is a standalone "Questions" heading after the story, indicating an intention to ask questions aloud to the child.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted with direct questions using interrogatives: e.g., "What was one thing the Pilgrims were grateful for that first Thanksgiving?" and "what words might describe Abraham Lincoln and why we still celebrate him today." Activity 2 asks "How does it feel to be President Abraham Lincoln?" and Activity 3 asks students to write or dictate a note describing "why he is thankful for this person." These prompts require students to comprehend and respond to questions beginning with what, why, and how.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes several teacher prompts that use and elicit interrogative responses: the "Questions to Explore" at the start asks two "How" questions. During reading, adults are instructed to "ask him what he notices" and to "ask him to predict what the book will be about," which prompt the child to answer with observations and predictions. Activity directions also instruct adults to "ask your child to identify the shape" and "ask about the number of sides of each shape, its name, and what makes it unique," and Activity 2 asks the child "what three things he learned."
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 2, students are asked explicit 'what' questions such as "Ask your child what she thinks snow is made of," "What happens to snow when the Sun comes out and the temperature warms up?", and "What is in the cup now?" Students are also asked to answer identification questions about states of matter ("Ask your child if this hot water is a solid or a liquid; ask her if this is a solid or a liquid") and to predict outcomes, which requires responding to interrogative prompts.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are directly asked questions in Activity 3: "Ask your child what he observes about the reindeer. What does it look like? Can a reindeer really fly?" Students are also asked to "note all the animals the little girl encounters on the northern tundra," which asks students to identify and name animals from the text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 prompts students with explicit interrogative prompts such as the title 'Who Is Santa Claus?' and questions like 'What kind of a person is Santa?', 'What does he do?', 'Ask your child why she thinks...' and 'How did Anja already show the spirit...?' Activity 2 asks students location-based questions using 'where/which' forms: 'Ask your child if she knows at which continent Santa has arrived', 'Ask your child if she can find an island for Santa to land on', and 'Ask if she knows where there are mountains.' These prompts require students to hear and respond to question words (who, what, why, how, where) in conversational tasks.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson includes multiple teacher prompts and explicit questions that use interrogatives, for example the opening Questions to Explore: "How can we show love to others?" and "How can people work together...?." After the read-aloud, students are asked story comprehension questions that begin with question words such as "How did the argument between Clayton and Desmond start?", "What did they do when they argued?", and "What other options did they have?" The lesson instructs adults to ask the child what she typically does for Valentine's Day and what she remembers about Abraham Lincoln, prompting students to respond to interrogative prompts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives such as "But who is a president, and what does a president do?" and are prompted with "Ask her what she notices" and "Ask her what she remembers about Lincoln," providing practice with who and what. Students are asked quantitative questions using interrogatives with how (e.g., "how many pennies…," "how many nickels…"), and they are prompted to reflect with "Why or why not?" after discussing being president. Multiple prompts require students to hear and respond to question words in context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson prompts the child to answer explicit interrogative prompts such as "Ask your child why education is important for people," providing practice with the question word why. It also asks the child to consider "how the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., showed love," giving practice with how. The lesson asks the child "what dreams she has" and to "name something similar," which elicits responses to what-type questions.
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students are asked and answer explicit questions using interrogatives such as "What makes an environment safe and healthy?" and "What do people and animals need in order to live in their environments?" Activity prompts ask students to respond to questions using what, where, why, and how (e.g., "What does your child drink... and where does it come from?", "What kind of food... and where does the food come from?", "Ask your child what each room is used for and why"). Students discuss and respond verbally and in writing to these prompts, circling items and explaining their choices.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are asked direct 'what' questions in Activity 1 and Activity 2 (for example, 'What is the name of our country?,' 'What is beside the refrigerator?,' 'What is in front of the couch?'), requiring them to understand and answer the interrogative 'what'. The Getting Started and Introduction prompts ask whether the child knows 'why we look at maps and how we use them,' providing some practice with 'why' and 'how' question words. Mapping activities require students to locate places and identify objects in response to questions, engaging them in answering map-related interrogatives.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
Students are asked multiple explicit questions using interrogatives such as "What makes an environment safe and healthy?," "What do habitats provide…?," and "What do plants and animals need…?" In the Introduction students answer prompts like "What do you think this book is about?," "Who do you think this man is?," and predict "What do you think he will do in the story?" Activity 5 prompts students to answer questions such as "What do you see in the habitat?," "What would it feel like in the habitat?," "Which animals would you be most interested in seeing? Why?," and "Would you want to live in the habitat? Why or why not?"
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students are prompted to answer multiple teacher-provided questions that use interrogatives such as "What" (e.g., "What season is it...?") and "Why" (e.g., "Why does Nana tell the boy to give the plants a drink?"). The lesson repeatedly asks "How" questions in the Questions to Explore and in prompts (e.g., "How does the environment provide..." and "How do the animals help the plants..."). Students are also asked to explain and discuss (e.g., "Ask your child why shelter is important" and "Ask your child what he learned...").
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students are asked and answer many interrogative questions throughout the lesson, e.g., "What makes an environment safe and healthy?" and "What do habitats provide..." in the Getting Started questions. Activity 2 prompts students with Where/What questions such as "What is the name of the habitat where we find fish...?" and "Where could we find tigers, monkeys, and parrots?" Activity 6 uses "How many animals were in the rainforest?" and "Which habitat had the most crackers?", and Activity 3 asks students to explain "how the animals' needs are met" and "What do the animals eat?".
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students are prompted to answer and discuss explicit question words during observation (e.g., "Where are the plants?", "What animals do you see?", "How do the animals move?", "What do you think the animals eat/drink?"). The lesson opening and Activities 1–2 include additional interrogatives for students to respond to, such as "Why do living things need a healthy and safe environment?" and prompts asking what the animal eats and where it gets water. Students are also asked to compare predictions to observations and to answer follow-up prompts about what is interesting in the habitat.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
The lesson includes multiple explicit question prompts using interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" ask "What is a safe and healthy environment?" and "What do homes provide...?" Activity 1 asks hypothetical "What if we didn't have pens or pencils?" and similar "What if..." prompts. Activity 2 asks the child for each tool "What is the tool used for?" and "How does the tool work?" The Wrapping Up section again asks "what" questions (e.g., "what a tool is", "what tools she most often uses") and asks which tool was used to measure.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
The lesson prompts children to answer many interrogative questions: Getting Started asks "Why do living things need a healthy environment?" and "How can the environment change the people and animals that live in it?". Activity 1 asks children "What do pets need?" and "What would happen if we didn't provide a healthy environment for our pets?". Activity 2 includes multiple question-word prompts such as "What kind of animal did the boy find?", "Where did he find it?", "What kind of environment did the salamander need?", and several "Why…" questions.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
The lesson opens with Questions to Explore that use the interrogatives "Why" and "How" and asks, "Ask your child what animals need to live and grow," using "what." Multiple activities require students to name habitats (addressing "where") and explain why certain animals do not belong in a habitat. Students are prompted to describe how an animal gets to a wrong habitat and to explain the body parts they use to move (reinforcing "how").
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
The "Questions to Explore" section asks "How do living things change..." and "Why do living things need...", prompting students to respond to how and why questions. In the role-play scenarios students are asked "What will I do now? What will happen to me now? How would you feel?" and "What would you do if you were the lizard? What can lizards do to hide themselves?", which require students to answer interrogatives. The math activity uses question formats such as "How many wings..." and other how-many questions that have students respond to quantitative interrogatives.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
The lesson asks students explicit questions using interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" uses "How can living things be changed by their environments?" and "How do living things change their environments?" Activity 1 prompts students with "What do you do?" and "What happens to your skin from being in the Sun?" Students are asked to respond verbally, explain, and discuss those answers.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students are prompted with explicit interrogative prompts such as "What is a healthy and safe environment?" and guided questions like "What do habitats provide…?" and "How do we use them?" Students complete pages titled "What I Eat and Drink" and "What _____ Eats and Drinks," and they complete a "Where In The World?" map page by shading regions where an animal is found. Students are also asked to explain each page of their book aloud, responding to the provided question prompts.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students are prompted with explicit question-word prompts throughout the unit: the "Questions to Explore" uses How and Why, Activity 1 asks "What type of weather is best for playing outside?" and "How does it make you feel...?" Activity 3 asks "what kind of weather...and why," and multiple activities require students to answer and dictate responses to those questions. The activities require students to listen, respond to, and produce spoken sentences that use what/how/why question words.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Multiple prompts ask students direct questions using interrogatives: the opening Questions to Explore use "What" and "How." Activity prompts ask students "What habitats did you see?" and "What did the characters..." and ask "what he thinks will happen" for a prediction. The wrap-up questions explicitly ask "why" precipitation is important and "where" the water we drink comes from.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
Students are prompted with interrogative prompts such as "What is a healthy environment for plants, animals, and humans?" and "How does the weather affect living things in the environment?" Activity directions ask students "what she thinks would happen if an animal's habitat got too warm or cold" and "how she thinks she could do that" (measuring rainfall). Multiple parts of the lesson require students to answer these question words and explain ideas in response.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
The lesson includes explicit question prompts that use interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" asks "What is a healthy environment...?", "How does the weather affect living things...?", and "How does the weather in the environment change?". Activity 2 asks the child to "explain what happens when you release the bottle and what happens when you squeeze the bottle," prompting use of "what." The Weather Song activity directs the adult to ask questions such as "Can you find the word clouds?" and "Can you find the word rain?", which require the child to respond to teacher-posed questions.
Lesson 5
Fall
Students are prompted to answer several question-word prompts such as "How does the weather change from season to season?" and "How does the environment change plants, animals, and people?" In Activity 1 students are asked multiple what/how/why questions: "What are the people wearing? What do the plants and trees look like? What are the people doing? What does the sky look like? What do you think the weather feels like? Do you like the fall? Why or why not?" In Activity 2 and the wrap-up students answer graph-related and reflective interrogatives: "What does this graph show us? Which color has the fewest leaves? Which color has the most leaves? Do any colors have the same number of leaves?" and "Ask your child what she enjoys doing in the fall. Ask her to explain what happens to the weather in the fall."
Lesson 6
Winter
Students are asked several teacher‑posed questions that use interrogatives (e.g., "How does the weather affect living things?", "Which types of activities are conducive to which types of weather?", "What are the patterns of weather in the environment?"). In the Introduction students are prompted with "What season follows fall?" and to describe the outside environment "where" they live in winter, requiring responses to what- and where-questions. Activities prompt students to answer how questions about differences between winter and summer and to dictate or write responses to a sentence starter ("In the winter I _______"), providing oral and written practice responding to questions.
Lesson 7
Spring
Students are asked and answer multiple questions using interrogatives: the 'Questions to Explore' prompts use How and Which (e.g., 'How do environments change over time?' and 'Which types of activities occur in which types of weather?'). Students are asked What questions (e.g., 'What is the weather like in the spring?' and 'What was the poem about?') and How/Why questions in activities (e.g., 'How does the weather affect living things?' and 'Why did it move/fall off?'). Seed Sort asks students to respond to 'How many' questions, giving practice with 'how' in quantitative contexts.
Lesson 8
Summer
The lesson includes multiple explicit question prompts for students: "How do environments change over time?" "How does the weather affect living things...?" and "Which types of activities... ?" The Introduction and Activity 1 ask students direct interrogative prompts such as "Ask your child what season follows spring," "Can you describe the environment of the picture?" "What is happening in the picture?" and "Why or why not?" These prompts require students to hear and answer question words like what, how, which, and why in spoken responses.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students are asked and prompted to answer many interrogative prompts using words such as what, how, and why (e.g., "What do you think the temperature is? Why?", "How do you know?", and the opening Questions to Explore: "How does the weather affect..." and "What types of activities...?"). The Weather Forecast graphic organizer lists explicit question words for students to answer (e.g., "What does the sky look like?", "How should people dress?"). Students also practice speaking aloud when they give daily weather forecasts and respond to the listed questions during oral presentations.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students are prompted to answer Questions to Explore that use interrogatives, e.g., "What do communities provide..." and "How and why does a healthy environment...", requiring use of 'what', 'how', and 'why'. Students are asked multiple "what" questions after reading (e.g., "What is a community?", "What places did Charlie visit?", "What is your favorite place?"), so they practice responding to 'what' questions. Students compare Charlie's journey to their own and discuss similarities/differences, which asks them to use 'how' in explanations.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
The "Questions to Explore" section asks "What is a healthy environment?" and "How and why does a healthy environment lead to a healthy community?", exposing students to 'what', 'how', and 'why'. The Skills and Activity 4 require students to prepare and ask interview questions and give sample questions such as "Why would a person come here?" and "What are the people doing that work here?", prompting use of interrogatives. Activity prompts to "discuss where each place is located" and the optional extension asks spatial questions (e.g., "Is the courthouse closer to the museum or the police station?"), providing practice with 'where' concepts.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
The lesson repeatedly prompts students with and about question words: the opening "Questions to Explore" uses how, why, and what. In Activity 1 students are asked what each worker does and where the worker would work, and to explain how the job makes the community better. Activity 2 asks students how many marks they have and which worker they saw most/least, and Activity 3 asks whom the worker helps and why the child would like that job. The "When I Grow Up" prompt uses when and students are asked to produce sentences explaining reasons (why) and processes (how).
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
The lesson's "Questions to Explore" section explicitly uses interrogatives such as "What is my role...", "What do communities provide...", and "How and why does a healthy environment...", prompting students to respond to what, how, and why questions. The Introduction directs parents to ask the child how each named place helps people in the community, and Wrapping Up asks the child to describe goods and services and explain why people have jobs, giving students practice answering what/how/why questions. Several activities (e.g., discussing bartering and the money simulation) require the child to answer prompted questions and explain decisions, reinforcing understanding of question words in context.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students are prompted by two explicit "Questions to Explore" that use the interrogative "What" (e.g., "What do communities provide...?" and "What does the environment provide...?"). Students are asked to "explain how each resource is used" and to "explain where it is found," which requires them to use or respond to the interrogatives "how" and "where." During activities students answer these prompts by sorting, drawing, counting, and explaining resources in response to the questions.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
The lesson opens with multiple teacher-directed prompts that use interrogatives (e.g., "How and why does a healthy environment lead to a healthy community?", "What are the characteristics of a good community citizen?", "What is my role in the community and what are others' roles?"). Instructions repeatedly ask the child to answer and explain decisions (for example, deciding whether actions show good citizenship and explaining how she made that decision). Activities ask the child to think of and describe examples in response to prompts, requiring use of question words like what, how, and why.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
The Getting Started questions prompt students with interrogatives such as "How and why does a healthy environment lead to a healthy community?" and several "What" questions (e.g., "What are the characteristics of a good community citizen?" and "What is my role in the community?"). Activity 4 asks students to answer multiple "What" questions about the honesty story and to predict "What do you think will happen next?" Wrapping Up and Life Application prompt students to explain "why" practicing good character is important and to describe consequences, which requires use of cause-and-effect question words.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
The lesson contains multiple teacher prompts that use interrogatives: Getting Started asks "How and why..." and "What...", the Introduction directs "Ask your child what a rule is" and "Ask her why...", and Activity 3 lists direct questions such as "What kinds of things happen...?" and "Why or why not?" These prompts require the child to hear and answer questions using question words (what, how, why, which).
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students are asked and expected to answer multiple interrogative prompts such as "What happens at the beginning of the story? In the middle? At the end?," "Where does Katy live?," "What does she like about her community?," and "How and why does a healthy environment lead to a healthy community?" The lesson repeatedly uses question words in Activities 1–4 and asks students to respond, discuss, and explain (e.g., "What if people did not throw their trash in trash cans?" and "Ask your child how he or his family has helped other people in the community.").
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students are asked and expected to answer many questions that use interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" asks "How do people...", "What is my role...", and "How and why...". The Unit Assessment Questions require students to respond to multiple "What" and "Why" prompts (e.g., "What is a community?", "Why do people have jobs?"). The Project Reflection prompts students to answer "Were you able...", "Did you enjoy...", and "How did you affect the person/people you helped?".
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 1
Describe It
The lesson uses interrogative prompts such as "How can we describe things by similarities and differences?" and asks children "what it means" when two things are similar or different. Students are prompted to tell as much as they can about an object and to answer questions during the Guess What's in the Bag activity (e.g., guessing objects from descriptive clues). The activities require students to respond to prompts and short questions while describing attributes of objects.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
The lesson includes explicit question prompts using interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" begins with "How can we describe things..." and "What makes things similar or different?" The introduction asks the child to describe "how this object is different" and Activities include prompts such as "Ask your child what makes purple...what makes green...what makes orange" and "Ask your child what she thinks will happen if you mix white with red." These items require students to respond to and use the question words "what" and "how."
Lesson 4
How Does It Feel?
The lesson includes explicit question prompts that use interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" section asks several "How" questions (e.g., "How do similarities and differences..." and "How can we use shapes, colors, and texture..."). Throughout activities adults are instructed to ask children "what" questions (e.g., "Ask him what the world would be like..." and "What if everything were cold?") and to have children describe and answer those prompts. Students are repeatedly asked to respond to these questions and to discuss their answers, providing practice in responding to at least "how" and "what" question words.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students are asked to read and answer explicit question prompts on the activity page (e.g., "Where is your mommy?", "How many dogs do you have?", "Can you ride a bicycle?", "Did you learn to ride a horse?", "What is a dish mama cooked just like when you were a little boy?"). Activities ask students to write questions for pictured people, practice starting sentences with a capital letter and ending with a question mark, and to think of another question they would like to ask each person. Option 2 directs students to write a question for each person based on age, and Activity 1 explicitly asks "Was it easier to decide with this group of people? Why?" which invites use of the interrogative why.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
The lesson repeatedly prompts students to answer questions using interrogatives: it tells adults to "Ask what a doctor measures...," "Ask him how he knows these measurements," and "Ask your child what tool is usually used to measure weight." It also includes prompts using 'why' and 'how' (e.g., "Ask your child if fingers would be a good unit of measurement and why or why not" and "Ask your child why your answers are different") and uses 'which' in comparison tasks (e.g., "Which glass is the longest?" and "Which glass has the greatest capacity?"). These prompts require students to hear, understand, and respond to question words while estimating and measuring.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
The lesson includes parent prompts that require students to answer questions using interrogatives: for example, students are asked "Ask her how the blocks are similar and different" (how), "Ask her what the groups will be" (what), and "Ask her which toys go in each circle" (which). The Wrap-up asks "Why or why not?" prompting students to respond with reasons (why). Several activities require students to respond to these question prompts while sorting and describing attributes.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
The lesson includes multiple explicit question prompts using interrogatives: the Questions to Explore begin with "How..." (e.g., "How do measurements...?") and the Introduction and Wrapping Up sections instruct the adult to ask the child "what a magnet is" and "what causes an object to sink or float." Activity directions also tell the child to explain "why" some objects float or sink and to predict outcomes (e.g., "predict whether each object will be magnetic").
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
The lesson repeatedly prompts students with question words: the "Questions to Explore" section asks "How do scientists use similarities and differences..." and "How can describing similarities and differences..." Activities ask "Ask your child if she thinks something can change...", "What about ice cream?", "Have you ever baked cookies?", and "Ask what caused the ice cube to change." Instructions also use "When you take the cup out, ask your child what she observes."
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students are prompted to answer many teacher-led questions that use interrogatives (e.g., "Can you name three solids...?", "Can you describe any liquids...?", "What role do solids and liquids play...?", "Why?", and "How is the writing in the two books similar?"). The Skills list explicitly includes "Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood," which requires students to use question words in listening and discussion. Day 2 and the Reading And Questions sections repeatedly require students to respond to and generate answers to questions beginning with what, how, and why.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
The lesson includes explicit prompts using interrogatives: the opening question asks, "How do the properties or attributes of Earth materials affect living things on the planet?" Activity 2 directs the child to "think about how rocks are used and why they are important," prompting use of the question words how and why during discussion and scavenger activities.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
The Questions to Explore section prompts students with multiple interrogative prompts using how, what, and why (e.g., "How do attributes help...", "What makes things the same?", "Why is it important..."). During planning and practice, adults ask students explicit questions using what and how (e.g., "Ask your child what Earth materials he could use..." and "decide how he will explain..."). The wrapping-up reflection asks students to respond to what and which questions about their project (e.g., "What did you enjoy most?", "Which part do you think you could have done better on?").
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
The lesson repeatedly prompts students with interrogative prompts such as in the "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "How do we use our senses...?," "What makes things the same? Different?", "How do our senses help...?"). During reading and discussion students are asked direct questions: "Can you name your five senses?", "Which body part do you use for each of your senses?", "What sense helps you find the color of an object?", and "Which sense do you think you use most often? Why?". Students are also prompted to describe objects and explain "how" they figured out attributes, which requires use of question words in responses.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
The lesson opens with two explicit 'Questions to Explore' that use the interrogative 'How' ("How do we use our senses..." and "How do our senses help...") that students are prompted to consider. In Activity 1 students listen to a story and are directed to respond when Jackie uses a sense, and the story text reports Jackie "asked the man... if she could pet him," showing at least one instance of a question in context. Activity 2 asks students to read situations and point to the sense organ they would use, which involves responding to prompts about experiences.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Students are asked open-ended interrogative questions such as "How do we use our senses…," "How do our senses help us…," and "How did your sense of smell help you decide…," which prompts them to answer with explanations. Students answer specific prompts using question words like "Which flavor did people like the most/least?" and "What flavor would you make…? Why?" during the survey and wrapping-up discussions. Students conduct a survey that requires asking others yes/no preference questions and recording responses, practicing the use of questions to gather information.
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students are repeatedly asked and expected to answer questions using interrogatives: Activity 1 asks "What happened…?" and "How would you describe…?" and "Whose nose…?"; Getting Started asks "How does he know?" and "Which object are you using?" Activity 5 includes audio prompts that require students to answer "Where are you?" and Activity 7 asks students to describe what they hear and later discuss "why" sights and sounds differ.
Lesson 5
Touch
Students are presented with explicit questions using interrogatives in the "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "Why do similarities..." and "How do our senses..."). Adults prompt students with question words throughout (e.g., "Ask your child what sense she would use...", "ask her to identify the different senses she is using", "Ask your child what she thinks..."). In activities students answer and respond to questions when describing textures, explaining choices on the Touch Chart, and guessing items by feel in the blindfold game.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives throughout the lesson: opening Questions to Explore include "Why..." and "How..."; Activity 1 prompts students with "Were your first answers the same...", "If your answers were different, why...", "Can you taste color?", and "Are these cups... the same or different?" Activity 2 asks "Which spice does he smell?" and Activity 3 asks "What is your favorite flavor?" Wrapping Up again asks students "how" their senses help and to explain "why" we use more than one sense.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives such as "How do our senses help us to communicate information?" and "How do our senses help us to understand our environment?" The Introduction prompt asks students which senses the boy used and how he used each sense. After the nature walk, students respond to question-word prompts including "What were some things you heard? Smelled? Saw? Touched?", "Which sense did you use most? Least?", and "If someone asked you what you found on your walk, what would you say?"
Final Project
A Sensible Party
Students are prompted with direct questions using interrogatives in the wrap-up (e.g., "Did the party go well? Why or why not?", "How?", "What have you learned about your senses?"). Planning tasks require students to create a guest list (who), choose a date and time (when), and make invitations with place, date, and time (who/where/when). The activity pages explicitly ask "How will you get your guests to use all of their senses?" and include Game prompts that ask students to compare similarities and differences (what/how).
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Multiple introductory prompts and discussion questions use interrogatives such as 'what', 'where', 'why', and 'how' (e.g., 'What makes you special?', 'In what ways are you like your friends?', 'Why or why not?'). The Student Activity Page asks and requires students to answer many 'what' and 'where' questions directly (e.g., 'What is your name?', 'Where do you live?', 'What color are your eyes?'), and instructs students to read questions aloud and write responses. Students complete fill-in-the-blank and oral-sharing tasks that have them respond to those interrogative prompts in spoken and written form.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students are asked and expected to answer questions using interrogatives in multiple activities (e.g., Activity 1 prompts: "Is their hair the same or different? How?" and "Do they have the same number of eyes?"). Activity 2 includes comprehension questions that use what, why, and how (e.g., "What happened at the beginning? In the middle? At the end?" and "At the beginning, did Susan want to play with Casey? Why or why not?"). Activity 3 asks students to decide and state where their story will take place and to describe differences, and the Wrapping Up asks "Would that be a good thing? Why or why not? Can you be friends with people who look different from you?"
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
The lesson opens with three explicit Questions to Explore that use interrogatives (e.g., "Why do similarities and differences make the world more interesting?" and "In what ways can people be the same? Different?"). Activity 1 asks the child "What does he like most about his personality?" and directs caregivers to "Ask him to explain what each word means," prompting students to respond to 'what' questions. Activity 2 instructs students to answer prompts about how they and a friend are alike and different, requiring them to respond to descriptive question prompts.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Students are prompted to read and answer multiple questions that begin with interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" uses What, How, and Why (e.g., "What makes things the same? Different?", "How do similarities and differences...", "Why is it important..."). The "My Interest" student page asks several What-questions (e.g., "What most interests you?", "What can you do to learn more...?", "What is a question you have about ___?"). The "Hobby Survey" requires students to ask and record others' answers to questions beginning with What and How (e.g., "What is your hobby?", "How often do you do your hobby?", "How would you describe your hobby?").
Lesson 5
Shapesville
The Getting Started section and introductory questions prompt students to answer interrogatives such as "How do similarities and differences make the world more interesting?", "In what ways can people be the same? Different?", and "Why is it important that there are differences among people?" During reading and wrap-up, students are asked explicit questions using question words (e.g., "Did you enjoy the story? Why or why not?", "How do the shapes look different on the outside?", "What are some of the interests of the shapes?"). Activities ask students to explain choices (e.g., select a shape and explain why) which requires using question words in their responses.
Lesson 6
Different Families
The lesson includes a 'Questions to Explore' section that asks students interrogative prompts using how, why, and what (e.g., 'How do similarities and differences make the world more interesting?', 'Why are there differences among people and families?', 'What makes things the same? Different?'). The Introduction directs adults to ask the child direct questions using what and why (e.g., 'What are your responsibilities in your family?', 'What does each family member do for the family?', 'What activities do you do with your family?'), requiring students to respond to those interrogatives. Students are also prompted to describe people, clothing, activities, and interactions from book pictures, which involves answering descriptive how/what-style questions.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
The lesson includes multiple prompts that use question words: the "Questions to Explore" asks "Why is it important..." and "What makes things the same? Different?" The Introduction instructs the adult to "ask your child to identify and describe the different homes" and to "ask him why people have homes," and later prompts ask the child "what he enjoys most about his house." Activities and Wrapping Up prompt students to "identify countries where you might find homes" and to explain "why homes around the world look different."
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
The opening Questions to Explore prompt students to answer "Why is it important..." and "What makes things the same? Different?" Activity 2 explicitly asks students "What are the people celebrating?", "What types of activities are they engaged in?", "What type of clothing is worn...?") giving direct practice with "what" questions. Activity 4 titled "What's the Date?" and the calendar tasks have students identify when holidays occur, and Activity 3 asks "which holiday is her favorite and why," prompting use of "which" and "why."
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
The Getting Started 'Questions to Explore' prompts students with explicit question words such as "What makes things the same? Different?", "In what ways...", and "Why are there differences...?." Multiple activities ask students "What mode of transportation would you use..." and prompt them to talk about "where he went," requiring use of what and where. Instructions also ask the child "how people travel great distances" and to explain reasons for choosing specific modes, explicitly engaging the interrogative how and why.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students are prompted with specific question-word prompts such as "In what ways can people be the same?" and "Why are there differences among people and families?" Students are asked to answer "what" questions (e.g., "what animals need," "what people need," "what it means to want something") and a "how" question about "how it felt to give away her toys and clothes." Students also take a survey in which they ask four people to name things they want and need, practicing asking and recording responses.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students are asked to respond to explicit questions using interrogatives such as "Why are there differences among people and families?" and "In what ways can people be the same? Different?". Students answer guided questions in activities (e.g., "Which group has the most people?", "Do two groups have the same number of people?", "Which group would you be in?"). The lesson also prompts students to think about "how old the kids are" and asks "what he enjoys" and "why he thinks" a group is interesting, requiring comprehension and use of how/what/why question words.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
The lesson's "Questions to Explore" section presents multiple question words such as "Why are there differences...?," "In what ways...?," "What makes things the same?", and "How can we describe...?." The Life Application directs the child to "ask questions about life in that country," prompting students to use interrogatives when meeting someone from the chosen country. The Getting Started prompts also instruct discussion about location and differences, creating contexts where students may hear and respond to question words.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
The Getting Started Questions to Explore explicitly use interrogatives: "How can patterns be made or found?", "What makes something a pattern?", and "What strategies can be used for finding patterns?". During the Busy Bugs activity, students are asked and expected to answer questions such as "Have you ever seen a pattern? Where?", "What are some places where patterns can be found?", and "Have you ever made a pattern? If so, when?". The Option 2 activity prompts students to name objects in patterns aloud (e.g., "butterfly, ant, butterfly, ant..."), which requires responding to prompts and attending to question-style prompts from the adult.
Lesson 2
Recognizing Types of Patterns
Students are prompted with explicit question-word prompts such as "How can patterns be made or found?," "What makes something a pattern?," and "What are some ways to find patterns?" The text instructs adults to ask the child "how many colors are in the set," to ask the child to "explain how he decided," and to ask him to "describe the pattern" and "how he can decide" if a pattern is ABAB or AABB. Several activities require the child to answer these how/what-type questions while labeling and explaining patterns.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
Students are repeatedly asked and prompted to use the question word "What" (e.g., "What comes next?", "What comes first in the pattern?", "What comes before __?", "What comes after __?"). The opening Questions to Explore include the interrogative "How" in multiple prompts (e.g., "How can patterns be made or found?", "How can patterns be extended?"). In Activity 4 students are asked to write or copy a question sentence: "What do you see after the ________?" and to review that question sentences end with question marks.
Lesson 4
Extending a Pattern
Students are prompted with question-word prompts such as "How can patterns be made or found?" and "How do you extend a pattern?" in the Getting Started section. Activity instructions ask students, "what would come next," and direct students to "answer questions about each pattern" and to "explain how he extends a pattern," requiring responses to how- and what-type questions. Several activities require students to respond to prompts (e.g., choose the first/second/third object) after hearing or reading pattern questions.
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
The lesson's "Questions to Explore" explicitly uses the interrogatives "How" and "What" (e.g., "How do you make a pattern?", "What kinds of patterns can be made?", "What materials can be used to make patterns?"). The instructions tell the adult to ask the child to describe patterns and to demonstrate ideas, prompting student responses to those question words during activities.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
The lesson opens with two explicit 'Questions to Explore,' including 'How can patterns be made or found?' and 'How can numbers, shapes, and words form patterns?'. Multiple instructions tell the child to 'describe' patterns and 'show' an ABC pattern, prompting verbal responses (e.g., 'Ask your child to describe the order of the shapes' and 'Ask your child to show you an ABC pattern'). Activity prompts (e.g., 'Ask your child to describe the patterns as ABAB, AABB, or ABC') require students to answer prompts about how patterns are formed.
Lesson 7
Making Number Patterns
The lesson includes a 'Questions to Explore' section that asks explicit interrogative prompts: 'How do you make a pattern?', 'What kinds of patterns can be made?', and 'What materials can be used to make patterns?'. The introduction prompts caregivers to 'Ask your child to demonstrate or explain ways numbers can be used to make patterns,' which requires students to respond to 'how' and 'what' style questions. Several activities ask students to identify and describe patterns, which can involve answering those interrogative prompts.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
The lesson prompts students with explicit questions in the 'Questions to Explore' section such as "What kinds of patterns can be made?", "How do you make a pattern?", and "What materials can be used to make patterns?" The 'Wrapping Up' section asks students to answer interrogatives including "How did you think your project went?", "What did you do well...?," "Which pattern did you enjoy... Why?", and "Which pattern was hardest... Why?" These prompts require students to understand and respond to question words like what, how, which, and why.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
The lesson includes explicit prompts that use interrogatives: the Getting Started Questions to Explore ask "How do you make a pattern?" and "What kinds of patterns can be made?". The instructions ask the child "what it means when we say that two words rhyme" and ask the child to "explain how groups of words can follow a pattern," which requires answering what/how questions. Several teacher prompts invite the child to name or explain (e.g., name sets of words in the same family).
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
The lesson includes explicit question prompts using interrogatives: the Getting Started questions ask "What are examples of patterns…?" and "Where can we find patterns?". Activity 1 asks students "What happened at the beginning… middle… end?" and prompts them to predict "what she thinks will happen next." Activity 3 asks students to think about "who will be in her story," prompting use of the question word who.
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
The lesson includes explicit question prompts using interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" asks "What are some strategies for finding patterns?" and "Where can patterns be found?". Introduction prompts ask "which of his senses he can use" and "what type of pattern he heard," and activities ask "how many times you clapped" and to "identify" parts and order of patterns. Students are repeatedly asked to answer and respond to questions using what, where, which, and how while listening to and extending sound patterns.
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
Students are asked direct questions using the interrogatives "What" and "How" in the "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "What are examples of patterns...?" and "How can numbers, shapes, and words form patterns?"). Adults are instructed to ask the child "how sounds can be used" and to "ask your child what it means to have a pattern," prompting student responses to those question words. Several activity prompts require the child to answer or respond to these question forms while creating and describing patterns.
Final Project
Patterns Video
The lesson's "Questions to Explore" prompts students with explicit interrogatives: "Where are patterns found?", "How can sounds, words, and motions form patterns?", and "What are some strategies for finding patterns?" The video script pages repeatedly prompt students to state "where or how the pattern was found or made" and to identify "This is a ___ pattern," requiring use of "where," "how," and "what" in students' spoken and written responses. Students practice answering these prompts when they write/dictate scripts and when they describe each pattern on video.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
The lesson opens with Questions to Explore that use interrogatives: "Where are patterns found?" and "What kinds of patterns can be made and found?" Activity prompts repeatedly ask the child questions (e.g., "Were there any patterns that you had seen before? Which ones?" and "Ask what types of patterns she has seen…"). Activity 3 asks students to choose and describe preferences with the question "which patterns are the most interesting and beautiful?" which requires comprehension of the interrogative "which."
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
The lesson includes a "Questions to Explore" section with prompts that use interrogatives such as "Where do we see patterns in everyday life?", "Where are patterns found in nature?", and "What kinds of patterns can be made and found?" The instructions tell adults to "Ask your child how he is different now from when he was a baby and a toddler," and Activity 4 directs: "Ask your child what makes these animals' life cycles unique," prompting students to respond to "how" and "what" questions. The Wrapping Up step asks the child to "describe the growth pattern of a plant and a person," which requires responding to descriptive question prompts.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
The lesson repeatedly uses interrogative words in prompts that students respond to: the "Questions to Explore" section asks three "Where" questions about patterns. The Introduction asks students "how" they know when it is nighttime, "what" kinds of things happen during day/night, and "why" we have day and night. Activity 3 explicitly asks "How would it be different if it were light all the time?" and "How would it be different if it were dark all the time?", and students are asked to describe and record sentences about day and night activities.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
The lesson includes explicit questions such as "Where do we see patterns in our everyday lives?" and "Do living things follow patterns?" in the Questions to Explore, so students are exposed to the interrogative 'where' and yes/no question forms. Teachers prompt students to respond to questions (e.g., "Ask her to name the days of the weeks and months of the year" and "Ask her if she sees any events that occur weekly, biweekly, or monthly"), giving students occasions to answer questions about time and place.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Several places prompt students with interrogative words: the "Questions to Explore" section asks "Where are patterns found in nature?" and "What kinds of patterns can be made? Found?" The Introduction and Activity 1 ask students "what" and "which" questions (e.g., "Which month comes after March?", "Which season comes before summer?", "What month is two months after May?"). Students are also asked to answer and discuss "where" (map activity) and "what" (types of activities and weather) questions during discussions and matching tasks.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives such as "Where do we see patterns in our everyday lives?" and "Where are patterns found?", and they are prompted to answer "what" questions (e.g., "Ask your child what it would be like if there were no patterns..." and to "describe each pattern she finds"). The guidance to "Talk about how patterns make the world a more interesting and beautiful place" prompts use of the word how in discussion. Several activities require students to name shapes and state numbers of sides and angles, which elicits factual question-and-answer language.
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
The lesson includes a "Questions to Explore" section with explicit interrogative prompts such as "Where are patterns found?" and "What kinds of patterns can be made?" The Wrap-Up instructs adults to "Ask your child what it means..." and to ask questions about folding and examples, prompting students to answer "what" and "where" style questions. Activity directions also prompt student responses to questions like which group has more shapes and how many more, eliciting use of question words in context.
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
The lesson opens with two explicit prompts under "Questions to Explore": "Where do we see patterns in our everyday lives?" and "What kinds of patterns can be made? Found?", which require students to hear and answer the interrogatives where and what. Several directions tell the adult to "ask your child" questions (for example, asking the child to count and to fill in blanks in the clown story), creating opportunities for students to respond to spoken prompts.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
Students are prompted with explicit interrogative prompts in the 'Getting Started' questions (e.g., 'Where are patterns found?', 'What kinds of patterns can be made?', 'How do you make a pattern?'). Students are asked to answer 'why' questions during activities (e.g., 'Ask him why it would be hard to create the patterns without the stencil'). Students are asked to explain processes using 'how' (e.g., 'Ask your child how a pattern can be used in art') and to identify and respond to questions during tasks.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are asked explicit interrogative questions in the Getting Started section such as "How can patterns be made or found?" and "Where can we find patterns?". While analyzing the chart, students are asked "What does this chart tell us?", "How many types of people are on the chart?", and "How many different colors of shirts were worn?". In Activity 1 students are prompted with "how many books she thinks John would read..." and asked to describe patterns using question forms.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
Students are prompted by a "Questions to Explore" list that uses interrogatives such as "Where are patterns found?", "How do you make a pattern?", and "What kinds of patterns can be made?". Students are asked to respond to prompts (for example, being asked to name different types of patterns and to answer which mini-book they are most proud of). Several activity instructions require students to write titles or labels (e.g., "Pattern in Nature" or labeling stages), which involve responding to or selecting from question prompts.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are prompted with explicit question prompts such as "How do you identify change?" and "What are examples of changes that happen over time?" The instructions ask students to answer and discuss "what it means for something to change" and "how she knew it had changed." The activities require students to explain causes (e.g., matching before/after cards and completing "________ changed because __________"), and to record whether changes are fast or slow, which involves talking about timing.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are asked and prompted to answer multiple interrogative prompts such as "What changes take place in my environment?", "Which kinds of changes are good? Not good?", and "What causes change?". Students are asked directly "What are some examples of physical changes…?", "When something burns, is it a physical or chemical change?", and to respond to the Activity 2 prompt titled "How Did It Change?" where they determine how attributes changed. Students are also asked to state their current location and to describe causes of change, prompting use of location- and cause-related question words.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
The lesson includes many explicit interrogative prompts: students are asked "What is happening in the picture?" and "What do you think the book will be about?" and prompted with Reading questions such as "How do we get objects to start moving?" and "What force keeps us on Earth?". Introduction and activities require students to answer "How" and "What" questions (e.g., how to move a spoon or ball, what causes movement) and an explicit "Why" question is asked about why tossed objects come back down. Several activities (picture discussion, experiments, and the reading Q&A) require students to respond to and use these question words in speaking and writing.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
The lesson begins with explicit Questions to Explore that use the interrogative "What" (e.g., "What does the environment change?" and "What changes occur in nature?"). In Activity 1, students are asked to answer "how" questions about how weather changes might cause them to change activities (e.g., "ask your child how the change in weather might cause him to change his activities"). In Activity 2 and the Wrapping Up, students are prompted to answer questions about changes in the book and to "explain what causes the changes," which requires responding to causal question prompts.
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students encounter the question word "Where" in the activity title "Where Did He Go?" and complete location sentences such as "The cat is ___ the door," using prepositions to answer implied location questions. Students listen to and act on spoken location prompts (e.g., "The mouse is in front of the TV") and move the mouse to described locations, practicing responses to 'where' type prompts. Students write or complete sentences describing object locations (e.g., "The bush is beside the tree"), reinforcing location-related language tied to the interrogative 'where'.
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
Students are prompted with explicit question-word prompts such as "What changes take place in my environment?" and "What causes change?" in the Questions to Explore. Students are asked directly "what you are doing" during the rotation/revolution activities and asked to "describe how objects in the sky change positions," giving practice with what/how questions. Students are instructed to "discuss why the Sun is important to our planet" and to "discuss where the Sun is at different points in the day," providing practice with why and where interrogatives.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
The lesson repeatedly prompts students with question words: the "Questions to Explore" section asks "What changes occur in nature?" and "Why is change necessary?" and activities ask "How do animals change?" Activity 1 asks students "how and why the lizard changed" and whether the change happens "quickly or slowly." Activity 2 directs students to answer prompts such as "Did it change in size?" and "Did it change its place, or did it move?" and to circle words that describe the change.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
The lesson frames multiple explicit questions using interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" asks "What changes occur in nature?" and "Why is change necessary?" The Reading and Questions section includes explicit prompts: "What are some things plants are used for?" and "How are plants similar to and different from animals?" Other student prompts ask: "Ask your child what he thinks will happen to each of the cups" and "Ask your child if he knows what happens to a plant as it grows," which require responses to "what" and "how/why" style questions.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students are repeatedly asked questions using interrogatives such as 'What' (e.g., 'What are examples of changes...', 'What caused the candle to change?'), 'How' (e.g., 'How do you identify change?', 'How did the candle change?', 'How tall is the candle?'), 'Why' (e.g., 'Ask her why the ice is changing'), and 'When' (e.g., 'When was the candle the tallest?'). Students are prompted to predict, describe, and explain using these question words during observations of ice, water, steam, the burning candle, and baking a cake.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
The lesson includes explicit question prompts such as in "Questions to Explore," which asks "How do physical and chemical changes occur?" and "What causes change?", giving students practice answering 'how' and 'what' questions. Activity 3 asks the child to "explain how he made each decision," prompting use of the interrogative 'how' in explanations. The wrapping-up prompt asks the child to "describe the difference" and to give examples, which requires responding to a question-style prompt.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
The lesson opens with explicit Questions to Explore that use interrogatives, including "How do you identify change?" and "What causes change?", asking students to respond to question words. Activities prompt students to "discuss why you choose to do this," "describe what is happening in each illustration," and "decide if the change is positive, negative, or neutral and why," which requires answering why/how/what questions. Wrapping up and life-application tasks ask students to share ways people reduce/reuse/recycle and to point out ways people are changing the environment, providing opportunities to answer question-word prompts.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
The lesson includes a "Questions to Explore" list that prompts students to answer interrogative prompts using words like "what," "which," and "why" (e.g., "What are examples of changes...?," "Why is change necessary?", "Which kinds of changes are good?"). The Introduction instructs adults to ask the child "What if..." scenarios and to discuss those questions. The Wrapping Up section asks students to explain which example is their favorite and to describe what they have learned, prompting use of question words in conversation.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
The lesson includes multiple teacher prompts and comprehension questions that use interrogatives: the Questions to Explore use How, What, and Why, and the Reading And Questions section lists Q1–Q4 that begin with How, Why, What, and How for students to answer. Students are asked to respond to those questions (e.g., "How did Chrysanthemum feel...", "Why did Chrysanthemum change...", "From this story, what can you learn..."). The lesson also prompts oral prediction and discussion (asking the child to predict and to answer discussion questions), which requires listening to and responding to question words.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
Students are asked and expected to respond to explicit questions that use interrogatives, for example the "Questions to Explore" prompts: "What causes change?", "When and why can change be scary?", and "Why is change necessary?". The Reading and Questions section includes four numbered questions that require students to answer "Did she need to be worried? Why or why not?" and "What can you learn from Wemberly?", which ask for responses to "why" and "what."
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are prompted to answer and respond to multiple questions that use interrogatives: the "Questions to Explore" asks "What causes change?", "When and why can change be scary?", and the Reading And Questions section includes Q1–Q4 using "How" and "What" (e.g., "How does the author...?," "What happens...?," "How does the boy...?," "What does the boy learn?..."). The lesson repeatedly asks the child questions (e.g., "Ask your child what Wemberly and Chrysanthemum's problems were") so students practice listening to and answering question-word prompts during discussion and comprehension activities.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
Students are prompted with and respond to multiple questions that use interrogative words: the Getting Started questions include "What causes change? When and why can change be scary?" and instructions say to ask the child "which story and character were his favorite and why." Activity pages also ask "How are the characters' situations similar?," "What can we learn from both characters?," and "Which character is most like you? Why?" These prompts require students to understand and answer using question words such as what, when, why, how, and which.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students are asked many comprehension questions that use interrogatives throughout the lesson (e.g., Questions to Explore: "What causes change?" and "When and why can change be scary?"; the reading stops with "Where had the raft come from?"). The scripted Reading And Questions sets include multiple "Who", "What", "Why", "How" questions (e.g., "Why does the boy not want to stay with his grandma?", "Who comes down to the river?", "What does the boy paint on the raft?"). Activity 1 is explicitly titled "Who Is Telling the Story?" and asks students to identify the narrator, which requires understanding the interrogative "who."
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students are asked and prompted to answer explicit interrogative prompts such as "What causes change?," "When and why can change be scary?," and "Why is change often necessary?" during the Getting Started discussion. In Activity 2 students respond to questions that begin with interrogatives (e.g., "How do you think the rat feels about himself?," "Do you think the other animals should avoid the rat?," "How could the rat respond…?"). In Activity 3 students consider and discuss several "What if…" questions about story outcomes and are prompted to discuss choices and causes in response to those questions.
Final Project
My Own Story
The lesson contains explicit question prompts using interrogatives in the "Questions to Explore" section (e.g., "What causes change?", "When and why can change be scary?", "Why is change often necessary?"). The Part 4 Student Activity Page asks students to answer direct questions using question words (e.g., "How would you describe the character at the beginning of the story?", "What caused the problem?", "How did the character get to the solution?", "Why did the character need to change?"). Parts 1–3 prompt students to identify story elements (ideas, characters, setting) through questioning such as "Which character will be the one who changes?" and asking them to illustrate the setting.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
The lesson repeatedly prompts students to answer interrogative questions such as "What are examples of changes...?", "Why is change necessary?", and "How do people change over time?". In activities students are asked specific questions using question words: "How were you different at age three than at age one?", "When were you the shortest?", and "Between which two years did you grow the most?". During family activities students respond to questions like "How was our family different...?", "What do you think is the best change you see...?", and "Is there anything that changed that you did not want to change?".
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
Multiple teacher prompts ask and model question words: the opening Questions to Explore include "Why do people change?", "Why is change necessary?", and "How do we measure time?" Activity prompts require students to answer "What date is today?" and to state "what date it was yesterday" and "what date it will be tomorrow." Activity 2 and the Advanced Questions ask students interrogatives such as "Were you born in the past, present, or future?", "Did dinosaurs live in the past, present, or future?", and "About how many decades old is your mother?", giving practice with what, why, how, and how many question forms.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are asked and answer many explicit interrogative prompts such as "Why do communities change?," "What changes are taking place in my environment?," and "How do people change over time?" In Activity 1 students respond to questions using who, where, how, and when (e.g., "Where did the story happen?," "Who are the characters?," "How did the environment change?," "When would you have most liked to visit Maple Street?"). Activity 5 and other sections prompt students to explain using how and why (e.g., "How would life have been different in the past?," "What would have been hard about living in the past?").
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students are prompted with multiple interrogative prompts such as the opening "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "Why do people change?", "What are examples of changes...", "How do we measure time?"). After viewing images and readings, students are asked direct questions using question words (e.g., "How did people in the past dress differently than we do today?", "What else is different about them?", "Would you enjoy living in the past... Why or why not?"). Activities require students to answer these questions orally or in writing and to dictate answers that compare past and present.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
The lesson opens with two explicit interrogative prompts: "Why do communities change?" and "How have people changed from past to present?", which direct students to think about and respond to 'why' and 'how' questions. Several parent prompts say "Ask your child…" (for example, asking the child to recall time periods and to select a culture to present), which require the child to answer questions aloud and produce responses. The Cultural Presentation activity has students write a sentence about each element of culture and present it to family, implying responding to informational prompts and spoken questions.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
Students are prompted to answer and write responses to multiple 'what' and 'how' questions (e.g., Questions to Explore: "How do changes in the past affect the present and future?" and Activity 1: "What changed in each situation?" and "How will this change your family?"). Activity 3 asks students to explain "how he changed and why he thinks he changed," giving students practice with 'how' and 'why' interrogatives. Student activity pages repeatedly use prompts that begin with 'How' and 'What' that students must respond to in writing or discussion.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
The lesson opens with question prompts that use interrogatives (Why, How, Who) in the "Questions to Explore." In Activity 1 students are asked direct question-word prompts such as "Did this person live in the past or is this person living in the present? How do you know?" and "What did this person do to make a positive change?" Wrapping up asks students to respond to "What is a biography?" and to describe people from the past, prompting use of question-word responses.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
The lesson includes explicit questions in the "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "Why do people change?", "How have people from the past caused change?", "How can people, communities, and events be identified as being in the past, present, or future?") that prompt students to respond using interrogatives. The "Wrapping Up" section asks students direct questions using question words (e.g., "What did you do well on your project?", "Which page...?," "When you think about your future...?," "How do you think you will change...") that require students to answer with information tied to who/what/when/how/why-type prompts. Students are asked to read their work aloud and present to family, which provides opportunities to hear and use these question words in discussion.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives such as "What objects in the video begin with short a?" and "What letter makes that sound?" They are prompted to count using a how-question: "How many can he find of each letter?" and to locate items with a where-question in Guess My Word: "Where do I go on your body?" Students are also asked "Which card says 'the'?" when identifying sight words.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives in multiple activities (e.g., Activity 1.2: "What sound does short i make?" and "What words did the video show that have short i?"). Students are prompted to choose between options with interrogative language (Activity 1.3: "Which card says 'of'?" and Activity 1.2: "How many can she find of each letter?"). Students read and respond to questions in a reader and are taught to recognize question marks and rising intonation when reading questions (Activity 5.3: "What do you think this book is about?" and modeling how to read a question).
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students are asked and answer explicit interrogative questions in several places (e.g., Activity 1.1: "Based on the hint, what vowel do you think you're going to work with this week?"; Activity 2.2: "What about umbrella (u)?"; Activity 5.2: "What is the bug able to do?" and "Why can't he do that?"). Activity 5.3 also prompts students with "What do all of these sentences end with? What do we call that?" so students respond to and identify meanings of 'what' and 'why' questions.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
Students are asked explicit questions using interrogatives in multiple places: Activity 1.1 asks, "How many sentences does this message have?" and the Weekly Message asks, "Which words can you spell with the letters…?" Activity 5.2 asks students to answer comprehension questions using why: "Why are the dog and the fox napping…?" These prompts require students to attend to and respond to question words in context.
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Students are taught that a question mark signals a sentence is asking a question and to use rising intonation when reading questions (Activity 1.1). Students are asked and answer a comprehension question using interrogatives—"Which duck do you think is having the most fun? Why?"—after reading the reader (Activity 4.3). The lesson models reading a sentence as a question and asks students to identify the question mark.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students are asked and answer teacher questions using interrogatives throughout the lesson (e.g., Activity 1.2: "What do you notice about each pair of words?" "How does each word in a pair end?" "Does the ending in each pair sound the same or different?"). Activity 5.1 prompts students with questions such as "What kind of letter does every sentence begin with?" and Activity 5.2 has comprehension questions that use question words: "Why do Meg, Dan, and Sam start with uppercase letters?" and "What kind of pet does Dan have?". Activity 3.1 and other places also use "Which" and "How" in teacher prompts when guiding students to classify words.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students answer comprehension questions that use interrogatives (e.g., "Where is the ship at the beginning of the book?" and "Why are the rat and the cat wet at the end?") during Reader #7. Students read and build words that are question words or start with wh (which, what, when, why) in word lists and word-building activities (Activity 2.1 and Group #3). Teachers prompt students with spoken questions such as "What color is it?" and "What do you think will happen in this book?", requiring students to listen and respond using question words.
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Activity 4.3 asks the child to read a short reader and then answer comprehension questions that use interrogatives: "Near the end, why are Meg and Dan no longer on the sled?", "Why do you think they stop for a snack?", and "What would you want for a snack if you were them?" These prompts require the child to respond to questions beginning with the question words "why" and "what," practicing understanding and use of those interrogatives in context.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are asked to respond to question prompts using the word "what," for example in the Weekly Message prompt, "What do you notice about the word 'blend'?" Reader #9 includes comprehension questions that begin with "What" ("What color are the flags..." and "What do the kids do at the club?") and a hypothetical "If you were in the club, what fun things would you want to do?" Activity 1.1 has students circle the question mark in the Weekly Message, which requires them to recognize the punctuation for questions.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students are asked and respond to questions that use interrogative words in multiple activities. For example, in Activity 4.2 students are asked "Where are the ducks swimming to?" and "What are the kids running on?" Activity 1.3 asks the child "which word begins with an r blend," and Activity 4.2 also asks "Which of these things are you best at -- hopping, swimming or running?"
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
On Day 4, Activity 4.2 students are asked comprehension questions after reading the reader: "What do the kids do at camp?", "What are the kids hunting for?", and "What do you think your favorite camp activity would be?" These prompts require students to understand and respond to 'what' question words in context. Several activities also prompt students to name or say words aloud (e.g., Activity 3.2 and 3.3), which involves answering teacher prompts but not explicitly other interrogatives.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students practice the interrogative 'what' as a sight word and use it in created and written sentences (Activity 1.3: make up sentences such as "What were you doing with all that candy?"). Students answer comprehension questions that use 'what' and 'why' about the reader Huff and Puff (Activity 4.3: "What insects are shown...?" "Why do you think...?"). Students locate the sight word 'what' in a sight-word search (Activity 5.1), reinforcing recognition and use of that question word.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Activity 4.3 asks students comprehension questions that use interrogatives: "Where do the king and his friends sleep?" and "What color drinks do the king and his friends drink?" Activity 1.3 lists the sight word "when" and directs students to read and write that word several times. Students also are asked "What would you want to do if you were a king?" which prompts them to answer a "what" question in writing or speaking.
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students are asked and answer multiple 'what' questions, for example: "What sounds do you hear at the beginning of 'shred' and 'string'?" in the weekly message and activities, and the Reader #14 comprehension questions: "What do the kids do at the track?" and "What do the kids do at the pond?" The lesson also prompts students with questions like "Are these rhyming words? What makes them rhyming words?" which require students to respond verbally and explain.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked and expected to answer explicit questions using question words in Activity 5.2 (e.g., "What animals are on the bank of the river?", "Which animals nap on the raft?", and "What would you like to see if you went down a river on a raft?"). In Activity 3.1 a teacher prompt asks, "What letter do all of these ending blends include?", and students respond. Several activities require students to read prompted questions and give answers aloud or in writing.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students are introduced to the sight words "which," "what," and "when" and are asked to read, repeat, and turn over cards to practice them (Activity 1.3). Students read sentences and underline the question word that begins each sentence, and they are prompted to create questions using the "which/what/when" cards. The Student Activity Page contains multiple example questions (e.g., "Which horse runs faster?", "What is your favorite color?", "When do you eat lunch?"), and Day 4 has a reader titled Which? When? What? where students answer the question on each page. Day 5 includes sentence dictation with question sentences using which/what/when and an explicit reminder that questions end with a question mark.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Activity 1.3 introduces the sight word "how" and explicitly explains "how" is a question word with the example "How do you sound out words?" Activity 5.1 includes a sight-word search that has the question words "what," "when," and "how," and asks students to find and read those words. Sight-word practice throughout (reading and showing cards) gives students opportunities to identify these words in print.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students are asked and answer comprehension questions that use interrogative words such as 'what' and 'which' (Activity 5.1: "What are some of the things..." and "which do you like to do most?"). The sight-word activity asks, "Which of these words has a short vowel sound?", prompting students to respond using 'which.' Activity 5.2 includes a dictated question, "Will you bake a cake?", giving students practice reading and writing a question form.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked and answer questions that use interrogatives throughout the lesson, for example: "What vowel do all of these words have?," "How are these lists different?," and "What can you do to make this word spell ‘hope'?". Students answer a who-question during comprehension: "Who fell off of the mule?". The teacher also prompts reasoning with a why-question: "Ask him why he thinks ‘Tim' is spelled with an uppercase letter."
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives in multiple places: the Weekly Message asks, "What sounds do you know they make? Can you list some words that begin with these sounds?" Activity prompts ask, "What do you notice about the sound of c in these words?" and "How do you know?" Day 5 reading comprehension requires students to answer "What do the mice use…?" and "Why do you think the mice like their home?" These items require students to understand and respond to question words such as what, why, and how.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
In Activity 5.2 students are asked direct comprehension questions using interrogatives: 'Who won the race?', 'Which animal came in last?', and 'Are you surprised... Why?'. Activity 1.2 and other teacher prompts ask students 'What makes the way you pronounce a in each word change?' and 'What word do you have if you remove r from "farce"?'. The Weekly Message also uses 'What' questions asking students what the listed words have in common and what other words they would add.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
Students are asked and practice answering questions using interrogatives in multiple activities (e.g., Day 5 reader questions: "What do the boys play with indoors?" "What animal do they see on the drain outside?" and "Do you like rainy days? Why or why not?"). Students respond to phonics prompts that use question words such as "Do these words have the short or long a sound? How do you know?" (Activity 1.2) and "Where is ay in the words you just spelled?" (Activity 2.2). Students are also prompted with "What do you notice about the words 'may' and 'way'?" and "Which vowel will say its name?" during word-study discussions.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students are asked and answer interrogative prompts throughout the activities, for example: "Which one has the short e sound?" and "Which word is spelled with the silent e?" (Activity 1.2, Day 2). Reading comprehension questions use question words: "What does the worm eat?" and "How many beans are the birds eating?" (Day 5). Teachers also ask "What do you notice about ‘see'?" prompting students to respond to a question word.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students are asked and respond to multiple 'what' questions during reading: e.g., "What do Tom and Val see in the sky?" and "What do Tom and Val dream about?" (Day 5). Students are prompted with 'what' and 'what kinds' in comprehension: "What kinds of dreams do you have when you're sleeping?" which also uses 'when.' Students are asked to explain capitalization using 'why' in Activity 1.2: "Ask her why 'Mike' is capitalized."
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students are prompted to answer and use question words such as 'what' and 'how' in multiple activities (e.g., Activity 2.1: "What letters are making the long o sound..." and Activity 2.2: "How is the word 'bowl' different..."). Students respond to quantitative and descriptive interrogatives in comprehension and phonics tasks (Day 5 asks "How many boats are in the race?" and "What color is the boat that wins the race?"; Activity 1.3 asks "How many syllables does 'number' have?"). Students are also asked location-type questions using 'where' (Activity 2.1: "Where is the spelling oe in these words?").
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
Students are taught the sight word "who" and practice it in context: they read sight word cards and read/point to sentences such as "Who has been to camp?" and "Who has been in the water at camp?". Students read and write question sentences during dictation (e.g., "Who has a clue?") and are asked and expected to answer comprehension questions that use "what" (e.g., "What does Tom add to the stew?" and "What color does Val add to the stew?"). The Weekly Message and other activities include question forms that students read aloud and respond to.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students are asked and answer explicit WH questions in multiple places: Activity 1.2 asks, "What do all of these words have in common?" and several activities ask "What word is it?". Day 5 Activity 5.1 requires students to answer comprehension questions using WHY and HOW: "Why is the colt hard to find in the herd?" and "How does the man stop the colt from bolting?". Throughout the week teachers prompt students with question forms when discussing sight words and sentence meanings (e.g., "Would you want to take care of a wild colt?").
Lesson 11
Long Vowel Sounds Review
Students are asked content questions using interrogatives such as "Which of these words have long vowel sounds?" (Activity 1.3) and "Which word will make the most sense in each blank?" (Activity 3.1/5.3). During wrap-up students are prompted with content questions that use question words: "In what ways can long a be spelled?" and "Where are different long vowel spellings usually found in words?" Students are also asked to identify "which letters" make a sound (Activity 4.1).
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Students are asked direct questions using interrogatives in multiple places: Day 5 reading questions include "What sound does the toy make?", "What do you think Dan's new toy is?", and "What is your favorite toy? Why?" Day 2 prompts ask students "Where does oi fall in each word? What about oy?" and Activity 2.1 asks "Can you guess what that sound is?" The word "who" appears among sentence-building cards and in the Sight Words Search list, giving students exposure to that interrogative as a word.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
In Day 5 (Activity 5.1) students are asked direct comprehension questions using interrogatives: "What does the hound do during the day?" "What does the hound do at night?" and "Why do you think the hound howls at the owl?". In Day 2 the child is prompted with the question "Where do you find ou and ow in words?" to locate patterns in words. The Weekly Message includes an instance of "how" ("how many words") and activities require students to answer spoken questions and point to or read words in response.
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
Students are explicitly taught that "where" is a question word and are asked to name other question words (what, when, which, who, how, and why) in Activity 1.3. In Activity 4.2 students read the box of question words and write the correct question word in blanks to form complete questions (e.g., "Where is the beach?", "Which food do you like more?"). The Question Words student page requires students to use each interrogative once, providing practice reading, selecting, and writing the appropriate interrogative for a variety of prompts.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students are asked and respond to questions using interrogatives several times: Activity 2.1 asks, "How do you think we say this word?" Activity 3.1 prompts, "What do you know about the letters in this word? What vowel sound do you think this word has? Why?" The reader activity (Day 5) includes comprehension questions beginning with "What" (e.g., "What do the gnats do to the kids at the playground?"). The Weekly Message also prompts students with "What are some other things you know now about words?"
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
Activity 1.2 asks students to answer several 'Which...' questions (e.g., 'Which words have soft c or g sounds?'), requiring them to read and select words in response to interrogative prompts. Activity 4.1's Sight Words Search includes the word 'where' for students to find and read. Day 2 long-vowel sorting pages include the words 'who' and 'why' among the word lists, giving students practice reading those question words in isolation.