Who? What? When? Where? Why?

The ability to appropriately answer abstract questions is an important developmental language skill. In order to accurately answer these questions, children must understand what each question word is asking.

See below for normal developing ages for answering “wh” questions:

A great way to help children develop and refine their ability to answer “wh” questions is through story time with books that are simple in plot, repetitive in writing style, and include lots of great visuals.  There are a lot of children’s books out there and many of them for younger children lack the content needed to elicit these “wh” questions. Many younger children’s books are simply images with vocabulary images and labels. While these books are helpful, they don’t promote the development of more abstract language understanding.

However, I came across a book that’s great for young children and promotes the development of “wh” questions.

You can find it on Amazon by clicking the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692735348

                  

Mimi and Moto was written by Nancy Gerloff and Mark Augustyn. http://mimiandmoto.com/

 

I also recently created a visual resource to help children more effectively answer “wh” questions for my Teachers Pay Teachers site. I’ve been using this idea for years, but have always just used blank paper and basic drawings to teach the different “wh” types. I’m sure my clients will appreciate not having to view my awful stick figure drawings. You can find it here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wh-Question-Resource-2863142