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Kindergarten · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 16

Ask and Find Out

Ask questions and look for answers

What your child practices

Children practice asking who, what, where, when and why questions and choosing where to look for answers: a book, a grown-up, a picture or a simple test. This is the research and inquiry part of the standards.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: KW6; KW7; KSL3 · asking questions and finding answers in books, pictures and from people

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Question words ask different things: who, what, where, when.
  2. “When” asks about time. “Where” asks about a place.
  3. Books and pictures can help us find answers.

Example: Which question asks where? “Where do bees live?” or “What do bees eat?” “Where” asks about a place. The first one starts with “Where”. Answer: Where do bees live?

Ask and Find Out in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 12 of 16 in Kindergarten English Language Arts, after Word Parts & Meanings and before Think About a Book.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which one tells a fact about cats?

    • Where is the cat?
    • Cats have whiskers.
    • Who has a cat?
    • Do cats sleep?

  2. Question 2

    Which question asks when?

    • Who is here?
    • When do birds fly away?
    • Where is my cup?
    • What is red?

  3. Question 3

    A book shows a dog. What can the picture teach you?

    • what a dog looks like
    • how tall a tree is
    • what a fish eats
    • how a car goes

  4. Question 4

    Which one is a question?

    • Bees are yellow.
    • The bee is big.
    • What do bees eat?
    • I see a bee.

  5. Question 5

    You found an answer! What can you do next?

    • throw it away
    • keep it secret forever
    • forget it
    • share it with your class

  6. Question 6

    Which is the best place to learn about stars?

    • a cookbook
    • a book about shoes
    • a book about space
    • a song about cats

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