Answering Questions for Nonfiction Writing

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

I wonder….Who, What, Where, When, Why, How? 
How do you find answers to your questions?

Questions lead to answers!

Every day is an opportunity to learn more and add to the bank of information you have experienced and learned. How do questions help lead to answers, and what can you do with those answers?

Authors use questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to research and learn more about a topic. Those answers are then written for others to read and learn. This type of writing is called nonfiction.

Researching to find answers may sound like a job for your teacher or another adult, but you can  be a researcher too!

In this lesson, you will be given tools to become a researcher and gather information about the world around you. You will then become an author, who uses the question words to form answers which can be shared with others!  

Nonfiction writing to inform requires facts. You may already know some facts about a topic. Other facts are formed by answering questions you ask yourself after gaining new information. The fun part about gathering facts is that you get to explore many sources such as books, pictures, and more!   

Let's research!

1. Visit Scholastic Listen and Read: Reading activites for early learners. Choose a nonfiction book from the Community Club that will tell you about a service worker in your community.
   For example, if you choose the veterinarian, you would click on the picture of the veterinarian.
2. Before venturing into the book, take some time to discuss with your instructor the facts you already know about this service worker in your community. Use the who, what, where, when, why and how question starters to help you remember what you already know.
   Examples: What does this worker do? How does this worker help the community?
3. Print out the Graphic Organizer - KWL Chart found in the Downloadable Resources in the right-hand sidebar. List all of the FACTS you already know about the topic in the first column of the chart entitled KNOW. Hopefully, you will learn more facts by reading the book. This is called research!  
4. Use the question starters to help you write 3 or more questions you hope to answer when you read the book.  Add these questions to the 2nd column on your Graphic Organizer - KWL Chart entitled WANT TO KNOW. 
5. It’s finally time to read the book you chose. As you click through the pages of the book and listen to the text, pause when you find an answer to one of the questions on your Graphic Organizer - KWL Chart. List these answers in the 3rd column entitled LEARNED. Also add any facts you discover beyond the quesions you wrote down.