About this activity
Twelve questions split between two question words: who is your teacher, who is your best friend, who lives next door, who takes you to school, who cooks dinner at your house; what is your name, what do you want to eat, what is in the box, what time is it, what do you do at recess, what is your favorite color. Who asks for a person and what asks for a thing — the earliest wh-distinction children make.
How to use it in a session
Group by question word and start with who, which is the most concrete of all the question words. Every who question here has a person as its answer, and pointing at a person is the simplest possible response. The personal questions require retrieval from memory rather than from the room, so mix in a few that can be answered by looking around. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Listen for a thing answered to a who question, which is a question word confusion rather than a knowledge gap. Watch what time is it, which is a what question with a very different kind of answer from what is in the box — a student who has learned what as asking for an object may not manage it.
Carrying it home
Who and what questions fill ordinary conversation. Asking one and waiting, rather than asking and then supplying the answer, is the whole practice and takes no extra time.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through third grade, for early wh-question work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all twelve questions play free.
- Which wh-questions come first developmentally?
- Who, what and where are typically earliest, since all three can be answered by pointing at something present. When, why and how come later because they need time, cause or process.