When reading with your child, consider asking the following questions to assess their understanding of the text. Below, you will find a few question stems to give you an idea of what higher-order thinking questions look/sound like. Let me know how it goes!
Question Stems (examples depending on the text): ~How do the character's traits contribute to the story? ~What were the characters' motivations in finding a resolution to the problem? ~Can you tell me what this word or phrase means? What clues can you find in the sentence or paragraph that can help you figure out the meaning of that word or phrase? ~What is the theme of this story? ~What is the main idea, or message, in the story, poem, or play? What information does the author use to support the main idea? ~Explain the key details.