Teaching WH Questions
So many kiddos have WH question goals… in some form or another. The ability to answer WH questions is important, in all settings: school, home, in conversation, etc…
I knew this, but I always wondered how to teach WH questions without feeling like I was testing the kiddo. I didn’t want to repeat the question over and over, emphasizing the first word anymore. I didn’t want to point to my WH questions poster that they had seen 100 times but hadn’t fully understood. I wanted to give them an activity where they could succeed, and reflect back on later as the questions got more difficult.
So what’s an SLP blogger to do? Make something! I made a WH Questions Interactive Book. This book is AMAZING for actually teaching the concept of WH questions. Almost every single kiddo I’ve used this with has been able to be successful with it almost immediately. Below are some ideas for teaching WH questions. Have fun!
I follow the steps in my WH Questions Interactive Book. Below are more pictures of the book. Basically, you can use the first couple pages to sort/teach the basics.
Then, have your students find three icons for each page: one that describes the who, one for where, and one for what. The book contains eight scenes, 8 people, and 8 items. Each picture is simple so you can use this to teach a variety of levels!
I also included icons for each type of WH question, and example questions for how, when, and when for each scene.
I work at this level for quite a while with each student. I really want them to understand all of this!! Before moving on, I like my students to be able to independently fill in the boxes for each page, AND be able to answer my WH questions about each page when I mix up the order of the questions asked. For example, I might turn to a page and ask “where” first once, and then “who” first the next time. I usually point to the icon on the bottom of the page when I ask the questions.
After they are able to do this, I use the following worksheets which are also included in the book:
These are also great for mixing it up, to ensure your students really understand what is being asked.
After these interactive materials, I move to more typical WH Question activities. You can find these all over Teachers Pay Teachers depending on what you’re looking for.
I LOVE the visuals I found at Speaking of Speech. I glued them on the back of paint chip cards and they fit perfectly. An easy way to have your students reference visuals! Check it out!
I absolutely love the freebie worksheets from Sublime Speech. Click here to check them out! I would recommend having your students plan the who, where, what, why, how, and when for their stories, and then use the one from Sublime Speech to write the story! I may or may not be working on a Story Cubes freebie myself so stay tuned!
What creative ideas do you have for teaching WH questions? I’d love to hear!
