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Asking Questions About a Story

A 30-minute Kindergarten lesson on answering who, what and where about a story, and on going back to the book to check.

Asking Questions About a Story is a free 30-minute Kindergarten English lesson plan for Common Core standard RL.K.1 — answer questions about what happened in a story you have just heard. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the meaning, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Kindergarten
Length:
30 minutes
Standard:
RL.K.1

Kindergarten · Reading: Literature

RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Objective

Students will be able to answer a who, what or where question about a story by pointing to the part that tells them.

Students are successful when they can

  • Answers "Who lost the hat?" with "Pip" and points to the page that says so.
  • Answers "Where did Pip find it?" from the story, not from a guess.
  • Asks one question of their own that starts with who, what or where.

What you need

  • The story "Pip and the Red Hat" (in Teach), written on five pages with a simple drawing on each
  • Sticky notes for marking pages
  • Question word cards: WHO, WHAT, WHERE
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — questions before answers

4 min
  1. Hold up the WHO, WHAT and WHERE cards. Say: "Who asks about a person or animal. What asks about a thing or what happened. Where asks about a place."
  2. Ask quick ones about the classroom: "Who is sitting next to you?" "Where is the door?" "What is on my desk?"
  3. Say: "Today we will ask these about a story, and then go back to the book to check."

Teach — go back and check

10 min
  1. Read the story, one page at a time: "Pip the mouse had a red hat. One windy day, the wind blew the hat away. Pip looked in the yard. It was not there. Pip looked by the pond. There was the hat, on a duck's head! The duck gave it back, and Pip said thank you."
  2. Ask: "Who lost the hat?" Take the answer "Pip." Then say: "How do I know? Let me check." Turn back to page one, point at "Pip the mouse had a red hat," and stick a note there.
  3. Ask: "Where did Pip find the hat?" Someone will say "in the yard." Say: "Let us check." Turn to the yard page: "It was not there." Turn to the pond page. Fish for "by the pond, on a duck."
  4. Ask: "What blew the hat away?" Turn to page two together and point to "the wind."
  5. Say why checking matters: "Sometimes I remember wrong. The book never changes, so the book decides."
“That is my answer. Now let me check. Where in the book does it say so?”

Guided practice — you ask, I answer

8 min
  1. Children take a question card and make a question about the story. Help with starters: "Who ___?" "Where did ___?" "What did ___?"
  2. You answer — and get one wrong on purpose: "Pip found the hat in the yard." Let the class catch you and send you back to the page.
  3. Then turn it round: pairs ask each other one question and the answerer must point to the page in the big copy.
  4. Ask: "What did Pip say to the duck?" Fish for "thank you," found on the last page.
“Ask me a question. Then catch me if I am wrong.”

Independent practice

6 min
  1. Read the short story on the sheet aloud twice, pointing.
  2. Read each question aloud. Children circle the answer, and may look back at the story.

Close

2 min
  1. Ask: "Who gave the hat back?" Ask one child to point to the page.
  2. Fish for "the duck," found on the last page.

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Answers from their own life: "Where did Pip find the hat?" "Under my bed!"

Why: The question sounds like a chat, and a personal answer is what a chat asks for; they have not learned that the story holds the answer.

Fix: Value the connection, then ask: "Is that in our story? Let us check the page." Make "check the book" the routine every time.

Gives the first place mentioned: "in the yard."

Why: The yard came first and stayed in memory; the child has not tracked that Pip did not find it there.

Fix: Turn back to the yard page and read "It was not there." Ask: "Did Pip find it here?" Then move page by page.

Answers a who question with a place, or a where question with a name.

Why: Question words all sound alike to a new listener, and the meaning of each has not been fixed.

Fix: Hold the question card as you ask. Who = a person or animal picture. Where = a place picture. Ask them to look at the card first.

If they are not there yet

  • Offer two answers: "Was it by the pond or in the yard?"
  • Ask only who questions first, which have the most concrete answers.
  • Let the child point to the picture instead of saying the answer.

If they finish early

  • Ask a why question: "Why did Pip say thank you?" and find the part of the story that shows it.
  • Ask a question the story does not answer, such as "What was the duck's name?", and say how you know it is not there.
  • Retell the story to a partner using who, what and where.

Exit ticket

Where did Pip find the red hat? Show me the page.

What to look for: "By the pond, on a duck" and the pond page. "In the yard" means the child remembered the first place; read that page again. A right answer without finding the page means they recall but have not learned to check.

Printable practice for RL.K.1

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Asking Questions About a Story

How long does the Asking Questions About a Story lesson take?

30 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 4 min, teach 10 min, guided practice 8 min, independent practice 6 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Asking Questions About a Story teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1 — RL.K.1, Reading: Literature for Kindergarten: “With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” In plain terms, answer questions about what happened in a story you have just heard.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

The story "Pip and the Red Hat" (in Teach), written on five pages with a simple drawing on each, sticky notes for marking pages, question word cards: WHO, WHAT, WHERE and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: answers from their own life: "Where did Pip find the hat?" "Under my bed!"; gives the first place mentioned: "in the yard." and answers a who question with a place, or a where question with a name. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “Where did Pip find the red hat? Show me the page.” "By the pond, on a duck" and the pond page. "In the yard" means the child remembered the first place; read that page again. A right answer without finding the page means they recall but have not learned to check. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Asking Questions About a Story?

Yes — 1 printable RL.K.1 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Asking Questions About a Story free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on October 8, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-10-08. Aligned to RL.K.1 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.