Questions About a Fact Book
A 30-minute Kindergarten lesson on answering questions about an information text and going back to the page to check.
Questions About a Fact Book is a free 30-minute Kindergarten English lesson plan for Common Core standard RI.K.1 — answer questions about the facts in a book that teaches you something. 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:
- RI.K.1
Kindergarten · Reading: Informational Text
RI.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
Objective
Students will be able to answer a question about an information text by pointing to the part that tells them.
Students are successful when they can
- Answers "What do frogs eat?" with "bugs" and points to the page that says so.
- Drops a wrong prediction ("frogs eat carrots") when the book says something different.
- Asks one question about frogs that the book can answer, and one it cannot.
What you need
- The fact text "All About Frogs" (in Teach), written on five chart pages with a drawing on each
- Sticky notes in two colors: yellow for our ideas, green for what the book says
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — what do you already think you know?
4 min- Ask: "What do you think frogs eat? Where do frogs live?" Write two or three answers on yellow sticky notes, including any wrong ones such as "frogs eat carrots" or "frogs live in trees."
- Stick them at the side of the chart. Say: "Those are our ideas. Ideas can be right or wrong. Now we will see what the book says, because the book decides."
Teach — the book decides, not us
10 min- Read the five pages, pointing: "Frogs live near ponds. / Frogs have long, sticky tongues. / Frogs eat bugs. They catch bugs with their tongues. / A baby frog is called a tadpole. / A tadpole lives in the water and has a tail."
- Ask: "What do frogs eat?" Take the answer "bugs." Say: "How do I know? Let me check." Turn to page three, put the pointer under "Frogs eat bugs" and stick a green note there.
- Pick up the yellow note "frogs eat carrots." Ask: "Does the book say carrots?" Let them check page by page. Move it away: "Good idea, but the book tells us bugs. Now we know more."
- Ask: "How do frogs catch bugs?" Fish for "with their sticky tongues," and find page three again: the answer sits in the second sentence of the same page.
- Ask: "What is a baby frog called?" Let a child come and point to "tadpole" on page four.
- Say why this matters in a fact book: "A fact book is for finding out what is true. If we are not sure, we look back. That is what readers do."
“That was my idea. Now, what does the book say? Show me the page and point to the words.”
Guided practice — find the page
8 min- Ask a question; pairs agree, then one child comes to the chart and points: "Where do frogs live?" (near ponds, page one). "Where does a tadpole live?" (in the water, page five). "What does a tadpole have that a frog does not?" (a tail, page five).
- Ask one question the book does not answer: "What color are frogs?" Let pairs look. When they cannot find it, say: "This book does not tell us. We would need another book or the picture." Point out the drawing shows green, but the words do not say it.
- Pairs make up one question for each other using who, what or where. The answerer must point to the page before saying the answer.
“Find the page first, then say the answer.”
Independent practice
6 min- Read the short fact text on the sheet aloud twice while children follow with a finger.
- Read each question aloud. Children circle the answer and may look back at the text; encourage them to put a finger on the sentence that helped before circling.
- Circulate and ask two or three children: "Show me where it says that."
Close
2 min- Look at the yellow notes again. Ask: "Did the book change any of our ideas?"
- Fish for "we thought carrots, but it was bugs" and praise changing your mind because of the book.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Keeps their own answer after the read: "Frogs eat carrots, my rabbit does."
Why: Their own idea came first and feels true; the child has not yet learned that a fact book can overrule a guess.
Fix: Make the swap physical: move their yellow note off and put the book's green note on. Say: "Good idea, and now we know more." Changing your mind is praised, not corrected.
Answers "What do frogs eat?" with "sticky tongues."
Why: The tongue sentence and the bug sentence sit next to each other, and the child grabbed the nearest interesting words.
Fix: Reread both sentences. Ask: "Is a tongue food? What does the tongue catch?" Separating the tool from the food shows what the question asked for.
Insists the book says "frogs are green" when only the picture shows it.
Why: The child expects a book to answer everything and fills the gap from the picture or from memory.
Fix: Read the page again while they listen for the word green. When it is not there, say: "The picture shows it, but the words do not tell us." Not every question is answered.
If they are not there yet
- Ask questions whose answer word is on the same page as a matching picture: bugs with a bug drawing.
- Offer two answers to choose from: "Bugs or carrots?"
- Let the child point to the picture first, then you point to the words together.
If they finish early
- Ask a question the book does not answer, such as "How far can a frog jump?", and suggest where to find out.
- Answer a how question in a full sentence: "How does a frog catch a bug?"
- Draw a sixth page with a new frog fact from another book, and say which book it came from.
Exit ticket
What do frogs eat? Show me where the book tells you.
What to look for: "Bugs" and pointing to page three. "Sticky tongues" means the child took nearby words. Their own answer means they are not yet using the book. "Bugs" with no page found means they recall but have not learned to check.
Printable practice for RI.K.1
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- Questions About a Fact BookRead the text, then answer the questions.
Questions about Questions About a Fact Book
How long does the Questions About a Fact Book 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 Questions About a Fact Book teach?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.1 — RI.K.1, Reading: Informational Text for Kindergarten: “With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” In plain terms, answer questions about the facts in a book that teaches you something.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
The fact text "All About Frogs" (in Teach), written on five chart pages with a drawing on each, sticky notes in two colors: yellow for our ideas, green for what the book says 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: keeps their own answer after the read: "Frogs eat carrots, my rabbit does."; answers "What do frogs eat?" with "sticky tongues." and insists the book says "frogs are green" when only the picture shows it. 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: “What do frogs eat? Show me where the book tells you.” "Bugs" and pointing to page three. "Sticky tongues" means the child took nearby words. Their own answer means they are not yet using the book. "Bugs" with no page found 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 Questions About a Fact Book?
Yes — 1 printable RI.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 Questions About a Fact Book 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 RI.K.1 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.