Lakeview Families,

We know that it is very important to not only read with our children but to ask them questions about what they are reading. Talking to your students about what they are reading is important on a lot of levels but is an especially great opportunity to teach them to think critically about what they read and apply it to their lives. I believe that one of the most important things we can teach our students, and something that we work hard on as a staff, is the skill to think critically. It can, however, be difficult to ask questions of your child about a book which you may or may not have read.  

I've included a link to the grid of Bloom's Taxonomy and some possible question stems you can use when talking to your child about what he/she is reading. Bloom's taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives that was created by educator Benjamin Bloom. This taxonomy is commonly used in education to promote higher level thinking skills and quality questioning among our students. It is our goal to move from the basic factual recall questions (knowledge) up the taxonomy to the levels that require critical thinking (evaluation and synthesis) from our students.

Consider using this tool when you ask your student about what he/she learned in school or what they are reading. Let's assume, for sake of example, your child is reading Snow White. Instead of asking questions like, "How many dwarves were there?" or "What happened when the huntsman took Snow White to the woods?" consider asking questions (using the question stems below) that require your child to think more critically. You might ask your child, "How would you feel if you were the queen?" or "How would you devise your own way to outsmart the queen?"

You can turn this grid into a bookmark so it is always handy for this exercise. Using it is a fun way to teach the important skill of critical thinking and also engage with your child about what they are reading.

Enjoy!

Rebekah

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2013-2014 LWSD Calendar 

The Lake Washington School District calendar link: http://www.lwsd.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Global/2013-14-District-Sheet-Calendar.pdf.