📖 ReadingLevel 1Lesson 9
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Who, What, Where Questions

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What you will learn

  • 1Ask and answer who questions to identify the characters in a story
  • 2Ask and answer what questions to identify the actions or events in a story
  • 3Ask and answer where questions to identify the place or setting in a story
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Mini Lesson

Great readers do more than say the words — they ask questions while they read. Three questions unlock the meaning of almost any story: who, what, and where.

Who — the person or character

  • Who is in the story? Who is doing something?
  • The answer is a person, animal, or character.
  • Look for a name, or words like he, she, they, the boy, the dog.
  • Example: "Nadia and her brother went to the beach." → Who? Nadia and her brother.

What — the action or event

  • What did the character do? What happened?
  • The answer is an action or event — a doing word.
  • Look for verbs like ran, found, said, ate, jumped.
  • Example: "Nadia and her brother went to the beach." → What? Went to the beach.

Where — the place

  • Where did it happen? Where are the characters?
  • The answer is a place or location.
  • Look for words like in, at, on, near followed by a place name.
  • Example: "Nadia and her brother went to the beach." → Where? The beach.

Words to know

Who

A question that asks about the person, animal, or character in a story

e.g. Who went to the beach? → Nadia and her brother

What

A question that asks about the action or event — what someone did or what happened

e.g. What did Nadia find? → a large pink shell

Where

A question that asks about the place or location where the story happens

e.g. Where did they play? → at the beach

Three columns for who, what, and where questionsThree colored columns — blue for who with a person icon, orange for what with an action icon, green for where with a place icon — each with an example question.Three question words — three answersWHO?personWho wentto the beach?WHAT?actionWhat didNadia find?WHERE?placeWhere didthey play?
Three questions, three answers — person, action, place.
Sentence Ben plays ball in the park with three labeled arrowsThe sentence Ben plays ball in the park is shown at the top. Three colored arrows point down to answer boxes labeled who Ben, what plays ball, and where the park.One sentence — three questions:Benplays ballinthe park.Who?BenWhat?plays ballWhere?the parkThe answer is always IN the words!Who = person · What = action · Where = place
One sentence — three arrows — three answers.
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After every page: "Who is here? What are they doing? Where are they?" — three questions, all answered in the words!

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← Lesson 8: Reading Short Sentences with ExpressionLesson 10: Main Characters and Setting →