Comprehension Freebie: QAR Strategy Printables

We all have heard about the shift in reading that happens in grade three. Less of our reading time is spent learning to read and much more of it is devoted to thinking about the text. We spend a lot of time asking and answering comprehension questions. In my last blog post I talked about running comprehension clubs.  I had some people ask me to talk more about it. First though, let's talk about how we can help our students be more successful answering questions in the first place.  Many experts in the area of reading promote the use of QAR as a comprehension strategy.  QAR stands for "question-answer relationship".  

This strategy focuses on teaching students that different questions involve different thinking. Through the use of this strategy students will be encouraged to think more deeply about the question before attempting to answer it.  When students begin to analyze comprehension questions they are more successful in answering them. 

Comprehension questions can be categorized and classified into four levels:

Level One:

These are the questions in which the answers are right there. Often words used in the question are the same words found in the text. We call these “NO EXCUSE” questions.

Level Two:

These answers are gathered from several parts of the text and put together. This takes some work and effort- like putting a puzzle together.

Level Three:

These questions are based on clues provided in the text. Students need to make inferences and think like a reading detective to answer the question.

Level Four:

The answer to these questions are not in the text. The reader should be encouraged to “think like an author” to answer them. They use their background knowledge and some common sense to answer them.

Introduce these four levels of questions with your readers. Have them begin thinking about the question before trying to answer it. 

Here is the poster that we have hanging in our room.  Kids also have this printed in a smaller size and have glued them into their reading journals. 

I've added the printables for this to my Teacher Pay Teacher store as a free item. 

I'll be uploading some other language arts freebies in the next week. Please

                      follow my store and let me know if these materials have worked for you!

Click the link below to check it out. 

                                                              QAR Printables Pack

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