About this worksheet
Deciding whether a sentence asks or tells is a judgement about a sentence, and the old version of this page could not even ask it properly: the three distractors were drawn from a shared list, so a sheet named asking or telling regularly offered rhyming, naming and telling with asking missing from its own choices. Answering a question, on the other hand, is something preschoolers do all day, and it is exactly what Head Start expects of them. Each item is a spoken question and a row of pictures. The first level asks what questions about objects a child handles daily. The second level shows one picture as a clue and asks who or where about it: here is a library book, so where does it go back to? Here is a bus, so who drives it? The third level puts two conditions in one question, so a child cannot answer from the first half alone. Ask each question once, in your ordinary voice, and let the finger be the answer.
What your child will learn
- Answer a spoken what question by pointing
- Answer who and where questions using a picture clue
- Listen through a whole question before choosing
- Hold two conditions in mind and choose what fits both
Worked example
The picture shows a bus. You ask, “Who drives this to school every morning?” A chef, a doctor and a farmer all do real jobs, but the bus driver is the one who drives it.
Common mistake
Pointing at the picture that is simply the most familiar, rather than the one the question actually asks for.
Helpful hint
Ask once, then wait. Repeat the question in the same words if you need to.
Worksheet 1