The aim of Comprehension Questions for 8 & 9 Year Olds is to train parents and teachers to ask developmentally appropriate questions and to evaluate the quality of a child’s oral answer. If an insufficient answer is provided by a child, there are examples of how to assist the child to answer the question specifically with sufficient information. From 8 years of age, students should love engaging with their peers and adults. Therefore, the ability to understand questions is critical for participation in social interactions and success across all curriculum areas. Comprehension Questions for 8 & 9 Year Olds has been developed as an essential resource for Oral Language Development. At this age, questions require students to predict, interpret and evaluate. For example: How do you think the girl would feel? What do you think…? If you were the mum, what would you do? What made the boy say that?

Designed by Speech Pathologists for teachers and parents for use in schools, daycare and in the home this program provides 8 and 9 year olds with:

• Lists of developmentally appropriate picture books and comprehension questions.
  Samples of 8 and 9 year old age-appropriate answers and samples of inadequate answers.
• Techniques and strategies to implement when a child provides an inadequate answer.
• An instruction booklet that outlines how the resource can be presented to a whole class, small groups or individual home setting.
• Each card reminds the importance of repeated reading of picture books and outlines a collection of questions to be asked on day 1, then further questions to be asked on days 2, 3 and 4.
• 33 cards that model appropriate questions and responses for the books listed in the Recommended Books for 8 and 9 Year Olds such as ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Diary of a Wombat’, ‘The Giving Tree’, ‘Possum Magic’, ‘Ella Kazoo Will Not Brush Her Hair’.
• The questions are primarily inferential, predictive, evaluative and appreciative type questions.
• Two easy to administer progress checks; are included, to check on the acquisition of comprehension questioning ability.

The other programs within the range include:

• Comprehension Questions for 3 year olds (Mc3) & Explanation video for parent training
• Comprehension Questions for 4 year olds (Mc4) & Explanation video for parent training
• Comprehension Questions for 5 year olds (Mc5) & Explanation video for parent training
• Comprehension Questions for 6 & 7 year olds (Mc6) & Explanation video for parent training
• Comprehension Questions for 8 & 9 year olds (Mc8) & Explanation video for parent training

This publication is mentioned within the Whole School Literacy Strategy booklet on page 20.