English · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Asking Great Questions

This topic helps your pupils become curious investigators by mastering the art of the question. Explore the difference between telling and asking to unlock a powerful tool for learning.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• National Curriculum for England: English - Spoken Language - ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge

• 15–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Hot Seat
• 15 min · Pairs

Question or Statement? Sort

Provide pairs of children with a set of sentence cards. They must read each card and sort them into two piles: questions (ending with a question mark) and statements (ending with a full stop).

Explain the difference between a question and a statement.

Facilitation Tip

Encourage children to read the sentences aloud to a partner to hear the difference in intonation.

What to look for

During a class reading, pause and ask pupils to 'turn and talk' to a partner about a question they have about the story so far. Listen to their conversations.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Hot Seat
• 20 min · Whole Class

Character Hot-Seating

The teacher or a confident pupil pretends to be a character from a familiar story. The rest of the class asks them questions to find out more about their feelings, motivations, and actions.

Identify a question you could ask to learn more about a character in a story.

Facilitation Tip

Provide question stems on the board, such as 'Why did you...?' or 'How did you feel when...?' to support pupils.

What to look for

Give pupils mini whiteboards and dictate a mix of simple questions and statements. Ask them to write the correct punctuation mark at the end.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Hot Seat
• 15 min · Small Groups

Mystery Bag Investigation

Place a familiar object inside an opaque bag. Children work in small groups to ask 'yes' or 'no' questions to guess what the object is.

Justify why asking questions is a good way to learn.

Facilitation Tip

Model how to ask questions that narrow down the possibilities, for example, 'Is it something you can eat?'.

What to look for

Provide pupils with a picture stimulus and ask them to write two or three questions about what they can see.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start by modelling the different tones of voice for questions and statements. Use visual aids like large punctuation flashcards. Provide sentence starters like 'I wonder why...' or 'What if...' to scaffold pupils as they move from simple to more complex questions.

By the end of these activities, pupils will be able to confidently ask and write simple questions to find out more about stories, topics, and the world around them.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• Any sentence that starts with a 'question word' (like who, what, why) must be a question.

  While many questions start with these words, a sentence is only a question if it asks for information. For example, 'What a sunny day!' is an exclamation that shows excitement, not a question asking for an answer.

• A question is just a sentence where your voice goes up at the end.

  While our voices often rise at the end of a question, the most important part is that it asks for information. In writing, the key signal is the question mark, not how you imagine it sounds.

• You can't ask a question about something you already know the answer to.

  We can ask questions for many reasons. Sometimes we ask to check our understanding, to be polite, or even to start a conversation with someone, even if we think we know the answer.

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Methods used in this brief

• Hot Seat