Challenge readers to read closer in an activity based on the Socratic questioning strategy. As kids read Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, they use sentence starters to ask deeper questions about the text, and to relate what they read to their own lives.

Concepts

the little prince, asking questions, socratic discussion

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the Socrates reading or excerpts for more advanced classes
• Have kids come up with their questions for homework, ready to engage in the discussion by the time they come to class the next day
• Apply the reading strategy throughout the novel unit, addressing points as they become relevant in each chapter
• Have kids come up with their own Socratic questions for a book report activity

Classroom Considerations

• Activity assumes a higher reading level to ask deeper questions; consider modeling the questioning process or providing some sample questions to get kids started

Pros

• Provides printable question starters to frame what kids are thinking, as well as questions for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and significance

Cons

• You'll need to bridge the gap between instructions and process, as the sentence starters are helpful but need additional guidance for kids to be successful

Common Core

RL.6.1 RL.7.1 RL.8.1 SL.6.1.a SL.6.1.c SL.7.1.a SL.7.1.c SL.8.1.a SL.8.1.c