Reading Discussion Cards
Questions to ask before, during and after reading together.
Free. No account, no email, nothing to install.Parents and teachers · Grades K–5
Free, private conversation tool
Build reading discussion cards
Choose a grade band, text type, and reading stage. Use one question when it helps; skip any card that interrupts the reading.
Conversation set
6 questions to choose from
- Before reading
Does this book remind you of another story or experience?
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help. - Before reading
What clues do the title, cover, and summary give about the story?
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help. - During reading
What is the character learning or beginning to understand?
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help. - During reading
What does the main character want, and what is getting in the way?
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help. - After reading
What would change if another character told the story?
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help. - After reading
Summarize the story using the most important events only.
Ask: “What makes you think that?” when a follow-up would help.
Nothing you select is saved or sent. Good reading talk follows the child’s thinking rather than testing every page.
Six original passages · free to print
Practise on a passage together
Four short stories and two informational texts, written for this site. Each one has three questions: one the passage answers outright, one the reader has to work out, and one worth talking about. Nothing here is scored, and no answer is recorded.
Story · Grades 1–2 · about 98 words
The Sock with the Blue Stripe
Who it fits Reads short sentences on their own and can retell what happened in order.
Help to expect Most readers manage this alone. Read the last paragraph together if the joke in it goes past them.
Milo had one sock with a blue stripe. He could not find the other one.
He looked under his bed. He found a book and one broken crayon.
He looked in the laundry basket. He found his rain boots.
Then he heard a small sound from the closet. Thump. Thump.
Milo opened the door. His puppy, Bean, was asleep on a pile of towels. The sock with the blue stripe was under her chin.
Milo did not wake her up. He wore one blue sock and one red sock to school. All day, he smiled at his feet.
Find it The answer is stated in the passage.
Where was the missing sock?
Work it out The passage does not say it outright. Clues add up to it.
Why did Milo go to school wearing two socks that did not match?
Talk it over No single right answer. Listen for reasons, not for the answer you expected.
Milo smiled at his feet all day. What do you think he was remembering?
Take it off the screen
Printing gives a reader’s page with the passage, its questions and room to write, then a separate page of answers and evidence for the grown-up.
Questions of your own to ask? Build a set with the discussion cards above, or find another way to read together in our reading games for kids.
GrowMindGrow · Read, think, talk
The Sock with the Blue Stripe
Story · Grades 1–2 · about 98 words
Milo had one sock with a blue stripe. He could not find the other one.
He looked under his bed. He found a book and one broken crayon.
He looked in the laundry basket. He found his rain boots.
Then he heard a small sound from the closet. Thump. Thump.
Milo opened the door. His puppy, Bean, was asleep on a pile of towels. The sock with the blue stripe was under her chin.
Milo did not wake her up. He wore one blue sock and one red sock to school. All day, he smiled at his feet.
Find it
Where was the missing sock?
Work it out
Why did Milo go to school wearing two socks that did not match?
Talk it over
Milo smiled at his feet all day. What do you think he was remembering?
GrowMindGrow · Grown-up copy
Answers and evidence
The Sock with the Blue Stripe · matches the reader’s page
Find it · The answer is stated in the passage.
Where was the missing sock?
In the closet, under the puppy’s chin, on a pile of towels.
In the passage: “His puppy, Bean, was asleep on a pile of towels. The sock with the blue stripe was under her chin.”
Work it out · The passage does not say it outright. Clues add up to it.
Why did Milo go to school wearing two socks that did not match?
He decided not to take the sock, because taking it would have woken Bean. The story never says he chose the red sock instead; the reader has to put those two facts together.
In the passage: “Milo did not wake her up.”
Talk it over · No single right answer. Listen for reasons, not for the answer you expected.
Milo smiled at his feet all day. What do you think he was remembering?
Listen for an answer that reaches back to the closet — the puppy asleep, the sock he left behind, a secret only he knows. A reader who says “because his socks looked funny” has understood the picture but not the reason; ask what made them funny.
Choose another starting point in our reading games for kids: letter matching, word blending, spoken sound games and a tiny story to explore together.
How to use it
- Choose the reading stage you are at — before, during or after.
- Pick the questions that suit the book and your child.
- Print them as cards and keep them where you read.
The thinking behind it
Reading Comprehension Questions Before, During, and After Reading
Choose grade-aware questions for before, during, and after reading, then use them to follow a child’s thinking without turning a book into a quiz.