Reading Strategy Prompts for Active Comprehension

This page provides research-based reading strategy prompts that teachers, reading specialists, tutors, and caregivers can use to promote active reading and deep comprehension.

These prompts are designed to be used during guided reading, independent reading, reading conferences, and small-group instruction. When students respond to purposeful prompts, they learn to monitor their understanding, think critically about text, and apply reading strategies independently across fiction and nonfiction.

This page is a companion resource to Reading Comprehension Strategies: A Complete Instructional Guide. My resources support structured literacy instruction and align with best practices in reading comprehension.You may also find this related resource helpful:  Comprehension Questions for Leveled Texts.

Table of Contents

Reading strategy prompts for

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Concepts About Print
• One-to-One Correspondence
• Predicting
• Monitoring
• Problem Solving
• Expanding Meaning
• Fluency
• Connections
• Visualizing
• Questioning
• Inferring
• Summarizing, Synthesizing, Evaluating
• Distinguishing Important Information
• Independent Journal Prompts

Reading Strategy Prompts for Fiction

• What does the title mean?

• What is happening in the part you are reading now?

• Tell me about a strategy you used and how it helped you understand the text or a word.

• Would you recommend this book? To whom? Why?

• What scene or image has stayed with you? Why is it significant?

• What genre is this? How do you know?

• Do you think this story could really happen? Explain.

• Which character is most like you? Why? (Use traits.)

• Which character do you like the least? Why? (Use traits.)

• How does a character change throughout the story?

• How is this book similar to others you have read?

• Would you enjoy living in the time or setting of this story? Why or why not?

• Is humor used in the story? Describe where.

• Where did you feel sad, worried, frightened, surprised, or envious?

• What was your favorite part? Why?

• Did you notice any interesting or well-chosen words? What were they?

For the next meeting:
Have the student preselect a passage to read aloud that shows evidence of predicting, inferring, visualizing, making connections, determining importance, descriptive language, or a recent instructional focus.

Reading Strategy Prompts for Nonfiction

• Tell me two facts you learned about the topic.

• What was the most memorable idea?

• Describe the author’s writing style.

• What questions do you still have?

• What would you change about this book? Why?

• How could you find more information on this topic?

• Identify important vocabulary words and explain their meanings.

• What is your level of interest in this topic?

• How is the information presented?

• Which parts were difficult to understand?

• Find an example of a fact and an opinion.

• What topic would you research further in a follow-up book?

• What do the text features show you?

• Which section did you read first? Why?

• Are there professions related to this topic? How might this information be useful?

Biographies:

• What major struggles did this person face?

• Which character traits do you admire most?

For the next meeting:
Have the student preselect a passage to read aloud that demonstrates a key reading strategy.

Reading Strategy Prompts by Reading Skill

Concepts About Print (PreK–Beginning Grade 1)

• Where do you start reading?

• Put your finger on the first word.

• Which direction do you read?

• Can you find the title?

One-to-One Matching / Early Reading Behaviors

• Point to the words as you read.

• Do the words match what you said?

• Were there the right number of words on the line?

• Can you find a known or new word?

Predicting and Previewing

• What made you come up with that prediction?

• How have your ideas changed?

• What evidence confirmed or changed your prediction?

• What do you think will happen next?

• What information from the text helped you predict?

• Can you make your prediction more specific?

• I like how you used details as evidence.

Monitoring for Understanding (Detecting & Correcting Errors)

• Something didn’t sound right. Can you find the error?

• What do you know that might help?

• How did the picture help you?

• Why did you stop reading?

• Did that make sense?

• What information do you remember?

• Reread and see if it makes more sense.

• How did you figure it out?

• Show me where you fixed the problem.

Problem-Solving New Words

• Is there another word that might work?

• Look at the beginning and ending.

• Are there smaller words (chunks) you recognize?

• What strategy could help you here?

• Look at the root word, prefix, or suffix.

• Read ahead to help determine meaning.

Expanding Meaning: Before, During, and After Reading

Before Reading

• Nonfiction: What three questions do you think will be answered?

• What predictions can you make from the title and pictures?

During Reading

• Has your prediction changed? Why?

• What questions do you have?

• How are the pictures or text features helping you?

• What is the main idea?

• What details can you recall?

After Reading

• Retell the story.

• Fiction: What did the author teach you?

• Nonfiction: What was the most important thing you learned?

• What strategies did you use?

• Was your prediction confirmed?

Fluency Prompts

• Put the words together so it sounds like talking.

• Lower your voice at a period.

• Raise your voice at a question mark.

• Pause at commas.

• Show emotion when appropriate.

• Make it sound like the characters are speaking.

Making Connections

• How does the story make you feel?

• Have you had a similar experience?

• Does this book remind you of another book or person?

• What surprised you?

• How do you relate to a character?

• Have you read another book by this author?

Visualizing

• What do you picture as you read?

• What details helped you visualize?

• How do the illustrations support meaning?

• What did you see in your mind during this part?

• Where was it difficult to visualize?

Questioning

• Where did you find the answer?

• Were all your questions answered?

• What helped you understand better?

• What did you learn from the diagram or caption?

• Can you show a place where you were confused?

Inferring

• What is the author’s message?

• What is the story really about?

• Why did the author write this?

• What do the character’s thoughts reveal?

• What can you infer from this event?

• What is the big idea?

Summarizing, Synthesizing, and Evaluating

• What is the main idea?

• What key events are most important?

• Are you retelling or summarizing?

• What is the purpose of this chapter?

• Did your thinking change?

• Do you agree or disagree with the author?

• How effective was the author’s style?

Distinguishing Important Information

• What is this text mostly about?

• What ideas stood out to you?

• What themes did you notice?

• What is the most important thing to remember?

Independent Reading Journal Prompts (Grades 3 and Up)

What Is a Strategy?

A reading strategy is a tool stored in memory that helps readers make meaning from text.

Previewing

• My initial impression is…

• My reason for reading this is…

Predicting and Inferring

• My prediction before reading was…

• Text clues helped me infer…

• My prediction changed when…

Making Connections

• Text-to-Self:

• Text-to-Text:

• Text-to-World:

Visualizing

• A sketch from page ___ shows…

Questioning

• I wonder…

• Before, during, and after reading questions:

• Are my questions literal or “thick”?

Monitoring for Understanding

• I was confused on page ___.

• A word I didn’t know was…

• To clarify, I…

Summarizing and Evaluating

• The main idea is…

• The key events are…

• The theme or lesson is…

• My opinion of the text is…

Distinguishing Importance

• The story is mainly about…

• An important idea is…

• The most important thing to remember is…

Nonfiction Text Features

• Text features I used:

• Areas I skimmed for important information:

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Open-Ended Questions

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This page was last updated on December 26, 2025.