A writing activity for every reading day

Kindergarten — Drawing and dictating count as writing, and one event is a finished answer.

Kindergarten questions ask for one thing and how it felt, because the standard asks for a single event and a reaction to it. Nothing asks a child to find evidence — that standard does not exist for another four years — and several hints tell families outright that a grown-up may write the words down, because the standard allows dictating.

Chalky's ready-made book plans start at grade 1. A Kindergarten family chooses their own books from the library; the writing activity then runs the same way. Note too that no W.K.9 exists — nothing at this grade may ask a child to quote or cite.

What the standards ask for

• W.K.1 Name the book and say what you thought of it, using drawing, dictating and writing together.
• W.K.2 Name what you are writing about and give some information about it.
• W.K.3 Tell one event, or a few loosely linked events in the order they happened, and give a reaction to what happened.
• W.K.8 Recall something from your own experience to answer a question.

The questions your child is asked

1. If you could tell the author one thing about today's story, what would you say? W.K.1 · RL.K.1
2. What was your favourite part of today's story? W.K.1 · RL.K.3
3. Which person in today's story would you most like to meet? Can you say why? W.K.1 · RL.K.3
4. Can you make a list of everyone in today's story? W.K.2 · RL.K.3
5. Where does today's story happen? W.K.2 · RL.K.3
6. Can you find three things in today's pictures? If there were none, three things in the words. W.K.2 · RL.K.7
7. An illustrator draws the pictures. What did theirs show you today? W.K.2 · RL.K.6
8. What is one thing that happened in today's story? How did it make you feel? W.K.3 · RL.K.2
9. Someone missed today's story. Can you tell it to them? W.K.3 · RL.K.2
10. Which bit of today's story made you feel something? What did you feel? W.K.3 · W.K.8
11. What is the opposite of their new word? W.K.2 · L.K.5.b
12. Where have you seen their new word in real life? W.K.2 · L.K.5.c
13. their new word means ___. Can you fill in the gap? W.K.2 · RL.K.4

Grade 1 — One reason, and events told in order with first and next.

The standard says a reason, singular, so grade 1 questions ask for one and never for reasons. It names temporal words as part of the standard, so the storytelling questions hand over a First… Next… scaffold rather than leaving a six-year-old to find the shape. Joining ideas with because is itself a grade 1 language objective, so it is used freely as a sentence starter.

Still no evidence requirement, and grade 1 writes for itself: the dictating allowance ends here.

What the standards ask for

• W.1.1 Name the book, state an opinion, supply one reason for it, and give some sense of closure.
• W.1.2 Name a topic, supply some facts about it, and close it off.
• W.1.3 Recount two or more events in order, with some detail and words that signal sequence.
• W.1.8 Recall information from experience to answer a question.

The questions your child is asked

1. Can you finish this? Today's reading was ___ because ___. W.1.1 · RL.1.1
2. Which character from today's reading would you want as a friend? Can you say one reason why? W.1.1 · RL.1.3
3. Can you fill the gaps? The best part of today's reading was ___ and the part I liked least was ___. W.1.1 · L.1.6
4. Would you like to live where this story happens? Can you say one reason why? W.1.1 · RL.1.3
5. Who is today's reading about? Two things about them, please. W.1.2 · RL.1.3
6. A friend has never read this book. Can you write them a note saying what happens? W.1.2 · RL.1.2
7. Did the pictures today show you anything the words did not say? W.1.2 · RL.1.7
8. What did today's reading teach you? W.1.2 · RL.1.2
9. Which word in today's reading shows how someone felt? Why did they feel that way? W.1.2 · RL.1.4
10. Can you tell today's reading in three steps? Start each one with First, Next and Last. W.1.3 · RL.1.2
11. What do you think happens next? Can you tell it like a story? W.1.3 · RL.1.1
12. Has anything like today's reading ever happened to you? Can you tell us about it? W.1.3 · W.1.8
13. If you were in today's story, what would you have done? W.1.3 · RL.1.3
14. How would you explain their new word in a note to someone who has never heard it? W.1.2 · L.1.5.b
15. Where in your own life could you use the word their new word? W.1.2 · L.1.5.c
16. Can you think of another word that means almost the same as their new word? W.1.2 · L.1.5.d

Grade 2 — An opinion gains reasons in the plural, and the words that join them.

Grade 2 questions ask for two reasons and name the linking word to use, because the standard names them. Characters start being described by how they respond to trouble rather than by what they look like, which is what the grade 2 reading standard asks for. Two questions exist only at this grade: one about rhyme and repetition, one about how two characters see the same event differently.

Evidence is still two years away; nothing asks for a quotation.

What the standards ask for

• W.2.1 State an opinion, supply reasons that support it, join them with linking words such as because, and, also, and finish with a concluding statement.
• W.2.2 Introduce a topic, develop it with facts and definitions, and provide a conclusion.
• W.2.3 Recount a well-elaborated event with details describing actions, thoughts and feelings.
• W.2.8 Recall or gather information to answer a question.

The questions your child is asked

1. Did you like today's reading? Can you give two reasons, using the word because? W.2.1 · RL.2.1
2. Can you write two lines for the back of this book, telling a shopper why to read it? W.2.1 · RL.2.2
3. Was a choice made in today's reading? Was it a good one, and why? W.2.1 · RL.2.3
4. Someone else in today's reading saw all this happen. How would they feel about it, and why? W.2.1 · RL.2.6
5. Was there a problem in today's reading? If there was, what did the character do about it? If not, what problem might be coming? W.2.2 · RL.2.3
6. Who was in today's reading, what did they do, and where were they? W.2.2 · RL.2.1
7. What lesson does this story teach? How do you know? W.2.2 · RL.2.2
8. Can you describe today's pictures to someone who cannot see them? W.2.2 · RL.2.7
9. Were there words today that sound good together, like a rhyme or the same sound again and again? Can you collect a few? W.2.2 · RL.2.4
10. A character from today's reading keeps a diary. What would tonight's entry say? W.2.3 · RL.2.3
11. Where does the story go from here? Can you tell it using First, Then and Last? W.2.3 · RL.2.1
12. When did something like today's reading last happen to you? How did you feel? W.2.3 · W.2.8
13. Which is stronger, their new word or a word close to it? Can you say why? W.2.2 · L.2.5.b
14. What in your own life would you call their new word? Can you describe it? W.2.2 · L.2.5.a
15. Can you describe something using their new word and one more describing word? W.2.2 · L.2.6

Grade 3 — The text enters the answer — point at it, but do not quote it yet.

Grade 3 is the year answers start referring to the book. The reading standard asks children to answer referring explicitly to the text, so these questions say point to the part that shows it. They still never ask for a quotation, because the standard that asks children to draw evidence from a text does not begin until grade 4. Point at it, do not quote it — that distinction is exactly one grade wide, and it is why grade 3 has its own set rather than sharing with grades 4 and 5.

Dialogue enters the storytelling questions, and literal against figurative meaning becomes the signature vocabulary move.

What the standards ask for

• W.3.1 Support a point of view with organised reasons, joined by words such as because, therefore, since, for example.
• W.3.2 Group related information and develop it with facts, definitions and details.
• W.3.3 Establish a situation, introduce characters, and use dialogue and description to develop events.
• W.3.8 Take brief notes from sources and sort what you find into categories.
• W.3.10 Write routinely, over both short and extended time frames. Daily writing becomes an expectation at this grade.

The questions your child is asked

1. Was today's reading fair to everyone in it? Can you give two reasons, using because or since? W.3.1 · RL.3.1
2. Was a decision made in today's reading? Was it a good one? Can you point to the part that shows it? W.3.1 · RL.3.1
3. The narrator tells today's events one way. Do you see them the same way, or differently? Why? W.3.1 · RL.3.6
4. Can you find two words that describe the main character in this chapter, and what they did to show each one? W.3.2 · RL.3.3
5. Why did the character do what they did in today's reading? W.3.2 · RL.3.3
6. What is the lesson of this story? Which parts of today's reading show it? W.3.2 · RL.3.2
7. What mood does today's part of the story have — calm, exciting, sad? What makes it feel that way? W.3.2 · RL.3.7
8. Can you note down three things you found out about the story today? W.3.2 · W.3.8
9. Was there anything in today's reading that does not mean exactly what it says, like raining cats and dogs? If so, what does it really mean? If not, can you think of one? W.3.2 · RL.3.4
10. Two characters in today's reading are about to speak. What do they say? Use quotation marks. W.3.3 · RL.3.3
11. Can you carry the story on from here, starting with where we are and who is there? W.3.3 · RL.3.1
12. Has something like today's reading happened to you? Can you put it in a diary entry? W.3.3 · W.3.8
13. Did the book use their new word with its literal meaning, or to mean something else? W.3.2 · L.3.5.a
14. Think of someone or something you would call their new word. Can you describe them? W.3.2 · L.3.5.b
15. Can you use their new word in a sentence that also says when it happened? W.3.2 · L.3.6

Grade 4 — Evidence begins: bring something back from the text.

This is the boundary that shapes the whole library. From grade 4 a question may ask a child to bring something back from the book, so the questions ask for details, examples and three things that show what a character is like. Theme arrives, and characters are described in depth rather than named.

Refer to details and examples — but quoting accurately is grade 5. The two are one year and one word apart.

What the standards ask for

• W.4.9 Draw evidence from what you have read to support analysis and reflection. This standard begins at grade 4 and continues at every grade above it.
• W.4.1 Support a point of view with reasons and information.
• W.4.2 Develop a topic with facts, definitions, concrete details and precise language.
• W.4.3 Use dialogue, description and sensory detail to develop events.
• RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in the text, and draw inferences from it.

The questions your child is asked

1. Of everything a character did in today's reading, which was the best decision and which the worst? Back each with something from the story. W.4.1 · W.4.9
2. Which part of today's reading matters most to the story? Can you say why, using examples from it? W.4.1 · RL.4.1
3. Was a character treated fairly in today's reading? Can you argue it using details from the text? W.4.1 · RL.4.1
4. Can you gather three details from today's reading that show what one character is really like? W.4.2 · RL.4.3
5. What theme is coming through in today's reading? Which details point to it? W.4.2 · RL.4.2
6. Can you sum up today's reading in exactly three sentences? W.4.2 · RL.4.2
7. A picture of today's setting needs a caption. Can you write one from the text? W.4.2 · RL.4.3
8. Is this story told by someone inside it or someone outside looking in? How can you tell? W.4.2 · RL.4.6
9. How would the next scene go? Can you write it, with dialogue and description? W.4.3 · RL.4.3
10. Which moment from today's reading stuck with you? Can you rewrite it so a reader can see, hear and feel it? W.4.3 · RL.4.3
11. When did you last face something like today's reading? Can you tell it with dialogue? W.4.3 · W.4.8
12. Can you write a simile using their new word? W.4.2 · L.4.5.a
13. Were there sayings in today's reading that do not mean what they say? Can you collect one and explain it? W.4.2 · L.4.5.b
14. What word means nearly the same as their new word? And what word means the opposite? W.4.2 · L.4.5.c
15. How did the words around their new word help you work out what it means? W.4.2 · L.4.4.a

Grade 5 — Quote accurately, and compare one thing with another.

One word separates this grade from grade 4: quote. Several grade 5 questions ask children to copy the author's words down exactly and then explain them. The other signature is comparison — two characters, two settings, two events — and questions begin to span more than the day's page, asking how today's chapter connects to the one before it.

What the standards ask for

• RL.5.1 Quote accurately from the text when explaining it and when drawing inferences.
• W.5.9 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings or events, drawing on specific details.
• W.5.1 Support a point of view with reasons and information, logically ordered.
• RL.5.2 Determine a theme, including how characters respond to challenges.

The questions your child is asked

1. Which line in today's reading struck you most? Can you quote it and say why? W.5.1 · RL.5.1
2. Has your opinion of a character changed as you have read this book? If it has, can you quote what changed it? If not, what would change it? W.5.1 · RL.5.3
3. Did anyone make a difficult decision in today's reading? Was it the right one? Can you give your reasons in order, saving the strongest for last? W.5.1 · RL.5.1
4. Take two characters from today's reading. Which of them would cope better on their own, and why? W.5.2 · W.5.9
5. Did a character run into trouble in today's reading? How did they respond, and what does that show about them? W.5.2 · RL.5.2
6. What theme runs through this book? Can you quote a line that carries it? W.5.2 · RL.5.2
7. How does today's reading connect to what came before it? W.5.2 · RL.5.5
8. Who is telling this story? How does their point of view shape the way events are described? W.5.2 · RL.5.6
9. In four sentences and no opinion, what happened today? W.5.2 · RL.5.2
10. The next chapter opens. Can you write its first scene, with dialogue and description? W.5.3 · RL.5.3
11. Can you retell one moment from today's reading as another character, writing as I? W.5.3 · RL.5.6
12. A character in this book met a challenge. Can you write them a letter about a time you met one like it? W.5.3 · W.5.8
13. Can you find a simile or a metaphor in today's reading and unpack it? If there is none, write one about the story. W.5.2 · L.5.5.a
14. Can you quote the sentence that contains their new word, and explain what it means there? W.5.2 · RL.5.1
15. Can you collect a synonym and an antonym for their new word, and say what each one tells you? W.5.2 · L.5.5.c

Grade 6 — An opinion becomes an argument.

From grade 6 the standard stops saying opinion and starts saying argument, so the questions say claim rather than what do you think. One question exists only to practise the objective summary the standard asks for: what happens, with none of your own judgments in it. The vocabulary questions stop asking what a word means and start asking what it carries.

What the standards ask for

• W.6.1 Write arguments: introduce a claim, support it with clear reasons and relevant evidence, keep a formal style, and close in a way that follows from what you argued.
• RL.6.1 Cite textual evidence for what the text says and for what it implies.
• RL.6.2 Provide a summary distinct from your own opinions or judgments.
• RL.6.4 Weigh connotation, and what a word choice does to the tone.

The questions your child is asked

1. What claim can you make about a character in today's reading? Can you support it with evidence from the text? W.6.1 · RL.6.1
2. What is this book really about, underneath the plot? Can you cite the details that carry it? W.6.1 · RL.6.2
3. Of the moments so far, which one would the book least survive losing? Can you make the case? W.6.1 · RL.6.5
4. Without a single word of opinion, what happens in today's reading? W.6.2 · RL.6.2
5. How has a character responded or changed as the story has moved on? Can you cite what shows it? W.6.2 · RL.6.3
6. Which word did the author choose most carefully today? How would the tone change with a plainer one? W.6.2 · RL.6.4
7. What job does today's reading do for the book as a whole? W.6.2 · RL.6.5
8. How does the author build the narrator's point of view? Can you cite an example from today's reading? W.6.2 · RL.6.6
9. Have you read another story that handles this book's theme? If so, how do the two approach it differently? W.6.2 · W.6.9
10. If the author added one more scene to this chapter, what would it be? Can you write it in their style? W.6.3 · RL.6.4
11. A character barely noticed today saw it all. Can you retell a moment as them? W.6.3 · RL.6.6
12. What theme came through today? Can you write a short scene from your own life that echoes it? W.6.3 · W.6.8
13. What feeling does their new word carry that a plainer word with the same meaning would not? W.6.2 · L.6.5.c
14. Was there a figure of speech in today's reading? If so, what is it doing there? W.6.2 · L.6.5.a
15. Is their new word a cause, a part of something, or a kind of something? How does it relate to another word here? W.6.2 · L.6.5.b

Grade 7 — The other side of the argument joins the room.

An argument is no longer finished when it is merely supported: grade 7 asks what someone who disagreed would say. Analysis shifts from describing the parts of a story to showing how they act on each other. Because so much of a reading year is historical fiction, one question asks how a history book would tell the same events, and what it would leave out.

What the standards ask for

• W.7.1 Introduce a claim, acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organise reasons and evidence logically.
• RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence, not one.
• RL.7.3 Analyse how story elements act on each other — how a setting shapes a character or a plot.
• W.7.9 Compare a fictional portrayal of a time or person with a historical account of the same events.

The questions your child is asked

1. If you had to claim one thing about a character today, what would it be — and what would someone who disagreed argue? W.7.1 · RL.7.1
2. Can you gather several separate pieces of evidence for your reading of today's events, and argue from them? W.7.1 · RL.7.1
3. Who is most responsible for what happened in today's reading? Can you argue it, and give the other side a fair hearing? W.7.1 · RL.7.3
4. How has the theme developed since the beginning of the book? Can you cite two moments that show the change? W.7.2 · RL.7.2
5. How does the setting shape the characters or the plot in today's reading? Can you cite the evidence? W.7.2 · RL.7.3
6. Did the sound of the words matter anywhere today? If so, what does it add? W.7.2 · RL.7.4
7. How does the shape of today's reading affect the way you read it? W.7.2 · RL.7.5
8. Did two characters see the same event differently in today's reading? If so, how does the author show us both? W.7.2 · RL.7.6
9. A journalist files a report on today's events. What does it say, and what does it leave out? W.7.2 · W.7.9
10. Can you continue the story in the author's own voice? W.7.3 · RL.7.4
11. Can you retell today's reading as someone who disagrees with the narrator? W.7.3 · RL.7.6
12. Today two people saw one event two ways. Have you and someone else ever done the same? Can you write both versions? W.7.3 · W.7.8
13. Did today's reading refer to another story, a myth or a well-known text? If so, why is it there? W.7.2 · L.7.5.a
14. What does their new word suggest that a neutral word would not? W.7.2 · L.7.5.c
15. Can you build an analogy with their new word — the way hot is to cold as day is to night? Say what your pairs share. W.7.2 · L.7.5.b

Grade 8 — Choose the strongest evidence, and defend the choice.

The demands sharpen rather than change. A question can now ask a child to choose between two pieces of evidence and say why that one and not the other. Dramatic irony and verbal irony both appear, because a child who can name the gap between what is said and what is meant can see most of what an author is doing.

What the standards ask for

• RL.8.1 Cite the evidence that most strongly supports the analysis — not merely evidence that fits.
• W.8.1 Introduce a claim, distinguish it from opposing claims rather than only acknowledging them, and support it with logical reasoning.
• RL.8.3 Analyse how lines of dialogue or particular incidents drive the action or reveal a character.
• RL.8.6 Analyse dramatic irony — the gap between what a reader knows and what a character does not.

The questions your child is asked

1. Of all the evidence for your reading of today's events, which single piece is strongest? Can you say why that one and not another? W.8.1 · RL.8.1
2. A debate about today's reading opens with two sentences: your claim and theirs. Can you write both, then say why yours holds? W.8.1 · RL.8.1
3. Was a decision in today's reading justified? Can you argue it, and answer the strongest objection? W.8.1 · RL.8.3
4. How does the theme of this book connect to the characters and the setting? Can you cite the evidence that shows it best? W.8.2 · RL.8.2
5. Did anything in today's reading change the story's direction? If so, can you quote the line or describe the incident, and say how it did that? W.8.2 · RL.8.3
6. Does this book draw on an older story, a myth or a pattern you recognise? If so, what does it do with it? W.8.2 · W.8.9
7. Of the ways this book could have been arranged, why this one? How does it shape the meaning? W.8.2 · RL.8.5
8. Do you know something a character in today's reading does not? Can you cite where the author opens that gap, and say what it gains? W.8.2 · RL.8.6
9. A stranger reads only your summary of this chapter. Can you write three sentences they could follow, with no opinion in them? W.8.2 · RL.8.2
10. The next scene, in the author's structure as well as their tone — can you write it? W.8.3 · RL.8.5
11. Can you retell a moment from this chapter so the reader knows something the characters do not? That gap is called dramatic irony. W.8.3 · RL.8.6
12. Someone in today's reading knew more than the others. Have you? Can you write that moment as it felt from inside? W.8.3 · W.8.8
13. Did the author of today's reading anywhere say one thing and mean another? If so, how can you tell? W.8.2 · L.8.5.a
14. Can you collect two words that mean roughly what their new word means but feel different? What is the difference? W.8.2 · L.8.5.c
15. Which other important word in this text does their new word connect to, and how? W.8.2 · L.8.5.b