Restate the Question Activities
How do you teach students to restate the question? Let’s practice! You teach students to restate the question with these engaging restate the question activities.
What Is “Restating the Question”?
If you ask a student, “Who was our first president?” no doubt they will answer, “George Washington.”
While there is no problem with this answer’s correctness, it can be improved.
Students need to learn to restate the question in their answer: “The first president was George Washington.”
Here are some other examples:
- What is your name? My name is ____.
- What are the names of the inner four planets? The inner four planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
- Why do bees visit flowers? Bees visit flowers because they collect the flower’s nectar.
This article contains affiliate links to things that you might like.
Why You Should Teach Students to Restate the Question
Restating the question seems cumbersome to students, and in everyday conversation, it can be.
But this skill has distinct benefits.
Ensures Understanding
When students reframe the question in their own words, they must fully understand it.
This can clear up any fuzzy thinking and improve the accuracy of their responses.
Develops Composition Skills
When you restate the question, your answer becomes a complete sentence.
Speaking in complete sentences lays the foundation for writing in complete sentences.
It’s a vital composition skill.
Aids in Memory
Students are forced to repeat the content when they restate the question.
The more they repeat information, the more likely they will remember it.
Prepares for Formal Testing
Short answer and essay questions in formal tests require that a student be able to restate the question in their answer.
Mastering this skill can help them express their answer more clearly (and score higher on the exam.)
Restating the question covers the first skill in R.A.C.E. (Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain), a process that helps students answer constructed questions in reading.
How to Teach “Restate the Question”
You will need to explicitly teach the concept of restating the question before you move on to activities.
Make an anchor chart that highlights the steps.
Step 1: Remove the Question Words
The question words in a sentence are who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Students need to eliminate them before answering. (Hint: If they have the question written, they can cross it off.)
- Who was the first person on the Moon? (Eliminate “who”)
- Where is Mount Whitney located?
- Why do we add yeast to bread? (Eliminate “why”)
Step 2: Reorder the Words
Reorder the remaining words to form the framework for the answer.
Sometimes, this is simple; other times, it can confuse the student.
- The first person on the Moon was ____.
- Mount Whitney is located in _____.
This step is mastered through consistent modeling and targeted activities (more on this later).
Step 3: Beware of Pronouns
It is all too tempting to use a pronoun in an answer.
Consider the question: “When did Columbus discover America?”
The student could reply in one of two ways:
- He discovered it in 1792.
- Columbus discovered America in 1792.
Although both answers are complete sentences (yea!), the second one gives more information.
The pronouns in the first answer make it more vague.
Tell students to beware of pronouns. They must remember to reorder the question words to put the information in the answer.
Step 4: Switch Out “Why” for “Because”
If a sentence has the question word “why,” students need to switch it out for “because” in the answer.
Why should they switch out the word? They should switch out the word “why” for “because” because an explanation is needed. (See what I did there?)
- Why do we add yeast to bread? We add yeast to bread because yeast is a leavening agent.
7 Restate the Question Activities
Now that students know how to restate the question, you can reinforce the concept with these restate the question activities.
Modeling, Modeling, Modeling
Students will do as you do. If you want them to do it, you must model restating the question.
When you ask questions in any lesson, model how you would like them to respond.
“What is a gas giant? Start your answer with ‘A gas giant is…'”
“Which planets are gas giants? Give me an example. Say, ‘The planet ___ is a gas giant.'”
You train students to think and express themselves in complete sentences by modeling restating the question repeatedly.
Question-Answer Match Up
Make a matching game of questions and their restated answers.
You can make this a worksheet or write it on cards to match up.
Consider flipping the cards over to turn it into a Memory game.
Restate and Answer Worksheets
You can use these in any subject.
Instead of multiple choice, have students trace or fill in the blank answers where the question is restated.
This is called providing the stem. For example:
You ask: Why do squirrels gather acorns in the fall?
You provide: Squirrels gather acorns in the fall because ____.
It is crucial that these worksheets are not multiple-choice. Students need to practice writing, tracing, or completing sentences orally.
Pair and Share
Ask a fun question (like these Would You Rather Questions) and then ask the students why they chose their answer.
Ask them to think through their response to the question, “WHY do you prefer X to Y?” (substitute their choices from the question.
Have the students pair off and discuss their answers by restating the question.
Then, they can return and share with the group. “I prefer X to Y because…”
Jeopardy!
Trivia games like Jeopardy! provide excellent practice in restating the question (or, in the case of Jeopardy!, figuring out the question).
Opening Question or Exit Question
Ask an opening question to start the day or the lesson. Require that students restate the question in their answer.
Make it a fun question, and students will enjoy the activity.
You can also have an exit question. This final question concludes the day or the lesson. You can make it a review question or a fun question.
BINGO
You can create custom BINGO cards using an online generating tool. The cards should contain questions about a topic.
For instance, you can make one for literature discussions. Here are some examples:
- The main characters are…
- The character __ wanted…
- The central conflict in the story was…
- The conflict was resolved when…
- The story was set in the time of…
- The story was set in the location of…
- The author of the story is…
Then, you use the questions as the calling cards. Here are the matching questions.
- Who were the main characters?
- What did the main character want?
- What was the central conflict in the story?
- How was the conflict resolved?
- When did the story take place?
- Where did the story take place?
- Who is the author?
You read out the calling cards in random order for the BINGO game. The students mark the corresponding answer staters on their boards.
Then, you can discuss the question as a group before you move on to the next card.
Activities for “Restate the Question”
Restating the question is a powerful skill that will aid the student in comprehension, retention, and expression.
Teach it today and reinforce it with these fun activities!
