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INTERVENTION STRATEGY:
5 Ws & 1 H
Brief Description:
The 5 Ws & 1 H were designed to help students understand the details of what they
read. This strategy targets increasing reading comprehension skills. Children should
have adequate word identification and fluency skills with the passages for this activity.
The steps for implementation are adapted from Strategy Instruction for Students with
Learning Disabilities (Reid & Lienemann, 2006)
Materials Needed: Instructional text or selected passage. Poster outlining the strategy or
personal note cards with the 5Ws and 1H.
Implementation: The suggested intervention schedule is approximately 15 minutes
daily. The intervention may be done individually or in small groups by a teacher or a
paraprofessional. Progress monitoring may be done either weekly or biweekly.
1. Make a poster outlining the strategy.
5Ws and 1H
W- Who
W- What
W- Where
W- When
W- Why
H- How
2. Activate the students prior knowledge by reviewing the tasks involved in the strategy
above. A thorough task breakdown may help identify prerequisite skills needed to
implement this strategy. If the children do not have mastery of one of the components of
the process above, additional instruction in this area may be required.
3. Discuss the strategy and why it is important for the students to look at all of the
components of the reading. Get buy in for the strategy. Talk about how it has helped
other students in the past, etc. Be sure the students see its value and make a commitment
to using it. Review the steps for the strategy with the students and the prompts that
correspond to each step as well as the letters of the mnemonic.
4. The children then memorize the strategy. You can facilitate this in many different
ways. Scaffolding the instruction may be necessary during this phase. Ample practice
and opportunities should be provided until the children can recite the steps.
5. Model the strategy using a think aloud and self-reinforcement (positive self-talk).
Teacher will demonstrate the strategy to students to show them how to Ask detailed
questions starting with the 5 Ws and 1 H to go with the main ideas of the selected text.
Who: Identify and make a list of the characters in their reading selection. Then students
will draw connecting lines between the characters and describe to themselves the
relationship between the characters.
What: Identify the events or actions in the selection and make a list of those. The
students will draw connecting lines between the characters and events as they describe to
themselves the relationship between the characters and events.
Where: Identify all the places in the selected passage and make a list of those before they
draw connecting lines between places, events and characters and describe to themselves
the relationship among them.
When: Identify all the time factors in the reading passage and make a list of those before
they draw connecting lines between time factors, places, events, and characters as they
describe the relationship among all of these.
Why: Identify the causes for events or actions and make a list of them before they draw
connecting lines from the causes to effects on the characters, events, places or times and
describe the relationship among them.
How: Identify the manner in which events took place and make a list of them before they
draw connecting lines between the way in which events took place and other factors as
they describe the relationship among them.
6. Students will then answer the questions using an outline or graphic organizer. Students
will review all the details they listed. Then they will make an outline of the main ideas
and then select the important details from their lists. They might use different colored
pens to highlight the main ideas and the details on each of their lists.
7. Provide support for the strategy during implementation, through direct feedback during
practice, verbal cuing, prompt cards, etc.
8. Eventually fade the teacher prompts until the children demonstrate the use of the
strategy independently. Encourage other teachers to use the same strategy and post it in
their classrooms as well.
Schedule for implementation: This strategy can be implemented individually or in
small groups. It can be facilitated by a teacher, paraprofessional or adult volunteer.
Research Summary & References:
The following books and references may be consulted to learn the essentials and
variations of this strategy:
Learning Toolbox. Harrisonburg, VA: Steppingstone Technology Grant, James Madison
University.
