The ladies are doing a great job of answering your questions! The kiddos are making up their own hand motions as a memory aid in memorizing the verse. I often start out giving suggestions, and then my boys take off and make up their own hand motions. You'd be surprised at how much it will help them remember their verses.
Also, the questions in the storytime box are meant to be very similar from week to week so kiddos begin to look for the same things each unit when you're reading aloud. The questions direct the kiddos to compare life at the time of the book (or passage) to their own life, to watch for what or whom the main character places their faith in (and how this impacts the story), to share something the reading brought to mind, and to practice retelling the reading. There are all things we do as adults when reading and are great ways to make kiddos connect and pay attention to what is being read. In essence, we're training the kiddos to connect personally with the reading.
We are assuming the more formal literature study is being taken care of through Drawn into the Heart of Reading.
Blessings,
Carrie