Adventures in Kinderland: Curiouser and Curiouser

Where do we start??

Lets Meet Our Students

What our students are like:

Naturally curious Questioners Interested in the unusual Creative Think outside the box Experimental Fearless

See Approaches to Learning from pbs.org Child Development

http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/five/index.h tml

Curiousity

Curiousity
5

and 6 Year Olds are naturally curious and always have questions to ask. They need guided support to help them articulate their questions, document their ideas, and help them come up with action plans to find answers and share their results

Questioning

5 Types of Questions need to be asked in Inquiry Based Learning

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Inference Questions Interpretation Questions Transfer Questions Questions about Hypotheses Reflective Questions

From: The Art of Questioning by Denise Wolf Research project for the Rockefeller Foundation.

Questioning

Inference
Look

for clues, examine them, and decide if they help answer the questions

Questioning

Interpretation
Combine

what you already know and the new information you have

Questioning

Transfer
Take

what you know and apply it to a new situation.

Questioning

Hypothesis
Predict

outcome and carry out tests to discover new knowledge

Questioning

Reflective
Look

again at where you came from. What did you learn? What new questions do you have?

Questioning

Questions that can be answered with a simple fact (yes, no, statistic) fall in this category. Example: How far is the Earth from the Sun?

Questioning

Questions that address large, universal concepts. Example: Why are different parts of the Earth hotter than others?

Questioning

How do we get our students to ask the thick questions?

Model, model, model especially think alouds Give them lots of examples, on a daily basis Use literature that demonstrates thick questions Create a questioning atmosphere in all areas of the curriculum math, ELA, Science, SS, Art, etc.

wonderwall can be related to curricular objectives and thematic units They can also be stand alone, where students can keep track of big questions There are many examples of wonderwalls out there, from the basic sticky note wall of ideas, to using virtual tools such as Wallwisher A great teacher resource page is located at: https://kditzlerteacherresourcepage.wikispaces.co m/KDitzler%27s+Teacher+Resource+Page - This is a shared wikispace and allows you to preview and try out some amazing tools to support student learning. It is definitely worth checking out

Inquiry Model

OSLA Inquiry Model K-12 retrieved from: http://library.queensu.ca/book/export/html/8782

Teachers choose instructional materials that engage, develop, and challenge. Teachers design the space that supports the emergent learner Teachers model how to think aloud and interact with students

Creating the Space

Design Your Space

Keep the palette neutral natural materials, wooden furniture, woven baskets, simple patterns Places to store materials and to place ongoing or finished projects Defined spaces for areas quiet areas, larger building areas, art areas Create inspiration stations, where interesting, thematic materials are inviting students to investigate Use open-ended materials natural items such as twigs, nuts, cones, rocks, stones, shells, sand, wool, cotton. Recycled bits are good too like bottle caps, lids, corks, jewellery, small wooden cut offs, keys, buttons.

From: 5 Tips for Setting up Your Classroom with A Reggio Influence - http://missreggio.blogspot.ca/

The think aloud give the students the opportunity to see our thinking when we read, the connections we make, the questions we ask, our inferences and our predictions. It is through the read aloud that teachers show students their thinking process when reading.

from Strategies That Work: Guided Reading

Building Your Library

Where does literature and read-alouds fit in?

They are already a formal that most students can related to and show interest in When choosing books to spark curiousity and teach questioning, it is important to choose books with vivid language, imaginative ideas, and pictures that provoke and engage the reader Building a quality repertoire of resources takes time and patienceand of course, everyone has their favorites