This week we got Wonder Books into the hands of all 57 kindergarteners. The Wonder Books are the start of our year-long inquiry studies we will be doing. We are starting off simply by just asking students to ask questions. It has truly been incredible to hear all of the wonderful questions that our students are generating. As you'd expect, 5 and 6 year olds wonder about tons of things. We even used our time in the Dell Lab this week to hear National Geographic Young Explorers articles read to us in order to generate more questions and even find some answers. Next we will begin doing mini-inquiry projects where we ask questions and find their answers in the span of about a week. These inquiry projects will benefit students in reading and writing as well as helping them build collaborative partnerships with their classmates. Ultimately, we will conduct long-term inquiries where students will gather information that they can share with their classmates. This inquiry process is part of a grant that several teachers at STEM received over the summer that provided us with books for our classroom libraries and excellent professional development over the summer. Find out more about the organization that made this possible at www.boundlessreaders.org. You can also access National Geographic Young Explorer at home by going to http://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/.
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Mrs. McGrane
I love teaching kindergarten literacy at STEM! It is amazing to be a part of the reading and writing growth of a kindergarten student. You get to see kids move from knowing some letters and sounds to being enthusiastic readers and young authors. Archives
March 2016
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