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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tried it Tuesday-Wonder Wall

I can't believe I missed linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday last week! I'm going to blame it on those lovely progress reports that I spent hours on...but I'm not missing today!
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I attended a workshop with Georgia Heard last year. The workshop was for grades K-4, so as a fourth grade teacher, I was a bit worried about how much of the workshop I'd be able to apply in my classroom. Many of the things presented were for younger grades, but there was one thing I knew I wanted to try.
The workshop focused on creating a sense of wonder in our classrooms. She shared about different things we could do to help cultivate wonder and discovery. I decided to incorporate a Wonder Wall into my room.

My Wonder Wall is on the back of a closet door. My students put post-it-notes with their "wonderings." It could be something totally random like, "What's the biggest stuffed animal?" to something we are learning about in class, "Which state was the last state to join the USA, Hawaii or Alaska?" Each Friday I go through the Wonder Wall and pull questions down to talk about together. If they are questions I can answer (Google is my best friend for this) I will answer their questions. Some of their questions are more thought provoking-"why do people pick on others?" We take those types of questions and discuss them together as a class.

I love the Wonder Wall. When students ask me questions in the middle of a lesson that I don't know the answer to I tell them, "That's a great question for the Wonder Wall!" The student who thought of the questions will jot it down on a post-it mid-lesson so we don't forget.

Do you have a Wonder Wall in your room? What do you do to create a sense of wonder in your classroom? I'd love to hear your ideas!

11 comments:

  1. What a great idea for everyone to look at! You never know when someone else might have a great answer for those questions. I am sure it also cuts down on the random question asking in class that we sometimes get!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Andrea
    Reading Toward the Stars

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  2. I have a Wonder Wall too! My kids LOVE it! I give them tickets if they do some research at home and bring in the answer to a question that someone wonders about - it's very motivating and encourages critical thinking in my kiddos!

    Thanks for sharing! :)

    ~Jessica
    Joy in the Journey

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    1. I love the idea of research tickets...I may try that next year. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  3. I love this idea!! I will definately have to make a wonder wall!!

    Katie
    Mind Sparks

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  4. What a fantastic idea! I have the space for it and can definitely see doing one next year.

    -Maria

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  5. Great idea! I have a few kids who ask the most random questions in the middle of class. Sometimes, I think they just want to be heard. This would be a great way to give their questions attention without disrupting the lesson.

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  6. I don't have a Wonder Wall but I do have the book and plan to read it this summer (this summer is my new mantra!). Thanks for sharing how this is working in your room.

    Looking From Third to Fourth

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  7. This is a simple, yet great idea. Thank you for sharing!

    Jessica
    Literacy Spark

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  8. My class would just eat this up! They are quite the "talkers and wonderers!". Thank you so much for sharing and I am pinning for future reference:)
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  9. Ugh I've been meaning to do this for years- but in our school they're meant to be tied in with our inquiry, that kind of bores me a little- I love your way of doing it where it can be about anything... that is something they'd get excited about!

    x Serena x
    Magic Mistakes & Mayhem

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    1. Many of our questions do relate to what we are studying, you may be able to "sneak" a few of those random questions in...

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