WONDER WEDNESDAY - Asking and Answering the W Questions

Happy Wonder Wednesday!

One of the Common Core Standards we have worked on all year in second grade is:

RI.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.  

This is a standard for both informational and literary text.  We have worked on asking and answering our own questions during read alouds, independent reading, while reading poetry, and while reading informational text.  Another great resource we've used to work with this standard is Wonderopolis.

Yesterday's Wonder of the Day was #1188 How Do Crickets Talk?  It was a perfect Wonder to use to continue modeling and practicing our work with this standard.  Students had a lot of background knowledge about the Wonder which helped them answer the questions and write about their thinking in their Wonder Journals before going over the Wonder.  Many had misconceptions about how crickets talk which was cleared up when we read the Wonder. 

My students write their thinking or answer to the question before going over the Wonder and then write new learning after reading together as a class.  Here is an example of a student's thinking and then new learning.

After reading over the Wonder together, I had students write in their journals who, what, where, when, why, and how and leave spaces.  We discussed what we learned and even went back into the text to clarify (yes, I did use that word with my second graders) some of the information we were confused about.  

Here is a student example of the who, what, where, when, why and how of the Wonder.  I took this opportunity to talk about and use highlighters.

I worked with students who are still struggling with the who, what, where, when, why and how.  Here is what we came up with together.

Every Wonder of the Day at Wonderopolis would be great for asking and answering questions.  Here are some additional Wonders that you may want to try:
#129 Why Are School Buses Yellow?
#227 How Hot is Lava?
#274 Who Made the American Flag?
#295 Why Is It Called "Old Faithful"?
#323 How Do You Hula?
#730 What Makes a Ball Super?
#852 Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?
#937 Why Do We Need Trees?
#1146 How Are Pop-Up Books Made?
#1184 Why Do Bats Sleep Upside Down?