Wondering about Hummingbirds

This week in 2nd grade, we did lots of wondering and learning at Wonderopolis.

On Tuesday, we learned about why and how foods are graded with #555 Does Your Food Make the Grade?  At the bottom of the Wonder the clue for Wednesday's Wonder was, "Fly back to Wonderopolis tomorrow for a Wonder of the Day that will have you humming a new tune!"  After reading this, Max yelled out, "I know it's going to be about hummingbirds."  The students then shared their wondering about hummingbirds.  My students love to see their comments published and what kind of positive response Wonderopolis will give us so, I typed their wondering in the comment section.  Along with sharing our wondering, we talked about whether the word hummingbird is a compound word or not (hence why it is both ways in the comment below--what a great little review of what a compound word is).  On Wednesday, we found out that our prediction was right, the Wonder of the Day was,  #556 Do Hummingbirds Really Hum?.  Many of our wonders were also answered in the Wonder of the Day, which is always exciting.

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Wonder Wednesday

Prior to starting the school year, I wanted to incorporate weekly Wonder into my schedule (besides using Wonderopolis daily).  Last summer, I read about someone using Wonder Wednesday.  I honestly can't remember where I read it.  I decided to give Wonder Wednesdays a try.

To introduce Wonder Wednesday at the beginning of the year, we made a list of topics we wondered about and then as a class, we voted and chose one for our first Wonder Wednesday.  We asked questions and as a class looked for the answers to those questions.  I also created a form to help organize information (see below).  As a class we filled out the form as a shared experience.  Gradually as the year progressed students started forming their own small groups to work on their own Wonders on Wednesdays.

Each Wonder Wednesday begins like any other writing workshop, with a mini-lesson.  Some of the mini-lessons have included, how to write "focus" questions to help focus our wondering, what to do if you can't find the answer to one or more of your questions, what kinds/types of questions extend your thinking, how and where you get ideas for Wonders, and using a nonfiction book as a focus for wondering.

Each Wonder Wednesday includes a new Wonder.  Being that we do Wonder reading and writing at the most once a week, it is much easier if the students start with a new Wonder each time.  Occasionally, they will carry over a Wonder and finish it up on Thursday.  Most students have gotten very good at manage their time and using it wisely, so they can find out as much as possible.  If students are engaged (which they usually they are), we will carry the Wonder Wednesday into our science/social studies time.  We also usually carry over some of the sharing to Thursday and Friday.

By doing Wonder Wednesday, my students are interacting with more nonfiction text than they otherwise would.  According to Routman (Writing Essentials Raising Expectations and Results While Simplifying Teaching, 2005), "through reading nonfiction, students gather information, encounter writing models and ideas they can emulate, and come to understand the features of nonfiction texts" (p. 127).  I know they will be better readers, writers and thinkers in general from participating in each of our Wonder Wednesdays.

When reflecting on Wonder Wednesday and thinking ahead to next year, there are several things that I would like to incorporate or change.  One thing I would like to change is to have the students use the information gathered to create their own writing piece.  Currently, students are just gathering information and are not doing much with it.  I'm not sure that I will have them create something every week with their information gathered, maybe once a month.  I would like to have students take the information they have gathered and create their own book or maybe use Wonderopolis or other texts as a model for organizing their information.

Below is a Smilebox of some pictures and video I have taken during a few Wonder Wednesdays.  If you use Wonder Wednesday in your class, I would love to hear how you are organizing and using it.

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Slice 2012 A Big Win

This morning, like I do every morning when I first get up, I checked my email.  While checking, I found that Stacey at Two Writing Teachers had posted the winners of the prizes for the Fifth Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge.  I anxiously clicked on the link to read more.  I enjoyed reading through how she chose the winners and then read through how to claim your prize.  As I scrolled down, I was surprised and excited to see my name as the winner of the registration to the Seventh Annual All Write!!! Summer institute.  I attended the conference last year and my district was unable to send me this year.  I had considered paying the fee myself because the conference is, "that good", but had decided against it.  The prize for the Slice 2012 truly was in writing and what I learned every day about myself as a writer, but this prize is the cherry on top.  Thank you again Ruth and Stacey for organizing!  Can't wait for next year!

Ukrainian Painted Eggs

This morning when I went to Wonderopolis, I noticed the new background of the beautifully painted eggs.  Immediately, I thought of the book by Patricia Polacco called, Rechenka's Eggs. The story is about an old woman, Babushka who is painting Ukrainian eggs for an Easter Festival.  She finds a wounded goose (she names Rechenka) outside of her house and nurses it back to health.  As the goose is getting healthy, it knocks over all the paint and breaks the beautifully painted eggs.  Renchenka then mysteriously lays beautiful eggs to replace the broken ones.  Later while Babushka is at the Easter Festival winning first prize, the goose flies way.  Before leaving, she lays one last egg.

The background also reminded me of making Ukrainian painted eggs with a class many years ago while doing an author study on Patricia Polacco.  I couldn't remember how we made them, so I went on a search for child friendly directions on how to make painted eggs.  My daughter was having a friend over and I thought it would be a great activity for them to do together.  I found the directions for Patricia Polacco inspired Ukrainian painted eggs and the girls spent a couple of hours making artwork out of our white eggs this afternoon.  While the eggs didn't quite turn out like the Ukrainian painted eggs in Patricia Polacco's book, they had a wonderful time talking, sharing and thinking of unique ways to decorate their eggs.

Connections to Wonder #549 "Who Was the Great Bambino?"

Yesterday's Wonder reminded me of the trip to Louisville that the 2012 Wonder Leads and families went on over New Year's.  As part of the trip we got to do some "wondering" at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.  While at the museum and factory, we got to see how the famous "Louisville Slugger" bats are made, tour the museum and some lucky members of our group went into the VIP "bat vault".

Upon our arrival at the museum we were given our family Wonder, What is a billet?  Our family learned that a billet is the round pieces of wood that are made into a bat.  One highlight for our family at the museum and factory was seeing and touching the billets waiting to be made into a bats for Joey Votto (1st baseman for our hometown team, The Cincinnati Reds).  

The other highlight of the trip for my husband was going into the vault to see carved bat prototypes of famous players such as Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth (The Great Bambino). 

Below is a Smilebox of some of the pictures taken of all the Wonder Leads and their families while at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.

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Slice 2012 An Awkward Moment

I was sitting in the last pew of a beautiful historic, shaker style church at my friend's wedding.  The wedding was over and she and her new husband were dismissing guests from the pews.  The bride and groom dismissing guests is bit less awkward than the dreaded receiving line.  I leaned over and said to my two friends, "I never know what to do in these situations.  I most certainly will give Katie a hug, but what about Rodney?"  I had only met him briefly prior to the wedding.  I didn't feel comfortable hugging him, but a handshake seems so odd.  As they approached, I actually got a bit nervous.  I gave Katie a hug and told her how beautiful she looked.  To my delight, someone came up from behind and started talking to her new husband, so the entire "awkward moment" was avoided. --Thank goodness!

OLW - March

This year I have chosen "Joy" as my OLW (One Little Word) to focus on.  Each year as an end of the gift for my students, I put together an iMovie and burn it to a dvd.  This morning I began working on it.  As I was going through the pictures I began to the think of the "joy" my students have brought to my life this year.  Each child has been a gift to me and has brought joy to our classroom.  When I look at the pictures of each student from the first day of school (see Smilebox below), I am reminded of how awesome and unique each child is.

Check out these other bloggers participating in OLW:
Maria at Teaching in the 21st Century
Tracy at Thinking Stems

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