Connections to Wonder #491 "Do Dogs Really Eat Homework?"

I always preview the wonders on Wonderopolis.org in the morning before sharing them with my class.  When I saw Wonder #491 Do Dogs Really Eat Homework? on Monday, I immediately thought of my own dog, Sally.  She has been known to eat many things that she shouldn't, including some graded homework.  I shared a few of my naughty dog stories with my students while we were discussing the Wonder.  Of course this sparked lots of discussions of different things my students' dogs have eaten and done.  We discussed how the connections to the "wonder" helped us better understand the text we were reading.

My daughter Betsy and our sometimes "naughty" dog, Sally

The connections to the "wonder" didn't stop there.  Later in the week as I was reading aloud some poems from the book called, I Didn't Do It by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest we had even more connections to the "wonder".  The poems are all about puppies, from the first poem, "Shhh... I'm Here (about puppies being born in a closet) to the last, "Every Night" (about a dog sleeping in bed with an owner).  The poem that we felt the most connections to was, "I Didn't Do It".  It's about several things a puppy insists it didn't do including chewing slippers.  The puppy also then tells who did the things.  While I was reading through the poems, I didn't have to ask the students if they connected to the "wonder", many hands went up early on in the book with comments, such as "Mrs. Phillips, this is like the wonder the other day" and "the wonder the other day helps us understand this book better."  Not only did we connect to Wonder #491, but it helped us to better connect and understand the poetry we read later in the week.