Hi! I have to share this “teachable moment” that happened this week outside of the kindergarten classroom. What great excitement when we looked out the window! This little friend was there grazing! The kids wanted me to go out and take its picture…with my iPhone in hand, I stepped just outside the door and approached slowly to get a good pic without scaring it. The pressure was on as the children watched through the window. I discovered that if I clicked my tongue…the deer was curious, and lifted his head to watch me approach. Anyhow, I got very close and was happy with the picture to show the children! They were thrilled! Well, the picture prompted all kinds of questions from the children! For the rest of the afternoon, we read about deer, googled deer facts,  discussed sounds deer might be interested in, drew deer, made play-dough deer, painted deer, shared deer stories, made a KWL chart and had fun taking learning stories home to share with families! This week we are going to watch a video…Stranger in the Woods by Carl Sams II & Jean Stoick featuring beautiful deer in their natural environment.

“Inquiry is an approach to learning whereby children find and use a variety of sources of information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic or issue of importance. it requires more than simply answering questions or getting a right answer. It espouses investigation, exploration, search, quest, research, pursuit and study. It is enhanced by involvement with the community of learners, each learning from the other in social interaction.”

Kuklthau, Maniotes & Caspari  2007  What is Inquiry? p. 2