Sophisticated Survey

R.A. decided to create a survey for his writing last week (during our thinking and learning time where students can write in any format that they choose-all writing forms have been previously modelled).

The question that he asked his peers was very sophisticated.

He asked, "Do you think the Patriots are a football team or a baseball team?" (4.7 years old)

He walked around determined to find out the answer, because it was a question that he was honestly curious about.

Here is a short conversation that I had with R.A.:

Ms. B: What made you decide to do this for writing today?

R.A.: I thought about it and wanted to know if they were a football team or a baseball team.

Ms. B: Why?

R.A.: Because I wanted to make a list of all the football teams.  I had an idea to make a list of teams at home.  Then I have to ask my mom and dad.

Ms. B: What were the results of your survey?

R.A.: Sixteen people said football, fifteen people said baseball, even the bunny said baseball.  There were four doesn't knows.

Ms. B: Why do you like football?

R: Because I watched it so much times!  They run fast and I love running.  I run super duper fast and I zip away and my dad can't see me!

Ms. B: What do you know about football?

R.A.: The quarterback throws the football.  You grab a person then you pull them down.  It's called tackling.  If you punch somebody in the head then you're in the time out box and that is a sad day.  If you get a letter for your parents it's a sad day!

Each day R.A. brings images of football and newspaper clipings from sports games to share with his classmates from home.  It is clear that this topic is of importance to him. 

R.A. comes to school with a lot of prior knowledge about football.  He also has a strong sense of identity, which is a big idea in the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten program document.  It was evident during the above task that he recognized his own personal interests, pursued them throughout his school day, and later identified and talked about his interest in football with me (F-DEL-K program document, Personal and Social Development).

How are you following your students' interests and welcoming their preferences into your program?