What I Heard As I Walked Into My Cousin's Kindergarten Room On Friday....."Mrs. Miller, listen to our guiding question!"

Our kindergarteners have a really big week ahead of them.  This is the week that they share their research projects and teach all of us about their Iowa animal they chose to learn about.  

On Monday, they will Skype with our dear friend Seymour Simon.  Each student will share their project with Seymour and the class.  To kick off this project, we connected with Seymour, so this will be the perfect way to really bring things together.  The time together will get them all ready for the "Iowa Animal Research Project Playground" on Tuesday in the library.  

During the "Project Playground" they will have a chance to share with all of the kindergarten parents and teachers as they go around the library to hear from each child. 

Last Friday, I popped my head into my cousin Christa McClintock's kindergarten classroom.  I love what I saw and heard.  They were all at the carpet with their little animal research packet in hand and bouncing all over the place with excitement because they were getting ready to share with each other. 

One thing they will share during the "Poetry Playground" is the driving question that they wrote.  So as I stood there in Christa's room I heard her say, 

Please find a group of three and practice talking about your driving question with one another.  

They were not only getting to share their wonderful Iowa animal packets that they brought back to school that day, they were also learning from each other as they shared what they were most passionate about their animals.  

The conversations and sharing was awesome!  I heard them say things like, 

"I love your driving question.  I bet you had fun making a project to show the answer to that."

"I thought after I wrote my driving question that I should have also included that."  

"I love how you researched why a raccoon dips his food in water. I can't wait to find out on Monday and Tuesday." 

By giving our youngest learners the opportunity to take research and learning into their own hands, we empowered them.

We gave them a voice and a wonderful thing to share with others.  We gave them ownership of their learning and something to be very proud of.

We gave them an opportunity to be successful and to be the teacher.

This project based learning experience has been a wonderful experience for all of us to be part of.

Now I just can't even wait for what the week has in store for the kindergarteners and all of us.