Our Trip to Narrow Gate ...

Things Madalyn got to do while visiting Narrow Gate Farm:

count the newly laid eggs
get chased by the momma turkey
hold the new baby turkeys
feed the horse a snack right out of her hand
see Guinea Hens (like the ones in The Lion King ... they run away so fast when anyone approaches)
pet a variety of different rabbits ... some with long ears, some with short ears, some who like to run, some who like to stay still ...
hold a chinchilla
see baby rabbits that were two days old (learn about why their eyes were shut)
touch baby rabbits that were two weeks old (learn about why they moved around when she reached in)

Think about all the opportunities for learning, wondering, and exploring ...

Madalyn asked questions and each new things created even more questions for her to ask ...

We have been to a children's museum, the zoo, the nature science center, and even the pet store. Here at this family farm, Madalyn had chances to get up close and personal with the animals. She also got to talk directly to the people who take care of them each day to find out things the animals like and don't like.

This may not have been a formal opportunity for learning, but learning happened all around ...

What are some opportunities you have around you for learning, wondering, and exploring?

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We found some past Wonders that go along with this experience:

Rabbit Farm, Here We Come!

At Easter, a family brought some rabbits and other animals to the Easter Egg hunt, so we had a petting zoo ... I wrote about that experience a little bit previously: Have you had an adventure lately?

These animals were from the Narrow Gate Farm, which is owned by some family friends. Madalyn had a great time, so we talked about making a trip to their farm.

One morning (the day Madalyn went to the spa for her birthday), I got an email from the Narrow Gate Farm asking if we wanted to come see the baby turkeys, chickens, and rabbits. Madalyn had just gotten her nails painted and her hair styled, but she wanted to go ....

Here is a little info about the Narrow Gate Farm:

We raise quality Holland lop rabbits in North Carolina.
Narrow Gate Farm is continuing to produce our own line of grand champions. Our herd currently consits of blue, black, chinchilla, orange, squirrel, sable point, siamese sable, blue tort, torts and of course the broken varieties of each.

You can find more information about these animals on their website.

We will tell you soon about all the animals we got to pet, hold, see, and feed when we visited Narrow Gate Farm!

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Wonder #203 from Wonderopolis asks "What is the difference between a rabbit and a hare?"

Wonders all around ...

We went this past weekend to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and had a WONDERful time explore, wondering, and learning (more blog posts and pictures to come ... I promise). We saw this inscription on one of the walls ...

What are the WONDERS all around us that we don't notice?

What are the natural resources of your state?

What items, plants, animals, and symbols is your state known for?

You may not think of those as speciale since you are there all the time ... but what makes those things special is that they are unique ...

We challenge you to find some WONDERS from your state or hometown to share with us all!

There is no telling ....

Madalyn grabbed the Flip Camera this morning and started making videos ....

With our focus on Wonderopolis, Madalyn has learned to ask questions that go beyond just a simple yes or no answer. After she made videos this morning, Madalyn excitedly asked me to put them up for the Wonder Friends to see. She gets a big smile on her face everytime she hears or says the word WONDER!

I wonder what the future will hold for her ...

She turned six years old yesterday. She decided to celebrate her birthday, she wanted to go to the Science Museum, so that is what we are doing today .... We will do lots of exploring and wondering!

I am sure she will have a full report for you!

(download)

Building anticipation ...

I did not realize when I started the last post by talking about how much Madalyn enjoys going to the mailbox that she would have even more fun doing that this week ...

Madalyn's birthday is today! For the last 3 days, there has been a card and/or a kids magazine in the mailbox each day for Madalyn (Thanks Aunt Bonnie for the cards!).

She loves the wonder of opening the mailbox to see what might be there ...

Most of the time, there is nothing for her ...

But she still feels the excitement of the anticipation that there might be something for her ...

How can we as parents and teachers capitalize on that excitement and anticipation?

As odd as it sounds, I think we can build that by doing the same things on a regular basis.

For example, even though the question and content changes each day on Wonderopolis, some of the same pieces are still there all the time ...

Children expect there to be a video and some fun stuff worked into the information that is shared. Parents and Teachers expect there to be thought-provoking questions, good information to share, possible ideas for further exploration, and a clue about the next wonder of the day ...

That hint about the next day could be a key to the building anticipation part ...

Children are eager to learn and find out what is coming next ...

They are anticipating learning!

I wonder what is in the mailbox ...

One of Madalyn's favorite things to do right now is to check the mailbox when we get home each afternoon. Occasionally we find cards she has made and stuck in the mailbox too ...

Have you gone to check your mailbox today?

Not your inbox for email but your mailbox for mail from the postal service ....

Did you know that on May 15, 1918, US airmail began service?

I did not know that but I will tell you how I learned it .... I went to Thinkfinity's Today In History calendar. On the page above the calendar, you can find information about some of the special things we celebrate. Then there are tabs for you to choose which type of calendar you would like to look at: Year, Month, Week, Day.

For each day, there is a small piece of interesting information linked to a page full of resources from Thinkfinity's Content Partners where you can investigate the topic even more.

Here are the Thinkfinity resources related to the even that happened May 15, 1918 (I think the comparison of writing emails and writing letters adds a modern twist):

The first airmail route in the United States was over the 200 mile distance between New York and Washington, D.C., with a stop in Philadelphia. One round-trip flight was flown each day except Sunday. For the first few months, the airmail service was a joint effort of the War Department, which provided the planes and pilots, and the Post Office Department, which handled the mail.

By September of 1920, airmail service routes existed from New York all the way to San Francisco. The airmail system that developed was far different from the first attempts at delivering mail by air, which occurred in France in 1870 when letters were sent skyward attached to balloons.

ReadWriteThink
Who’s Got Mail? Using Literature to Promote Authentic Letter Writing (3–5) uses literature and shared writing to teach letter-writing format and promote authentic letter writing.

In Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study (K–2), students write to friends and family asking them to send picture postcards. This activity provides motivation for writing and reading and provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about maps as students discover where their family members and friends live.

Students learn to think about and question texts in ways that develop their analytical capacities and critical reading practices by investigating junk mail in Investigating Junk Mail: Negotiating Critical Literacy at the Mailbox (3–5).

In Exploring Literature through Letter Writing Groups (9–12), students discuss literature through a series of letter exchanges.

Airmail significantly increased the speed with which long distance communication could occur. Today, e-mail has further revolutionized written long-distance communication. In What's the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare E-mail with Letter Writing (K–2), students explore the differences between e-mail and letter writing by contrasting and identifying different forms, and experimenting with their own e-mail and letter compositions.

Smithsonian's History Explorer
Write a letter and then take it to the post office using helpful advice in Send Lincoln a Letter (K-4), an activity based on the children's book Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers.

Science NetLinks
E-mail communication is also the subject of the Science Update Lying on Email (6–12), which discusses a new study examining how to detect lies in e-mail.

EDSITEment
In the unit I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Someone a Letter (3–5), students use historical letters as a starting point for discussion of and practice in the conventions and purposes of letter writing.

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Wonder of the Day #10 from Wonderopolis: How can you travel the world without leaving home? includes an activity that involves sending a postcard!! There is even a link to a great postcard creator!

photo credit: Today is a good day via photo pin cc

Which comes first?

I came across a statement that caused me to think even more about questions in Strategies That Work by S. Harvey and A. Goudvis. I think this statement caught my attention since it starts with the word creativity and connects it to questions (and eventually to reading which is another area that interests me):

Creativity spawns questions.
Questions are the master key to understanding.
Questions clarify confusion.
Questions stimulate research efforts.
Questions propel us forward and take us deeper into reading.

Asking questions means you want to know more. Wanting to know more means you are engaged in learning, even if it is not always the traditional definition of or setting for learning to take place. Some students need those untraditional ways to learn and express their ideas and demonstrate their learning.

I recently came across a site that I find quite interesting ... 101 Questions. At this site, you are shown a picture and asked to type the first question that comes to your mind. Your response is limited to 140 characters so that it can be shared on twitter if you choose to do so. If you want to see a different picture, you can click to skip that picture. There is also a way for you to go look at the collection of pictures and see the questions others have responded with.

I shared the 101 Questions site with some teachers one day, and they had a great time brainstorming ways to use this activity. (They also enjoyed looking at the pictures and responses.) One of the ideas that came from that discussion was that you could also do the reverse ... Give the students the question and then challenge them to draw a picture that would inspire that question.

I wonder which would come first ... the creativity or the questions ...

photo credit: Oberazzi via photo pin cc

Oh, Madalyn ...

So I just feel the need to share some of the things Miss Madalyn has done recently ....

Madalyn now has two favorite places to eat, and neither of them are ones that you might expect from a 5 (soon to be 6 ... next week) year old. One of the places she really enjoys going is C&H Cafeteria (similar to a K&W Cafeteria) where you go down the line and choose the food that you want. Just let me say there is a DRAMATIC age difference between Madalyn and the majority of the customers ... Last week, Madalyn wanted to go there so she could get chicken tenders and OKRA .... (having my 5 year old ask for okra seems kinda funny to me, but who am I to judge?).
As I mentioned above, Madalyn turns 6 next week (where has the time gone?). When we asked her where she would like to go eat for her birthday, her immediate response was KFC. She did not stop and think or even take a breath before she answered that question. My huband and I looked at each othe with puzzled expressions ... that is not a place we go, but then we remembered that both sets of grandparents have taken her there for a chicken leg.
Madalyn gets to take a Birthday snack for her Kindergarten class one day next week. My mom, my husband, and I have been trying to figure out what to send (M doesn't really like cake or cupcakes ... only the icing). Madalyn quickly provided an answers, "Peeps!" OooKkk ...I just thought that was funny. :)
At dinner one night, Neil was complaining about something on google. Madalyn looked up from her seat at the dinner table to say, "Well, maybe you should try dropbox." I immediately smiled and racked my brain to see if I could remember talking about dropbox (that is something I use quite a bit). I have learned that most of the time when I asked M where she learned things, she tells me, "it just came from my brain." However, I took the chance and asked how she knew about dropbox (remember this is a 5 year old). Her response, "That is what the teachers say when they need to find the morning message. They also look in a share folder. I can tell you how to get there. Mom, go to My Computer and look for that folder so we can bring up the morning message here at home." I work in the instructional technology department for the school system, so I knew what she was talking about. I had to try to explain that we couldn't get to the shared folder since we were outside the school. She still wanted to to show her the My Computer area.

Madalyn is always listening and paying attention to what is going on around her (a fact that we sometimes forget). She is curious and wants to know why things happen as well as how things work. We try to support that wonder by making sure she feels comfortable asking questions, volunteering answers, and sharing. Madalyn has grown up seeing the adults around her read, search for things, ask questions, and have fun learning in a variety of ways.

I went back and looked at something I sent Wonderopolis when I was asked to reflect on how WONDER inspires our family ...

“As parents, we want to develop, support and encourage creativity and critical thinking skills in our daughter using art, music, books, games, drama, technology, sports and whatever is needed to accomplish those goals. Wondering together by asking questions and searching for answers fits perfectly with that!”

I guess it is working! Go look for opportunites to encourage as well as support learning and curiosity for yourself and others!

When do you celebrate sports and fitness?

Did you know that one of the themes for the month of May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month?

I found this information on Thinkfinity:

Join the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and discover the benefits of exercise and a healthy lifestyle. Learn more as you explore these lessons, interactives, and resources from Thinkfinity and its Content Partners.

Exercise and Nutrition Resources This collection of resources from ScienceNetLinks offers lessons, tools, and podcasts on these topics for all ages. (Science | Health | All Grades)
Reading into Action Discover how to turn an engaging story into a physical activity with ideas from this ArtsEdge tipsheet. (Reading | Physical Education | All Grades)
What Is a Slam Dunk? Trace the meaning of the phrase from its beginnings in basketball to its current use in other fields. Then test your athletic powers with physical activity followed by creative work on your sports vocabulary. (Science | Vocabulary | Grades PK-6)
Health Photo Gallery Consider the geographic implications of health and nutrition through these photographs that reflect how health and exercise are influenced by where people live, work, and play. (Primary Sources | Culture | Grades 3-12)
Write "Moving" Sports Poetry What verbs describe the movements of your favorite sports hero? Watch short videos of sports athletes in action and share what you observe in the form of sports poetry. (Writing | Grades 3-5)
Got Broccoli? Explore the connection between what you eat and the body's ability to grow and repair itself. (Science | Nutrition | Grades 3-5)
MyPlate Food Guide Investigate the USDA's MyPlate Food Guide to learn what foods provide the nutrients your body needs to be active and to maintain a healthy weight. (Science | Health | Grades 6-8)
The Victor's Virtue: A Cultural History of Sports Learn how sports, philosophy, and culture intersect through the Greek word arete. Examine Greek primary source texts to discover how this concept applies to current high school sports culture. (History | Literature | Grades 9-12)

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When looking through those resources, did you notice the ways that literacy was connected to sports and nutrition in each of them?

Think about the opportunities for reading, writing, research, creating, thinking, and reflecting explored in those resources ....

As soon as I read the ideas and resoruces listed above, I knew there were some past Wonderopolis wonders of the day that go along with them ...

Here are a few:

I wonder what other pieces of information you can find on Wonderopolis or somewhere else to use to support this theme for the month ...

What did you do yesterday?

Here is a recap of some of our activity yesterday ...

Madalyn came home from playing next door and excitedly told us she heard something on the radio about a big horse race ....
Neil talked about watching a couple of hours of an overview about horses, owners, and the track the night before ...
I had the TV on yesterday afternoon while I was doing other stuff around the house listening to the day's events at Churchill Downs before the Kentucky Derby ...

We live in North Carolina ... well-known for certain college basketball teams and NASCAR ... not horse racing ...

So why did we pay any attention to all those things yesterday?

Because we had a connection ...

The beginning of our Wonderopolis Adventure was in Louisville, KY .... where we got to visit Churchill Downs!

We got to go up high and look over the track.
We got to go in the jockey's locker room!
Madalyn even got to stand on the scale where the jockeys weigh before the race.
We got to see the collections of hats and dresses on display.
We got to see the mural of winners inside Churchill Downs and hear some of the great stories that go along with the history of the Kentucky Derby.
Did I mention that Madalyn got to sit at one of the betting stations?

We were interested in the Kentucky Derby yesterday not because we had read about it, not becuase we had heard stories about it (my parents lived in Louisville, KY for 3 years), and not because we had seen it on TV ... but because we had a personal connection!

What kinds of things can we do as parents and teachers for learning to come alive for our children so they can make personal connections?

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By the way, we talked about this at lunch today with my parents ...

My dad said there was a record attendance yesterday of over 160,000
My mom said it was the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby
My parents attended the 100th running of the Kentucky Derby!

Here are some other pictures from this experience too!