USING A WONDER WALL TO SUPPORT CLASSROOM INQUIRIES – KINDERGARTEN

The Wonder Wall fosters a community of wonder in an inquiry-based classroom.  A prominent section of a classroom wall is devoted to the children’s questions.  All questions are respected by being displayed on the wall.  This helps children to feel safe as their wonders and theories emerge. Following a community walk in the fall one of the children wrote “What makes a good home for a squirrel?” Another child wrote “How do squirrels climb trees? “ They added their questions to the wonder wall.  The following day I wrote their questions on chart paper and all of the children signed up for the question that they wanted to investigate.  That afternoon we went squirrel watching.  The children were grouped according to the question they selected and went outside with their Inquiry Books, pencils and wonder wall question in mind, ready to record their observations.  We spent the afternoon watching, sketching, photographing, writing and talking about the squirrels.