8:32 AM Question of the day | ||||
#question of the day #Question of the dayOne thing I had never tried in my classroom before this past year was asking the Question of the Day! The concept has been around for quite some time but it wasn t until a discussion on Question of the Day came up on my Facebook page that I decided I would like to test the idea out for myself
After reading up on what other teachers were doing for the Question of the Day, I was surprised to find out that the question is generally supposed to have a yes or no answer. I thought the questions would be open ended but then I realized that the question was also being combined with a chart where the children will add their names underneath to provide an answer. So I went with the Yes or No chart, added the children s names underneath, and drummed up my first Yes or No question of the day. Keep in mind, that the questions you see in this post are not in any particular order. I just added them to give you a sample of our different questions
However, I do want you to know that my first question of the day was Do you like rainbows? As the children came into the classroom, Mr. Hayden or I greeted them at the door and invited them to answer our question of the day. We read the question aloud then explained which side of the board was for yes (thumbs up) and which side was for no (thumbs down)
Everyone caught on quickly to the Yes or No part of the process. The children found their names and placed their names under the side of their choice. Everyone easily said yes to the rainbow question but I can tell you that the children did not find the question all that interesting or intriguing. In fact, the children seemed to look at me like it was a silly question to be asking them
So from that day on, I really thought through the questions I would ask. Here is the Question of the Day plan I came up with
My plan also included
After sticking with the routine for a week or so, the children got the hang of it and began to anticipate what question might be up for the next day or they would ask me as soon as they walked into the room, What is our question today?
The most important point I want to stress here is that the question had to be intriguing. It needed to be something that wasn t just as simple as the yes or no answer but rather the question went beyond the yes or no and led us to some type of conversation, reaction, interest, curiosity, or simply made us laugh
I also needed to balance my questions so that there would be a reason to feel like it was okay to answer with a no. I didn t want the children to get the impression that somehow saying no was a wrong answer. I wanted the children to understand that the question wasn t about a right or wrong answer but rather it was about participating in a discussion or making their own decisions
On occasion, I would also include a word in the question that perhaps the children wouldn t be familiar with and each time I did, the children would begin to ask me or each other what the word meant and the discussion about that word would spark further conversation to begin our morning circle with
For our class, the question of the day was a great way to begin discussion and to greet the children as they came into the classroom. It brought each child into the classroom experience as soon as they took off their jackets and headed over to the question board
Oh we had some silliness along the way like the ever popular putting your name upside down or saying no to any question for a few weeks just because it is okay to say no
And, of course, as the children came to preschool and found their name they were also spending lots of time getting familiar with their own names as well as the names of their peers
You may have experience implementing Question of the Day into your classroom. I would love to hear what really seemed to work for you and your students too! If you care to share with us, leave a comment below! Available on Amazon Links to Grow On
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