Are You Ready to Wonder? Wonder Blogging

Each week students will be participating in the Wonder of the Week.

On Monday, students are introduced to the Wonder of the Week.  All wonders are chosen from the website Wonderopolis.  Students are read the title of the Wonder, and a little background information from the first few paragraphs that explain the wonder, this provides students with just enough information to get their minds thinking, but not enough information to give away the answer.  This past week’s Wonder of the Week was:  What is a Ghost Town, Do Ghost Towns Really Exist.  As a class we brainstorm some of our thinking about the above questions, examples from this week included:

     - I think a ghost town is a town where all the people have left because ghosts moved in.

     - I think ghost towns are real because once I saw a house that no one lived in and it looked             haunted.

     - Yes, I think a ghost town is real because there could have been a bad flood or a terrible               disaster that could have made the ghost town.

After a few statements have been generated each student writes their own thinking in a new blog post on their KidBlog.

On Tuesday, students are given the opportunity to comment on their buddies blog about their thinking in regards to the same wonder. During this time students are encouraged to write new information and ask questions as part of their comment.  We have been commenting on Ms. Warren’s students’ blog post and hope to start commenting on our buddies’ thinking about the Wonder of the Week in Mrs. Merced’s class soon.

Wonder Wednesday is the BIG REVEAL day.  On Wednesday, we read the answer to the Wonder of the Week.  As we read the paragraphs we discuss vocabulary words that relate to the Wonder of the week.  In addition to reading the answer, students are given the opportunity to watch a video that relates to the wonder of the Week.  After watching the video and learning new information about the Wonder of the Week as a class we generate “Now I know” statements.  Some of our statements from this week were:

- Now I know that ghost towns are real because there could have been a bad hurricane      or tornado that could have made the ghost town.

- I learned that ghost towns are real, but there aren't that many ghost towns in the world.

- I learned that ghost towns are real.  A ghost town is a town where no one lives there.

After various “Now I know” statements are recorded each student writes their new learning (in a different color) on the original post they created on Monday.

Mrs. Boucher (our district Integration Specialist) recently presented on Wonder Blogging.  To view her presentation click here.