Alyssa Shroyer

10/29/12

SUMMARIZE
Today, our Question of the Day was Do you think all insects need water to live? Each morning, the students sign-in by answering a question. As you can see in the picture below, the answers were about half and half based on the students opinions. We discussed the students answers at morning meeting. The goal was to get students to think critically about what they have observed with insects and to share their prior knowledge. Another goal was to have eight students share, four who said yes, and four who said no if each side had at least that many names. The children shared their thoughts when I called on them at group time. Students shared stories, observations, and information they had read before. EVALUATE Overall, I think the students achieved the goals of this activity. Usually, the goal is never to explicitly give the children the right or wrong answer in relation to the Question of the Day. The reason for this is to allow the children to continue to investigate the topic throughout our project. Students openly shared their opinions, and while most said that they think all insects need water, some seemed to not understand the question in the way I phrased it. For example, one child who answered no said, grasshoppers eat other insects that have water in them, but I dont think they drink the water. I achieved the goal of having eight children share, four who said yes, and four who said no.

REFLECT
I think the students thought RE critically about their answers to todays Question of the Day. I think some students interpreted the question in different ways. I believe choosing the phrasing of the question is continually a challenge in writing the Question of the Day. The teachers and I usually read the question to one another so that we can make sure that the way we have worded the question seems to make sense. Because this question was so openended, I think some children specified it in their mind. I mentioned the child who answered no because grasshoppers get water from other insects. I believe this child interpreted the question to be asking whether or not insects ingest water directly and need it to live. I think this because in his answer, he still seemed to be saying that insects need water to live, but he seemed to think the way I phrased the question did not mean the same thing as his opinion. Next time, I may ask the question in a different way, such as, Do you think all insects drink water?, to see if there is a change in student responses.