Early Childhood: Questions and Answers
Language comes before literacy. Young learners need to listen, look, talk and question. Try our Questions and Answers activity during your morning circle time to get students producing language with increasing ease and accuracy.
Question and Answers, Please! (5 minutes)
- Begin by demonstrating how to look at a picture and start noticing and wondering. Use the sentence stems 'I notice' and 'I wonder'.
- Match students up to be talking partners.
- Show students pictures of people, animals, or things.
- Announce: 'Noticing's, please!' Then 'Wonderings, please!'
- Students begin telling what they notice and then asking a partner questions about the person or animal.
- Announce: Answers Please!
- Students begin answering questions and giving details about the person or animal.
- After 1 minute, ask students for questions that they do not know the answer. Record questions on chart paper under the picture.
- Encourage students and parents to continue to notice and wonder about things they see as they move about the world.
For more activities and resources for the promoting language and literacy in the early childhood classroom, attend our Fostering Language & Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom: A Make-and-Take Seminar in April 2017!