Do You Wonder?

I love Debbie Miller’s books. In fact, I have them all, so it was only natural that I would purchase the 2nd edition of Reading With Meaning which was just released by Stenhouse. Of course, it is even better than the first edition. One of the things Debbie talks about is having each child have a “wonder box’ which holds wonder questions the children have written on index cards. Debbie uses the book The Wise Woman and her Secret as a springboard to getting your children to begin wondering. This book is the story of a wise woman who knows the secret of wisdom and a little girl named Jenny who learns that she knows the secret too. As Debbie says, the secret of wisdom is to be curious about the world, to open up your senses and see, hear, taste, touch, and smell life’s treasures.
I love that idea! How great it would be as a starting point for independent projects. While reading about the wonder boxes, I remembered an absolutely fantastic web site which would partner with the wonder boxes beautifully. It is called Wonderopolis and if you haven’t seen it, be sure to check it out. Every day they post a new wonder with lots of neat ideas. There’s an archive of all the wonders, so you don’t have to just use the current daily post. It has vocabulary, activities, links, videos and more. If you aren’t familiar with it, be sure to check it out!

Have a great day and remember to always Keep ’em Thinking!
Susan Morrow