Inquiring about the ABCs

The inquiry process is the anchor of our kindergarten program. We teach the children to approach their work using this process, and it leads to deep and authentic learning. Worksheets and other "follow the directions" type tasks have been abandoned in favour of this more creative and cognitive approach.

The inquiry process has these steps:

wonder --> explore --> plan --> experiment --> observe --> share ideas --> wonder

Sometimes the steps happen out of order, but they always are a self-sustaining cycle. Inquiries use language, math, science and the arts all together.

As the children are settling into full time school, it is time to start exploring letters and words. Rather than teaching a "Letter of the Week", we are taking an inquiry stance to learn about the alphabet.

To get them started, we asked:

"How many letters are there?"

Many children got right to work printing out the letters they knew, then counting them. Many children came up with the same number, and when they didn't, we taught them how to check their work for mistakes.

Using the alphabet song was a big help! Ben used it a lot to re-read his work and check it as he went.

Haley, Evan, and Jamie took out the magnet letters and went looking for the alphabet. When they pulled a new letter out, they worked to see if it was a match or if it was unique. As we worked, the children talked about "their" letters in their names, and compared letter shapes.

Looking at their learning behaviours, the children are using inquiry to:

-identify and print letters

-sequence

-count

-match and compare

-edit and revise work

-co-operate and communicate about a common goal

-use prior knowledge (the ABC Song) to solve a current problem

We haven't decided exactly how many there are yet. The inquiry continues. You could even try exploring it at home...just DON'T give the answer away! The learning happens when the child solves it on his or her own. Stay tuned for our final results.