A Query from the kindergarteners...

At our school, classes take turns writing queries to share with the larger community. We write queries to illuminate issues that bubble up as we learn and grow together. It may that we are personally experiencing something that sparks an idea for a query or it may be that inspiration comes from outside - from what might be happening in our neighbors, cities, or the world.

To begin the year, my kindergartners (the Marigolds and Dandelions) brought the idea for our first query. Here is a brief description of that process...

We took on a large job to end our week and wrote the first Query of the school year. I shared with the Marigolds & Dandelions that I was in need of a class to volunteer to write the first query of the year. A query is a Quaker kind of a question. It gives us something to think about and use as a tool to help us as we seek ways that we might grow, help each other, or help our community. I told them that I was listening last week as they shared ideas about our stories, played with each, and worked to solve a difference in opinion around a block building. I noticed some interesting and beautiful ideas that felt like the beginning of a query to me. A few friends in the block corner were working together and I heard one Marigold say, “If we work together, we could do it better.” During a read aloud, another Marigold shared her idea about cooperation and said, “We can do it on our own and we can do it together.” This line between being independent and being capable despite our small physical size and being able and open to someone else's ideas is one that we will "walk" all year long in our kindergarten journey. 

I wrote their words on the white board. Friends added their own thoughts and ideas. The trend towards being able to do stuff for ourselves but also exploring working together kept going. I told the Marigolds & Dandelions that if I rearranged their words so that they ask a question, we might have a pretty good query. I wrote “Even though we can do it on our own, what might happen if we do it together?” The children thought about whether we should ask what might happen vs. what could happen. The difference in words was briefly debated. 

We considered whether or not this was a query that we would feel good about sharing with the whole school community. (We do.) The children immediately began to come up with answers to this big question which suggested it might be just right. And that is how the Marigolds & Dandelions wrote the first Lower School Query of 2023-24!

Query for September 15, 2023

Even though we can do it on our own, what might happen if we do it together?

Marigolds & Dandelions

An added note about our Lower School queries: Classes and groups of children/adults will write queries for the community throughout the year. During this process, the children share their thinking through brainstorming, connecting, being inspired by each other’s ideas, and (in our case) allowing me to sum up, rephrase, and offer some vocabulary advice. Each class has their own process, however there are many similarities, varying by age and developmental phases.