Curiosity
Curious George is an Essential Literature title for first graders in my district. With the release of the movie and fun webpage this February, my student teacher was able to create a unit on Curious George. One of the centers involved first graders creating mobiles with the word curiosity on top. Under this they wrote questions about things they were curious. I want to share these with you because we often underestimate the thinking abilities of young students. Of course, a major part of this activity involved students correctly constructing questions with capital letters and question marks at the end. Some of the questions were fragments and some were incomprehensible, but then aren’t our thoughts sometimes? Teaching students how to be curious and when to take their passing interests a step further into research is an important skill that librarians excel in teaching.
Why do we google? Why is my brother mean to me? How do birds fly? How does gas make cars go? (spelled How dose gase makes cares go?) How do we build robots? How do we build rowboats? What makes rain? What is the fastest dog? Why do we have dogs? Why are the clouds white? How do dogs see in black and white? How does the moon turn orange? What makes flowers smell good? Why do pumpkins grow? How do your teeth grow? How do you blow? How do frogs jump? How do we swallow? (How do we swolo?) How do airplanes fly? What makes rain fall? Where is it very cold? Why is glass white? What makes dogs bark? Why do birds fly? Where do bats live? Do airplanes take gas? How does the moon turn around? Why do stars fall? How are you? How do you know what you know? What does that thing do? How do you how? Why is the Statue of Liberty big? How do I grow? Why do dogs bark? What is toothpaste? What is soap made of? What is my home? Why is my sister mean?
How can you make rain? Why are there two people to make a child? Why does it snow? Why do flowers grow in spring? How do fish swim? Why is the sky blue? Why do we lose teeth? Why is the grass green? Why is the sun yellow? Why do we learn? Why do we celebrate birthdays? Who has a hat?
Why do you like bananas? How do you smell your armpits? How do you walk? How cold is it? Why does a king cobra have these fangs on their heads? Why are there blank pages in a book? Why does it thunder? How do I move? Who do you like? Where are you? How do you learn? Why is the sun so sunny? How do rockets fly? How do they make cars? How do kittens walk when they are born? What is President’s Day? How is my body? What is a park? How is curiosity? How does our hair grow? Why does it snow? Why do you like him? Why are my books read (red)? What is awesome? Why do dogs play? How do we live? How do we do fun stuff? Where do babies come from? How do they make footballs? Why do cheetahs run fast? Why is the sun so far? How does the sun come up? Why are cats so fast? Who can’t talk? How do I ride my bike? How do I sneeze? How do I turn on the TV? How did God make dogs? How did God make animals? How did God make cats? How do we barf? How do you vote for President of the year? How does water make waterfalls? What does overdue mean? Why can penguins not fly? When is my friend coming? Where do bears live? Where do we come from? What are we made of? How do we walk? Why are moms special? Where are you from? Why are you good? (Why is you good?) How do frogs jump? Why is school good? Why is the sun so bright? How can we see?
What does a rocket look like? Why is the school so big? How do people walk? Where do polar bears live? Do you have an eraser? Who is that guy? Where is that bear? How do sharks swim? How do lions run? How can we work? Who makes this world? Where is outer space? How does a rocket move in space?
And, of course, we had the questions about Curious George
Is Curious George smart? Who is Curious George? What kind of monkey is George? Who is the man in the yellow hat? Do monkeys eat? How can George play in the movie? Why is George curious? What does Curious George dream of? What does George think of? What does George like to play? How is George? What is so hard for George? Why can monkeys swing a lot?
Curious about Curiosity?* Read what Richard Taflinger, PhD wrote in 1996 Taking ADvantage: Curiosity Killed the Cat: Curiosity and Advertising.
* Explore the approach of Curiosity & Learning, a national UK network for children’s hands-on learning.
* A webpage about a rattery called Curiosity where the author explains it is her “curiosity that motivates me to explore and learn and try new things. Also, all of my favorite rats have been very curious. I take curiosity as a sign of intelligence. At least, that’s what motivates learning. The most curious people ever have been the great scientists. I want to breed rats with curiosity, that essence of intelligence and mischief that makes a rat a rat.”
* Quotes on curiosity
* Dr. Bruce D. Perry’s article on Curiosity : the fuel of Development.
* The Wikipedia article on curiosity which states that curiosity has “the effect of impelling beings to seek information and interaction with their environment and with other beings in their vicinity.”
* Susan Edelman’s 1997 article on Curiosity still has items of interest.
