Why Are School Buses Always Yellow?: Teaching for Inquiry, PreK-5 - Softcover

"The book covers an important topic, one needed to develop thinkers and children's curiosity for the jobs of the twenty-first century. There are excellent vignettes, stories, and examples from author's viewpoint." (Arlene Sandberg, ESL Resource Teacher 2007-06-19)

"This book does a nice job of going through the inquiry process and showing how to make it purposeful for kids." (Robert Losee, Teacher 2007-06-19)

"A valuable tool for teachers who are willing to step outside the conventional ways of teaching. The vignettes help the reader make real-life connections to the author’s purpose and ideas." (Denise Metiva Hernandez, Teacher 2007-06-19)

"Great for reflective thinking by both students and practitioners.There are plenty of examples, stories, and the like." (Rebecca S. Compton, Professor of Elementary Education 2007-06-19)

"Educators need to reclaim teaching for a purpose. This book can definitely be used as professional development in a school looking for change. It will help teachers who are searching for ways to make education meaningful for students and will also help them meet district and state mandates." (Gail Underwood, Teacher 2007-06-19)

"The book’s major strengths are the author's conversational style, the reflective questions that involve the reader, and the opportunities at the end of each chapter that encourage next steps." (Greg Keith, Middle School Academic Coordinator 2007-06-19)

"Surveys methods for challenging young learners, inviting them to develop inquiry and critical thinking skills. Chapters outline the inquiry process and discuss its importance in classroom management, surveying successes through real classroom examples perfect for teacher applications." (The Bookwatch, June 2008 2008-07-15)

This resource shows teachers how to introduce inquiry incrementally, systematically, and successfully within preschool and primary classrooms, deepening and extending children's natural curiosity. Why Are School Buses Always Yellow?: Teaching for Inquiry, PreK-3 demonstrates how to assist children creatively and strategically in their quests for answers and how to develop the inquiry process in young minds. Practitioners will discover how to use inquiry as a technique for teaching mandated content in a way that makes learning relevant, rigorous, and durable for students. Using examples from real classrooms, the book shows teachers how to connect inquiry to required content while still moving students toward more control of their own learning. Teachers can help even the youngest students to reform their initial playful, tangential, or shallow questions to deeper questions about content. As teachers develop inquiry-based units that incorporate students' queries and challenge them to become good questioners early in their educational experience, learners will develop thinking skills that will serve them throughout school.