I walked into Madeline and Kara’s first grade class during snack time. Madeline was reading a fiction book featuring a box turtle that slowly walked down to a pond and stuck out his neck to drink because box turtles do not swim. She then asked her first graders what facts they learned about turtles from a fiction book. One student volunteered that turtles move slowly. Another observed that box turtles do not swim. I then asked why an author writing fiction would put in real facts. One student answered so the reader could learn facts. Another stated that it makes the story more interesting if it seems true and real.
One of the seminal pieces in education is Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Taxonomy helps teachers understand that the most basic questions are at the bottom of the Taxonomy; the most sophisticated questions at the top. See it below:
Note that our first graders were not being asked to just remember or even just understand. They were being asked to analyze—first what was true and second why an author would try the strategy she did. Most schools stop at remembering. It is great to see our first graders meet the challenge of climbing Bloom’s Taxonomy with such grace. This is how creative thinkers are molded.
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