Whatcha learnin'?

I was reading, well rereading, a book about comprehension strategies and stumbled across a quote I really liked.  I read it with new eyes this time.  The quote, "Today's learning is tomorrow's background knowledge." got me thinking about questions we ask our kiddos.  I think many times we don't bring to a conscious level what our kids are learning in preschool or school or that they have even learned something.

For example, we ask how their day was, how was lunch, how was P.E. how was....but do we ever ask, what did you learn today that you didn't know yesterday?  That simple question makes kids think about their learning and new learning.  From the answer you get, you can then make connections to other things your child knows.  You can add, something like, wow, that learning goes into your background knowledge now.  It also gives you a glimpse into what your child perceives as learning.

The new learning that took place may be in math, social studies, science, reading, circle time, calendar time, centers whenever.  I think it would be fun to follow up the new learning question with a second question- what did you talk about today that you already knew?

Both of these questions make kids think about their learning and after all, that is why we send them to school...to learn.