"Experts"

So yesterday in kindergarten we talked about being experts. (thanks to Starting With Comprehension by Andie Cunningham) I wondered how this would go over, and if they would have as much trouble deciding what they are experts on as I did (my adult mind got in the way!) I should have known better. Most of them knew immediately what they were "experts" at. And unsurprisingly they were very accurate (from what I know about them so far!). Here are a some from the list....
- going down the swimming pool slides
- giving things away
- racing
- riding horses
- rainbows
- waling dogs
- thinking
- swimming
- riding bikes
- gymnastics
- playing
- 2 wheeling
- outside
- Broncos/football
- mustangs
- worlds

Then we broke out the watercolors (big excitement!) and they each painted what they are "expert" at. These were quite amazing also. I will try to take some pictures and post a few. Now, you may be wondering "why" we spent time having this expert discussion and painting. And of course with the way my mind works there are many reasons...
1. it was a major self-confidence builder (which is crucial at this point in the K year)
2. it gave me insight into their interests and how well they know themselves

And of course the big "academic" reasons behind it-
3. it provides us with a "go-to" person for background knowledge on different subject matters (since I will be weaving this information into the things we study/inquire about this year)
4. we will use their schema for these different topics to help us understand and explore new ideas.
5. it will likely be their most loved topic for reading and writing.
6. high motivation factor

Of course none of these things fit nicely into lesson plan box, but welcome to my world of teaching!

When I fist asked the students what they thought an expert was, I was wowed when one of my students said "it's someone who's really good at something." I did broaden it up a bit to say it is also someone who is really interested in something and loves find out all about it through reading, talking, watching, etc.

So, I leave you with the same question I asked my 5 and 6 year-olds. What are you an expert at?