Use this two-page KWL chart at the start of a 2nd grade unit on local government. Students fill the K column with what they already know about their town's leaders and workers and the W column with what they wonder. The L column stays blank until the unit ends, when they record what they learned. It supports the C3 Framework inquiry indicator D1.3.K-2. There is no answer key, since every chart is personal.
D1.3.K-2
“Identify facts and concepts associated with a supporting question.”
The K and W columns, where students list facts they already hold about the mayor, council, and town workers and turn the gaps into questions.
One instruction line tells students to fill in K and W now and save L for the end of the unit.
Three wide columns follow, headed "What I KNOW," "What I WANT to know," and "What I LEARNED."
Unit launch
Give students five quiet minutes on the K column before any talk. Second graders often write something like "the mayor is the boss of the town," which is a good line to revisit later.
Question wall
Copy the best W questions onto sticky notes and post them by the door. Check them off as lessons answer them, so students see their own questions steering the unit.
End of unit
Hand the charts back on the last day and have students fill the L column in a different color pencil. Any K entry that turned out wrong is worth crossing out and correcting.
Get started today
