For Jessica

I administered my survey in two parts - a game and a written component.  The game was intended to bond with the students and to get them thinking about things they enjoy to enrich their written responses on the formal survey.  The formal survey was a tool to learn about each child specifically and get some information about why they like something or why they don't.

The game I chose was Four Corners and only a few students had heard of it.  I started with a question - "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?"  I then assigned a flavor to each corner of the room and asked a student to model how they would choose.  After the student walked to their corner, I asked the class what they noticed.  We reviewed safety precautions like pushing in your chair and walking, and general game rules like no talking.  I invited the class to participate in the next five questions and I tallied the results.  The questions and corners were as follows:
"What is your favorite activity?" - drawing, blocks, dramatic play, play-dough
"What is your favorite subject?" - English, math, science, social studies
"What is your favorite specials?" - art, gym, music, computer
"What is your favorite hobby?"  - sports, drawing, crafts, reading
"What is your favorite genre to read?" - animal fantasy, mystery, nonfiction, poetry

The final question's options were actually pulled from a class poster so each student was familiar with genres.  For question 1 - fifteen students chose drawing, four chose dramatic play, and two chose play-dough.  Question 2 had three for math, sixteen for science, and two for social studies.  Seven children chose art as their favorite special, while eleven chose gym, and three chose computer.  Favorite hobbies included fourteen for sports, two for drawing, four for crafts, and one for reading.  Finally, mystery scored eleven, nonfiction had six, and animal fantasy had four votes. 

After the game I sent the children to their seats to fill-out a survey.  I read the first question, gave them time to write, asked for three shares, and then shared my own response before reading the next question.  The children were excited to share their responses to the survey and enjoyed hearing my answers as well.  The survey questions included:
"What do you like to do outside of school?"
"What is your favorite subject?  Why?"
"What subjects have you disliked?  Why?"
"What is something you are really good at?"
"What is something you know a lot about?" 
"What do you want to learn more about?
"I learn best when . . ."

From the survey I learned special talents of my students like piano/horse back riding, and a preference for hands-on work.  Many also indicated that they learn best when they have their own, personal quiet space.  Math seems to be an area of confidence for most of the second graders in this class.  The students recently began a unit on space that they are very interested in, so space science comprised a lot of favorite subjects and personal know-how.