We started this lesson by thinking about something we take for granted especially in the noisy environment of a busy school at nine o'clock in the morning. I asked the children to sit in silence as a group for five minutes and listen to all the voices they could hear outside our classroom. As well as trying to identify who the voice belonged to I also asked if they could identify the tone and purpose of the voice and its location. After our five minutes was up I asked the children to contribute their findings to my large sheet of paper. Below are a few examples of the findings.

Voice	Tone	Purpose	Location
Teacher	Happy and funny	Singing the register	Next door classroom
Parent	Cross / angry	Telling child to hurry up	In cloakroom
Year Two child	Excited / silly	Talking to friend	In courtyard
Teaching Assistant	Nice	Helping find a reading book	In corridor

I then asked them to bear in mind the different ways people talk to each other while I read the story.

This multi-layered book is about a trip to the park. It is told in the voices of the four interlinking characters and is based on their differing perspectives of the experience and its relevance to their individual lives.

After I had read the story the children were given some thinking time. They could draw or write about anything in the text or illustrations that puzzled them or made them curious to find out more. Tip... The class use a thinking diary to record their thoughts in they talk to me about their thinking and I scribe their question in their book.

When the children had been given adequate time we then formulated a list of their questions or helped turn any statements into questions. I always use a flip chart sized piece of paper and large marker pen so the children can all see. I also record each child's initials or name next to their question to hand over ownership and also for my assessment purposes. Below is a list of their questions.

Why did the lady shout to the boy? DN
Why did they climb a tree? KH
Why was there a gorilla on top of the roof? CW
Why did the pictures come alive? LQ/RJ
Why did the boy do the same as the girl? LB
Why did mum say come home? MN
Why did the little boy stay at home on his own? JD
Why did the streetlight turn into a flower? GG
Why did mum say sit to the boy not the dog? DP
Why were there fruit trees with big fruit? JB
Why did the dog swim in the fountain? JG
Why did the girl slide so fast? LSw
Why did Charles pick a flower for Smudge? HB
Why did the boy play with the girl? MB
Why did the girl put the flower in a cup? CW

As you can see the mix of questions varied greatly. Not all can be treated in a philosophical way but all are equally valid and valued. We have several ways of classifying questions into open and not so open ended questions. Over time the children eventually gear their questioning towards the more open ended.

In this case we used coloured chalks to make links and connections and put the questions in categories.

Green chalk for strange events
Blue chalk for children's relationships
Red for adult relationships

In this lesson the children chose to vote for an interesting category. I recorded the children's main points of dialogue in the form of a simple mind map on large paper but this time with a smaller pen. I am fortunate in that I can write quite quickly but I also find that when I have my head down writing it prevents the children becoming too reliant on my presence and turning to me as any sort of leader. I also use the paper as a visual aid to refer back to pertinent points raised. In addition to this method of recording I also use a tape recorder, video or mini disc to record the dialogue.

I asked one child to start us off by talking about why he had asked his question within that category which was "Why did the mum say "sit" to the boy not the dog?"

Dylan	Well, I asked the question because if she (the mum) was a little girl she wouldn't want her mum to be nasty to her.
Danielle	It's like in school, its hurting someone's feelings. If I had a dog I would say "sit" but my mum would say "come here please".
Lewis	We have to say "please" to dogs as well.
Liam	I disagree. We don't need to say please to dogs because they will sit if you just say "sit."
Lewis	but dogs have feelings too because they can talk.
Jade	they can't talk because they are not people.
Lewis	they can talk they say "woof woof woof."
Hayden	yes they answer people by saying "woof."
Liam	"woof woof" is not talking, it's barking.
Ruby	but dogs say "woof" to their friends to talk
Meagan	when dogs bark it means they need their water or food or something.
Reece	and cats say "meow."
George	animals are talking because I know what monkeys are saying. Everyone talks, even animals.
Reece	Animals talk because they used to be people.
Liam	No, that's not real. Animals can't be real people.
Jade	They can because animals come from pet shops.
Liam	they didn't go in there on their own. Someone has to make them.
George	no I disagree, animals come out of the ground not pet shops.
Meagan	no, they come from God.
Hayden	but when they come down from god and they land they run away.
Liam	umm, maybe God did make them.

This statement produced a stalemate in the conversation. As so often over the year the children seemed content to solve this problem with God. I went back over the elements of their previous conversation that I said I found intriguing and asked them whether we could push these statements even further. The points I highlighted for philosophical dialogue were, whether we all agreed that animals have feelings? Do they deserve to be treated equally? Do you have to be able to talk to communicate with others?

I then asked if anyone wanted to ask one of these questions to the group. It is often useful to hand over the leadership of the dialogue in this way. This strategy enables the children to begin to learn to facilitate their own dialogues and over time, become less reliant on teacher interjections. It also helps to refocus the pupils and reinforce the fact that is their session. The challenge was taken up by Reece.

Reece	Are animals all equal to people then?
Meagan	Well, if you are nasty to the boy he will be upset and if you are nasty to the dog he won't be.
Liam	what about if she was nasty to the dog. The dog would feel cross as well.
Meagan	We have to be nice to everybody.
Lewis	If you are nasty to a dog it can hear you because it has got ears.
Danielle	Children are more important than dogs.
Hayden	I agree because you need to feed dogs but children can feed themselves. But babies can't get their own food.
Danielle	But dogs are a responsibility so you have to look after them most.
Liam	you have to look after children as well.
Reece	but babies need lots of help to get dressed and eat. They can't do anything.
Hayden	mums and dads have to do all the work babies can't even reach their high chairs.
Liam	everything's important here. The whole world is, except for burglars who steal things. They don't have to be treated nicely.
Class teacher	Do you think we should be nasty to people who are nasty to us?
Lewis	Yes we should because they steal.
Danielle	It doesn't matter if we are nasty back but we mustn't do it first.
Lewis	If they steal your stuff you should steal their stuff.
Ruby	But your mum would tell you off.
Reece	and you could go to prison as well.
Liam	Only big kids get arrested.
Lewis	But little kids can, because I've seen a child arrested for stealing. When I went to the supermarket I saw someone nick something because he had no money.
Hayden	You can't nick stuff from shops- they have security guards.
Liam	No, they are police men because they have handcuffs.

At this point I asked whether they felt it was ever okay to take something from a shop. I introduced a scenario where they had a mum ill at home with no money and everyone in the house was very, very hungry.

Danielle	If you've got no money then you should ask and they might make it free.
Liam	But what if the police or manager was looking at you?
Jade	It would be okay because my mum forgot her purse once so we had no money but they let us have the food because we asked really, really politely.

This was the end of a lesson that had lasted 75 minutes. I wrapped the session up by reading through some of the interesting points that had been raised. I then asked if the children could find a link between the original question asked and their final statements. Both were asking about right and wrong and how we treat people.