I had asked each of our respondents to tell where they lived and a little about themselves regarding birds. From this the children had a small sense of each person's area of interest or expertise. The children knew they could send questions to these people as questions about birds occurred to them. Questions arose all day long; often we would spend half an hour sharing bird-sighting stories and children would help each other look up a bird in the Audubon guide to identify it. We read bird stories (fiction and nonfiction) and these generated more questions.

We had a binder to store the questions and their responses. Questions could be sent during our daily Writing Time as well as in the afternoons during the childrens' choice time. Certain peoples' answers began to stand out in the childrens' minds or make a special impression on them (not surprising, when the adult you asked a question replies, "What a wonderful question!"before giving a detailed response). Sometimes the children would decide one person was best suited to answer their question based on geography or interest; often the decision was more emotional, as some people on our lists became favorites of certain children. The map was on the wall next to the computer. Before we began writing, I would always ask the child who they thought could best answer their question and why.