Developing Student Inquiries with Staying Power

2018-19 was my second year teaching full Kindergarten (I had spent 2 years in SK/1 and before that, 2.5 years in Grades 1/2). In my previous experiences in inquiry- and play-based learning, I came in with high hopes and became a bit disenchanted when students would be really excited about something for a day (heck, an hour!) or a couple days then completely drop it. Meanwhile, I had collected a bunch of loose parts, books, and lesson ideas to support their inquiry! I know I'm not alone in this experience.

I've put off this blog post because I've struggled to figure out how to organize it and write it. I've decided to write it in a chronological fashion so you can see how the inquiries have developed and unfolded. It is important to note that this is definitely not the only activities we were doing, which leads us to my first ingredient for the inquiry recipe:

• Inquiry-based learning is a choice, not a theme. Student voice is important. Unlike a classroom theme or traditional unit theme, inquiry-based learning is a choice of materials within the greater classroom or environment. Different areas of the classroom have learning provocations of various topics - they are not all immersive of the same subject (animals, space, simple machines, or any other theme). Instead, the classroom's areas can accommodate learning provocations for various learning goals of a variety of student interests and curriculum expectations. This way, students don't get bored or overwhelmed with a subject - and they can make connections between areas of the classroom and apply their learning from one area to the next.As educators, it is important for us to know our program expectations thoroughly (for example, Ontario Kindergarten Program or curriculum expectations). Knowing your learners, where they are, and where they may be going with their learning is also important. This type of learning environment is dynamic and ever-evolving. Prepare by reading learning expectations in their entirety and not by producing/planning/preparing smaller units of study without consideration of student interest, voice, developmental and readiness level, and input.

September to October

We were getting to know our students and working heavily on building community, inquiry and play skills, Zones of Regulation, and finding a rhythm to our day that met the needs of all students (proactive behaviour management and making accomodations for exceptional students and other needs, such as taking medications). Many students enjoyed talking and reading about dinosaurs and building Jurassic Park zoos with blocks and our plastic dinosaurs - and the LEGO. Some students began to play with the plastic animals. Then more - and more, and the conversations and buildings became more elaborate and thoughtful. What did the animal need to live? How much space does it need? Which animals can live together?

Does this look familiar?

I knew I wanted to incorporate the Seven Grandfather Teachings this year. We started with Beaver (who teaches Wisdom). I wanted to start with this because I wanted to have a lot of STEM activities in our classroom. We visited a nearby wetland and saw a beaver lodge, dam, and a clearing made by the beaver. Here, students made dams in Tupperware containers using plastecine, twigs, and pebbles. They poured water on one side and checked for uneven water levels, showing that their dam is water-tight.

My ALP (Annual Learning Plan) included a goal to incorporate more photodocumentation up in the room. I was really good at it for the first term and then I felt like I got too busy as the year went on and it wasn't the biggest priority (which was fine, I feel, because it was most important as a booster in the beginning of the year - although I want to find a sustainable balance and make it last the whole year).

Students enjoyed seeing pictures of themselves and their classmates in learning action. They often retold events, what they had learned, and about the process documented in the picture. They celebrated each other. They asked questions amongst themselves. It really helped build our class community.

When we ran out of space or needed to change up our bulletin boards, photodocumentation sheets went into a binder that was stored on an easily-accessible shelf. Students often visited the binder and fondly flipped its pages. I photocopied the pages and sent them home in communication bags of students pictured/written about. (I blacked out faces of students without photo publication consent first.)

• Photodocumentation, pictures of students in the learning process, and documentation walls are powerful. Do not underestimate them. They are well-worth the time and effort. You can make them as elaborate or simple as you want, or as time, space, and resources permit.

November

Students began to ask questions related to mapping skills. Where does this animal live? Sometimes, they would refer to a small globe in the classroom. At first, I would tell and show them - but I knew we were missing out on gaining some research skills. I made animal atlases available (from Dollarama, Scholastic, and Costco), but they didn't have all the weird animals my students were interested in on the maps. What could I use? - then I remembered that PebbleGo has a map feature!

When students played with the toy animals, they would ask, "Where does this animal live?" I taped a world map to the bottom of our sensory table cover (which our amazing tech teacher built) and projected PebbleGo on the whiteboard with an iPad. Students searched for animals and used the map feature to place them where they belong. Students learned the names of all 7 continents this way - in Kindergarten! I also put this out (along with an iPad) at Welcome to Kindergarten in May and it was a hit! Families and my admin were shocked at the rich learning involved in this task. Even visiting older siblings got into this provocation.

Ok, so now our students knew how to use PebbleGo and its map feature. Many could also name the seven continents - and even some countries (which was a small spin-off inquiry, supported by PebbleGo's Social Studies section and more maps). But how could I get my students to demonstrate some other literacy behaviours on top of this? I decided to make some simple booklets to help them search animals (spelling) and to document their learning (copying text, writing on their own, drawing, cutting and pasting from magazines).

• Be prepared to support "offshoots" of connected but different learning pathways. Don't be discouraged if students abandon the learning pathway and aren't moving toward the place where you expected or wanted them to get. In my experience, they usually return to the original path after exploring the offshoot for awhile - or learn about each in parallel. For example, my students returned to animals after dabbling learning about countries - and some continued to research both (which connects to Grade 2 Social Studies). Keep your ideas and supporting materials available. You'll see more examples of this further on in this blog post.

• Scaffold skills and build independence in children. Inherent differentiation is important - Universal Design for Learning.  I feel my students enjoyed being able to do their own research (PebbleGo is great because students can search by looking at the pictures or by typing in the search bar) and knew I'd appreciate their documentation no matter what level they are in skills. We had rich conversations and questions. They appreciated having a way to document their research in an open form (not like a quiz - many couldn't read anyway!). Do you just want to search the animal and colour where it lives on the map today? That's ok!

I made this resource to support the inquiry and add a responsibility of documentation. When opened, the left side has a world map (students colour wher the animal lives) and the right side is blank - except for a picture (clipart) of the animal and its name (good for students to copy the spelling to search on PebbleGo). The product also allows you to create booklets per biome (polar regions, desert, rainforest, ocean, etc.) and/or combine it as one whole booklet. This 100+-page product can be found here on my TPT store.

I sent these booklets home with the login information and posted students throughout the inquiry and research process on our class Twitter feed to engage parents. I also sent home copies of photodocumentation. Several students continued their inquiry learning at home and/or taught their parents about the animals they researched that day.

• Involve families. Engage families! Not only is this important (and expected) of the Ontario Kindergarten Program, but it helps families mirror and support students' learning in class. Students feel proud when they can teach their families something - and excitedly show and share what they've learned and/or created at school. Is this something you can have out at Open House, family engagement nights, or Welcome to Kindergarten?

Students also began talking about which kinds of environments animals live in. For example, lizards live in North America - but not in the colder Arctic regions. Crocodiles live in Africa, but not in the hot, dry deserts! We added biome to our vocabulary and I edited our booklets to include biomes sections - and made mini books for various biomes (all included in the product as linked).

My RECE partner and I created these bulletin boards (another board had Arctic, forest/wetland, and savannah/grassland biomes). We already had laminated cut-outs of animals from magazines, so we attached Velcro dots to the pictures and to the bulletin boards. Students took the pictures and placed them into the biome where they belong. This is in the Problem Solving and Innovating frame (sorting items in various ways).

Students worked together to research and share knowledge. They thought critically. If lions eat gazelle, they must live in the same biome.

December

Does this animal live where we live? Does it live in our country? Does this animal live in Canada? Together, we made a list of animals we came across that live in Canada and I made another booklet to focus on Canadian Animals, which you can find here.

• Student voice and co-planning is crucial! Students are capable - and their ideas really drove the classroom and its really deep learning. They were more engaged and learning was linked, integrated, and introduced when they were ready for it! Students asked me to make a list of animals in my observations notebook as they orally dictated, we made charts and lists on chart paper (children wrote and/or drew their ideas and animals), and they came up with ideas of manipulatives to bring out or look for (including constantly writing me shopping lists!).

January

To keep students continually interested in documenting their research, I created another resource. This one is a bit less open-ended than the booklet. Students write their name and the name of the animal. They have bubbles to colour in - like multiple-choice. What does the animal eat? How does it move? Which biome(s) does it live in? What is covering it? At the end, there is a big box for students to draw and colour the animal. This free download can be found here on my TPT store.

• Change it up a little to keep it fresh. This includes books available to children in your classroom library. As you see above, I added a choice for documentation of learning and research. The original booklets were always available on our shelf. I looked for new toy animals in the thrift store, dollar stores, and bargain bins: hard-to-find animals like deer, camels, koalas, and kangaroos. When I added the toy camel, students gathered in a group and sang Alice the Camel for nearly an hour together (awesome for Math and backward counting, too!). Add new challenges and materials to keep students interested and exploring new pathways, topics, use new skills, see things in a new way, and sparking more conversations and questions to provoke them. Can you use the same materials in different ways - can manipulatives you already have be used in a different way? (see examples below)

We reused our laminated animals from the bulletin board biome sort for a tabletop learning provocation. Using dry-erase makers, we made charts on tables (some like above, some Venn Diagrams, t-charts, separate circles, etc.). In the center of the table, I had baskets with the animal pictures (they have construction paper backing so kids didn't get confused with the image on the back). Children wrote how they were sorting their animals - and got quite creative! Meat or plant-eaters? Big or small (and what does that mean)? Fur, feathers, or scales? Mammal or reptile? Pet or wild? North America or Africa?

We reused the laminated animal pictures with another simple tabletop provocation: can you write the animals' names? We had a few picture dictionaries available for students - who were also encouraged to sound it out as well.

Because learning is not linear, we hit a major offshoot. Students started talking about landforms - connecting what they'd learned about countries, biomes, animal habitats, and even the time of the dinosaurs. Volcanoes were a big thing (started by conversations and play about dinosaur worlds). Students kept on this topic for awhile, so we saw a lot of potential and student interest and voice. We started writing down their questions and statements.

• Write down students' questions and statements - and display them (even if you just leave it on the chart stand). This is something I did much more of this year - and I found that it really motivated students to question, comment, add to learning, and to engage in the inquiry process. We would revisit and read what we had said to confirm or disprove or answer it. These pieces of chart paper ended up on a learning documentation wall (bulletin board) along with pictures, photocodumentation pages, student drawings, and other artefacts of learning. I would write down student questions and statements during class discussions but also candidly throughout the day as we engaged in conversation (or as I listened in). Students were always allowed to use the chart paper and write on their own (which they became more comfortable with doing as the year went on).

Yes; PebbleGo has volcanoes and earthquakes in their Science section! This is a truly amazing resource.

February

• Go on a field trip or have a guest speaker. What do you mean adults are interested in this, too? You're saying that I can study this in college and university and have a whole job that is all about this topic? Going places and inviting experts in engages the community, lets students engage with experts (asking questions but also showing off what they know), and boosts engagement in the inquiries. Who doesn't love a great field trip? Don't be too shy to contact the destination and give them some background on student inquiries and questions!

The newest curator at the Miller Museum of Geology at Queen's University tailor-made a workshop about tectonic plates, volcaoes, and types of rocks in a way Kindergarten students would understand. Amazing! She even let us touch some fancy rocks and dinosaur fossils! I had e-mailed her pictures of our chart papers with our student questions and statements about this inquiry thread.

As an aside, if your students ever engage in a volcano inquiry, you must purchase/download Pixar's short movie, Lava. Our students often asked for it and sang along together. This started it own mini-offshoot of retelling the story in various ways: through plasticine and Play-Doh, loose parts, acting it out, drawing, and other ways - both indoors and during outdoor play and recess.

To further continue this interest in countries and landforms, I bought some slip-in photo albums from the dollar store and e-mailed the staff at our school asking for their travel photos (particularly with pictures of landforms). I had a lot of responses: Vesuvius, the Andes, Uluru, Guatamalan volcano treks, Hawaiian lava floes, and added my own pictures! I organized the pictures by location. Before the photos (just printed on regular paper), I had the site name and country printed (The Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA) and underneath, a world map with a red circle where the pictures were taken. Students not only talked about the landforms, but got to know other staff members in our school. I did extend the invitation to families but did not get responses - but would have added those as well.

 

Above, you can see my photos from Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The basalt columns are in the shape of hexagons. Enter pattern blocks. How can you make a hexagon with red trapezoids? With blue rhombuses? With green triangles? (Not only Geometry - but connections to fractions!)

• Bring in pictures of yourself, other staff and community members, and students and their families. This is so much better than random Google Images! Kindergarten is all about connections and community - use the human resources and connections inherent in schools!

Students had been talking about symmetry a bit (wintertime brought some exploration of mandalas), so I made some symmetry pictures using real photos. I laminated them with my Scotch-brand laminator and set out loose parts and dry-erase markers. Some students, including reluctant writers, even labelled their drawings! You can find the resource here.

At this point, students renewed their interest in animals and continued that inquiry pathway. We often wrote down a question and made lists or a t-chart. Here, students asked, Which animals live in Australia? and are copying "eagle."

A student brought in an eagle talon during a time of huge interest in eagles. We also learned about the Seven Grandfather Teachings - and Eagle teaches Love. This same student brought in a coyote pelt, bear paws, and beaver teeth (Beaver teaches Wisdom - and we had visited a beaver dam and lodge!). Student contributions and student voice is paramount.

May

Earlier in the springtime, students engaged in learning about the changing of the seasons, including: weather, worms, growing plants, and temperature. Our talented tech teacher built us a Medicine Wheel table and we started using it to learn about the four seasons. By May, students were talking about maps and directions again, so we learned about the four cardinal directions. You can learn more on my blog post about Infusing Indigenous Content in My Classroom.

 

This was also the time of year where people brought in tadpoles and we ordered caterpillars. Life cycles of animals was an obvious inquiry pathway and we did "the usual stuff" - life cycle cut-and-paste, drawing observations, acting it out, making with dough, life cycle toys/manipulatives, and incorporated the Medicine Wheel again. With the life cycle, we also talked about the stages of life (also with the Medicine Wheel, and detailed in my Infusing Indigenous Content blog post).

Sensory play is important. Here, a child has made a butterfly garden using homemade scented dough, fresh herbs from my garden, coloured pasta, and spices such as anise stars, cinnamon sticks, and nutmeg.

During our learning about tadpoles, students became more interested in amphibians - not quite reptiles, not quite fish! Of course, they used PebbleGo a lot to research. We also learned that amphibians are very sensitive to water changes and pollution - just in time for Water Awareness Month. We used the book The Water Walker in this provocation and students made posters to spread awareness. (This is also written about in my Infusing Indigenous Content blog post.)

We also had student interest in all the new critters waking up around us and visiting us outside. How can you tell the difference between an arachnid and an insect? Let's learn about how to classify animals and why the number of legs matters! We read One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab. After, we made a chart and students were encouraged to draw and label. We also used addition templates (used throughout the year with different inquiries, including with dice, dominoes, and during colour-mixing) and small plastic animals to add how many legs they have; for example, a tiger (4 legs) + a grasshopper (10 legs) = 14 legs in total.

• Integrate various skill sets and areas of the program or curriculum. Not only does this connect and integrate learning in various frames/strands/curricula, but it gives students to apply their skills and knowledge. It gives them more opportunities, in context and through play, to practice a variety of skills. How can you integrate other skills (like The Arts, Math, and Literacy) into learning provocations and inquiry pathways?

I hope this has given you some insight, ideas, and hope. I know how disheartening it feels when students or an entire class don't seem to engage in inquiries for very long, do not speak and question much, and how tough it is to motivate some to build skills such as researching, collaboration, and documenting.

Personally, my next steps include reading Interacting or Interfering? Improving Interaction in the Early Years. I want to have more insight how I can use conversation and intentional interactions to expand inquiries and student learning - and when to step back and observe. I also want to expand my photodocumentation and documentation walls.

Feel free to comment with your own tips, links, learning provocation photos, and success stories (or learning through failure!). All the best this school year!