When I started working in the Library Department here at Wheeler I was challenged to think about inquiry and explore ways to incorporate inquiry into my curriculum. I found it to be a challenge in the primary grades. Our youngest students need guidance and often seek it. However, our youngest students are also the best at consistently asking questions. A part of my job is to encourage them to ask questions and support them in finding answers.
I am looking forward to tracking this particular kindergarten groups' progress as they go through the Lower School here at Wheeler. They have been exposed to databases and have gain some experience with navigating these databases. My hope is that they will become more comfortable with inquiry and seek out opportunities for inquiry in school, at home and in the world. Here are few images of their semi final product.
As I developed my curriculum and with support from my fellow librarians I found small ways to incorporate inquiry with some of our younger learners. I am most recently proud of a project I did with my kindergarten students. We begin a discussion about animals and how there are all different types of animals; reptiles, mammals, birds, fish and the list goes on. We used the book Animal Infographics by Harriet Brundle to explore all these different types of animals. Many students in kindergarten knew so much about animals. We ultimately created a list of animals we did not know much about. Most of these animals were mammals.
We spent a few weeks learning about mammals. They then picked their own mammal to study. We brainstormed a list of questions we would want to answer about our mammal. Our final step was using the database PebbleGo Animals to answer the questions we created about our mammals.
I am so proud of the hard work each student in Kindergarten worked to accomplished. With patience and some guidance they came up with some great questions. They also did an amazing job recording their answers. The best part has been seeing them become animals experts and researchers.
I am looking forward to tracking this particular kindergarten groups' progress as they go through the Lower School here at Wheeler. They have been exposed to databases and have gain some experience with navigating these databases. My hope is that they will become more comfortable with inquiry and seek out opportunities for inquiry in school, at home and in the world. Here are few images of their semi final product.
