Juli
Kendall's
2004-05
READING/WRITING
WORKSHOP JOURNAL
Entry #08
Amid
the Holiday Craziness,
We Create Our Inquiry Groups
It never fails that once Halloween arrives, things go crazy at school. I don't know if it's the high level of sugar everyone eats from October 31st until after the first of the year or the sense that excitement is just around the corner. Whatever, these last two months of the calendar are marked by wild and crazy things. This year is especially crazy because I cannot seem to settle into a routine. I've spent several months working on reading comprehension strategies and helping teachers start up Writing Workshops in their classrooms. And now we're into Inquiry. But I still don't feel like I'm into the flow of the school year. It just seems all chopped up. Our current unit of Inquiry is about Astronomy. Kids are starting out by generating their questions. After two weeks of reading about Astronomy in their literature anthology, we give everyone in class a post-it and ask them to write down one burning question they want to investigate. Then everyone stands up. There are always a few, "But I can't think of any questions to write down!" To those students we say, "Listen as others are reading their questions and then write down one that appeals to you." Often, they come up with one on their own as they listen. As everyone stands, we choose one student to read a question. Everyone listens, and those who have a similar question come to the front of the room. We group the post-its with similar questions together on a big piece of chart paper. As students' questions are added to the chart and classified, they return to their seats and sit down. We continue in this manner until every question is grouped on the chart paper and everyone is sitting down. This process allows for lots of active participation and utilizes the skill of classifying to easily create Inquiry groups. The next step is to have kids meet in groups. The groups are organized around their questions so that they all have something in common. Each group decides whether they will investigate separate questions or choose one of their questions to work on as a group. Usually the groups decide to work together on one question. Now it's time to develop conjectures. The kids meet with their groups to discuss what they already know about their question. Then they write out a conjecture – their best guess about their question at this time. To show their thinking we encourage them to use the frame, "We think that ____." Here's what the groups come up with:"Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't
Almond Joy has nuts, Mounds don't
'cause sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't!"– from an "Almond Joy/Mounds" candy commercial
We'll take a break for winter vacation and then come back to our unit of Inquiry in January. So for now, some days I feel like a nut, some days I don't.Question: Why does Earth move and we don't feel it?
Conjecture: We think that in the middle of the earth there is a big sphere that keeps gravity.Question: How did NASA figure out the way to make the space satellite?
Conjecture: We think that NASA studied the moon because the moon is a satellite.Question: How was the ozone air created?
Conjecture: We think the ozone aire was created by the earth's atmosphere and the earth's air.Question: When do stars die?
Conjecture: We think when they went very old.Question: Why does Earth spin?
Conjecture: We think that Earth spins because the Earth Spins because the gravity in space.Question: When the Sun moves around the Earth, does it go west or east or south or north?
Conjecture: We think that the Sun goes east.Question: How does the moon disappear and appear?
Conjecture: We think that the moon disappears and appears because the Earth spins and then we see the sun.
Resources page for our Reading/Writing Project
