Exploring and Experimenting with Inquiry Circles

Over the years I have been interested in taking my student research in a more authentic direction.  I wanted to move away from a teacher-chosen, whole group topic to more of a student chosen topics.  While teaching second grade I did this with research clubs during reading workshop.  After finding out what my students were interested in learning about I collected books and magazines on that topic.  Students selected the group they wanted to be in and spent time reading and taking notes on that topic.  I usually had at least 5-6 themed clubs prepared.  The usual topics were outer space and various animal groups. Groups usually presented their learning on a poster.  Kathy Collins' book, Reading for Real gave me the inspiration for these clubs.

Since moving up to third grade last year I started reading about inquiry units and recently read the book, Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles for Curiosity, Engagement, and Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels.  What a terrific book! The book explains why small group inquiry should be used and describes 4 different models for inquiry.  The best part is the lessons that are included, which are divided into 3 sections: comprehension, collaboration and inquiry.  The books is filled with examples from real classrooms with real teacher talk.  This book gave me the push I needed to dive into inquiry circles in my classroom.

MY FIRST INQUIRY UNIT

First, I want to say I am so excited that my school district hired full time librarians once again for our elementary schools.  After many years of budget cuts I am delighted that our school board worked to restore these wonderful library media specialist.  This unit was completed with the help of our most wonderful library media specialist, Ms. Yilidrim.

I decided to make my first inquiry unit a curricular inquiry.  I began with a broad theme, "Oceans".  As part of our science curriculum we are suppose to study plants, photosynthesis, etc.  I decided I could teach the skills and concepts using the Ocean theme.  By using a collection of read alouds, short articles and videos I taught my class important reading comprehension and note-taking skills.  Along the way I gave my students an "Inquiry or Wonder" Notebook and gave them time daily to enter questions they had about our topic of study.  I used the information in these notebooks to pull questions that I thought might work for our first "mini-inquiry".  It was my intention to get them into the research part quickly so they could begin answering their own questions.  Here's some of the questions we started with: How deep is the ocean?  Where are the underwater mountains located?  What is the temperature of the ocean?  How do fish breathe underwater?

Students chose the question they were interested in researching.  I placed students in pairs to begin the research.  They have limited experience working collaboratively and I thought partners would be a good beginning.  While students researched together everyone was responsible for their own note-taking.  When I do this again I will have larger groups to compensate for absences and learning/reading abilities.  Besides more researchers get through more research!

CAN'T WE JUST GOOGLE IT?

While we taught our students how to use trade books and reference materials to search for answers to their questions, I also decided to BEGIN teaching them how to use the internet to get answers to their questions.  I was hoping to teach them how some questions are quick to answer, while we might have to delve further to answer other more complicated questions. But that didn't happen. For my third graders these questions were hard to answer!  Here's some problems using the internet with third graders.  First, reading level.  There are some good sites to help them out, but often they are so full of technical language that they needed help to figure it all out. I think for the future I will create a list of helpful websites for students when doing research.  Second, trying to teach them that everything on the internet is not always trustworthy is an ONGOING lesson.  Hopefully by the end of the year my students will have acquired some basic knowledge on using the Internet for research.

PRESENTING WHAT WE LEARNED

I decided to put my students in larger groups after the research was complete.  Most groups had 4-5 students.  I taught them how to use Google Slide Presentation.  Students divided up the slides making sure they had an introduction slide and a slide with all the resources included.  Each group presented to the whole class.

You can see some example slide presentations here and here.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I reminded myself the entire time that the PROCESS was more important than the product.  I learned that my students could work collaboratively but it was messy and filled with problems along the way - but very worth it.  I know that with practice, they will be better at it next time.  This was authentic because they researched questions that were important to them.  I want to make sure I give students skills and strategies that they will use for a lifetime, not just for the moment.  Finding reading materials on a third grade level is the most challenging thing for me, especially if I want students to be able to work on different questions.  Going to the library to work with on the Chromebooks was great because I had access to another teacher.  It was a joy working with our new library media specialist.  Completing this type of research would be very difficult without having another expert involved!

Here's a list of some of the skills and concepts they learned and practiced:

• working collaboratively, listening, helping and not always getting your way, being a member of a team
• listening and taking notes
• reading and taking notes
• non-fiction reading strategies
• locating information in table of contents or index, deciding if the text will help you, deciding what key words to use
• rereading over and over to understand something
• using graphics to understand what you read
• summarizing key points from text or video
• asking questions when you don't understand and helping someone when they don't understand
• why it's not nice to plagiarize
• what does .gov, .com, .org mean?
• how to locate the author of the website
• how to use key words to look something up on the internet
• getting your questions answered is hard work, you have to concentrate and persevere
• how to use Google Drive and create slides
• how to use a Chromebook

I know my list could go on and on, but I will stop there.  I wanted to make sure I documented my thinking after I was finished with this first try at inquiry circles.  I look forward to our next set of inquiry circles.

Have you used inquiry circles?  Have you taught young students how to use the Internet for research? Do you have favorite search engines or websites?

Non-Fiction Wednesday

In my effort to read more non-fiction to my second graders and find more non-fiction to add to my classroom library I am re-committing to participating in Kid Lit Frenzy's non-fiction challenge.  So be sure to click on over to see what everyone else is reading in the non-fiction picture book world.  Thanks to Alyson Beecher (@alybee930)  for always giving me more books to add to my TBR list!

Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm

The book explains the role of sunlight in Earth's food chain, with particular emphasis on plankton, the tiny microscopic plants and animals that provide food for the oceans animals and also produce half of Earth's oxygen. The text, told from the point of view of the Sun, is beautiful and has a lyrical quality. The illustrations are spectacular - I loved how Molly Bang illustration helped my students visualize the plankton multiplying. I read this book to my class recently and they loved it too. In fact, many had connections later as they found other books with similar topics like food chains and plankton. Sometimes non-fiction picture books are full of glorious pictures but miss the mark with the information piece - either dumbing down concepts or leaving the reader confused. but this book really delivers on the information by using proper vocabulary and explaining the concepts in such a meaningful way.

You may be aware of many of Molly Bang's Caldecott books, like When Sophie Gets angry - Really really Angry, but you should also check out her science books. You can see a list of Molly Bang's science books at her website. I can't wait to read them.

Stinging Scorpions by Natalie Lunis

Full of amazing up-close photographs of these scary little creatures, this informational book should be very popular in my classroom. I love that there is lots of features that will help my students successfully read non-fiction including headings, labels and a glossary. The text includes many vivid and gross parts that will appeal to many young readers, including the section titled "Tearing into a Meal".  I was so excited to discover this great series of non-fiction books called No Backbone! The World of Invertebrates published by Bearport Publishing. There are 6 books in the series that are perfect independent reads for my second graders. I think the publisher even has guiding reading levels for many of their books. I can't wait to add this collection to my class library.  They are all hardcover I think, so a bit more costly.  But we all know how paperbacks wear out so quickly.  Does Santa come in March?

Have you read any good non-fiction?
What non-fiction do your students like to read?

Classroom Library - Sorting the Non-Fiction

This week I am diving into a big non-fiction unit in Reading workshop. Although I do have a section of the library dedicated to non-fiction I usually add more by taking out several plastic tubs of non-fiction books I have stored in my closet. I also check out tons of non-fiction from our school library to help round out my collection. (Shhhhh....I also take books from our book room and put them in the class library. But you won't tell anyone will you?)  My goal is to have books that second graders can read independently. Most of the books are not leveled. I just have not had the time to level them all, and many probably don't have a Fountas & Pinnell level anyway. It 's on my to-do list! So, we rely on our lessons about choosing a good fit book, and the fact that I regularly confer with students and know them well as readers. I also know the books in my library pretty well which helps me match them to a reader. But, I admit that I need to read more non-fiction!

I like to have my students sort the books into categories and label the book baskets themselves. I do this for several reason. First, it allows students to preview what will be in the library and know where they can find a particular book if they are involved in sorting and labeling the baskets themselves.  Sorting the books together also gives me a chance to assess their knowledge of non-fiction topics. For example, this week I found out that the majority of the class had an understanding of what mammals were, but didn't have a lot of background knowledge about earth science, geography or history.

By the time we began the sorting activity students had noticed that several of the library shelves had been cleared and a a giant cart of books had appeared in the classroom.  So there was already excitement generated. I began the activity by explaining our purpose for sorting. We want to be able to find the books that we are interested in reading. I remind them how our fiction section is organized, but explain that with non-fiction we might want to do it differently. I use our basket of books labeled "non-fiction animals", and ask if we can sort the books into separate categories. Hands go up immediately and students share their ideas. I give each table a pile of books to sort and they get busy. I walk around and talk to the groups about their thinking, mostly asking questions and nudging their discussions or decisions in the right direction.

Once groups have sorted their books, we sit down on the rug and I ask someone to share a category. "We have a lot of books about reptiles." Immediately, there are hands up from other groups that also have reptile books. I give them a basket, a sentence strip, sharpie and a post it with the correct spelling. Off they go to fill our first basket. And I continue this way. I have to admit it gets a bit crazy, but in a good way. There are piles of books everywhere and students eagerly waiting to create a category. Once we get going the tape dispenser and sharpie markers are very popular. And sometimes we end up with duplicate labels.  It took us 2 work sessions to get most of the books sorted.  Exhausting, but important.

So, now we are ready to review our lessons on selecting good fit books with an eye for non-fiction books.  And next week we will begin learning about non-fiction text features and reading strategies.

How do you organize you classroom library for non-fiction?
Do you use a leveled library?

Cart full of books from the library.

Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge

Last week I read Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca to my class.  Before I began the story I asked my students if they had ever heard of the Apollo moon missions.  Only 1 student had any prior knowledge of this historic event!  I was shocked and saddened!  How could this be?  The Apollo missions were and are a most sacred memory for me.  My dad would wake me early in the morning so I could watch the rockets launch on television. As a child growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry and Adler Planetarium many times, but remember being so excited for a special exhibition that had a real moon rock!  I was 9 years old when Neil Armstrong spoke those historic words, "This is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."  A couple of years ago I finally got to visit the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.  When I got to the Apollo display it was so emotional for me that I had tears in my eyes!

Watch a book trailer for Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11.

What does this story have to do with the Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge?  This experience and other's like it have got me thinking about why readers choose non-fiction and how they choose it.

I chose to read this book to my class because the basket with all the planet books is very popular with my students.  My students love reading about planets and are especially knowledgeable about Pluto and its recent demotion from "planet status" to "dwarf planet".  But mostly I think I chose this book because I love the topic and this book.  I wanted to share this with my students.  So after I got over myself, I realized that my students background knowledge was different than mine because they had different experiences than I, and that was okay.  Imagine, they weren't even born yet on 9/11.  And their parents probably weren't alive for the Apollo missions either!  I needed to get some perspective!  But I also realized that it is important as a classroom teacher and reading role model that I continue sharing books about topics I love.  After all, I do the same thing with my fiction books.  I get all excited when I share a favorite author or book.  My students know I love Patricia Polacco and that sometimes her stories make me cry.  

It is often difficult to get my students to read non-fiction that doesn't involve animals or planets.  Mostly, I think this is because they have limited background knowledge about many subjects and like many readers they prefer to read about subjects that interest them.  So I know I have to find more ways to get them to read other topics in non-fiction.  One way to do that is to read more non-fiction to them!  I don't read nearly enough non-fiction and when I do I realize it is usually tied into the content areas.  In recent years the amount of non-fiction picture books that are well written and beautifully illustrated seems to have exploded.  So, there are no excuses.  Non-fiction books can provide us a sense of who we are and how we are connected to the world. Non-fiction can connect us to the past and help us understand the present.  I need to read more non-fiction simply because it is enjoyable and can open up my students' eyes to the world around them.  Hopefully this will build their background knowledge and introduce them to new topics that they will fall in love with too.

To help me meet my goal of reading more non-fiction to my students I have decided to participate in the 2012 Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge that  Kid Lit Frenzy and Non-Fiction Book Detectives blogs are hosting this year. I follow both of these blogs and get tons of book ideas for my classroom from these sites. 

Here are my goals for the challenge;

1. I will read at least 4 new non-fiction books each month.  These books might be newly published or just books that are new to me.

2. I will post my reviews on this blog.

Want to learn more about the Apollo Missions, the moon and our universe?

The AAAS Science Netlinks has Lunar Cycle lesson plans that includes a hands-on activity modeling the phases of the moon with a light.  There are directions for observing the moon and background information for teachers.  There are nice interactive activities with printable calendars and worksheets.  My class observes the moon for a month.  I give each student a calendar with the moonrise and moonset times because on some nights the moon rises after their bedtime and they observe it in the morning!  I assign table teams different nights for moon observations and they give a report the following morning.

The AAAS Science Netlinks also has a lesson, called The Moon, which is centered around Frank Asch books.  What I really like about this lesson is that it has a link to Birthday Moons, where students identify and graph the moon phase of their birthdays.  There is also a link to Virtual Moon Phases, if you can't observe the moon directly.

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Each day a photograph or image of our universe is posted by NASA with a brief explanation written by an astronomer.  Share the wonders of our universe with your students!  Don't be intimidated by the science!  Be excited and curious!

The Space Place is a wonderful sight filled with interactive games, videos and other activities about the solar system.

NASA has whole section dedicated to the Apollo Missions including photos, audio and video.