My Learning about Inquiry So Far

Yesterday, during my professional development day I took two different workshops on Inquiry.  I thought I would write about them to help synthesize my learning.

Both teachers presented the big problem at the beginning of their unit to excite the students. Adema Romano had a polar bear send a letter to the class about how difficult it is to find food for her and her cubs; the polar bear asks the class to help her.  Aleyna Golinsky wrote a newspaper article about a penguin that was found at a local pool.  They both, supplied books, watched videos and had lots of discussions about their learning.

 

Polar Bears

 

Adema used a text called Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action by S. Harvey & H. Daniels (2009) as a basis for her inquiry background.  She said that it was great but heavy reading.  The stages of inquiry were Immerse, Investigate, Coalesce and Go Public.

1. Immerse – The letter arrived and the class started looking for clues, making connections and asking questions.  They focused on a problem and brainstormed ways to help.
2. Investigate – They developed questions and began to research.  Adema had a grade one so she did have some readers in the classroom and didn’t need to do all the reading herself.  She recorded the class learning on posters and sometimes the children would have a smaller page that they could work on during choice time.  Eg. Adema drew a cross section of polar bear fur & skin to show the layers on a poster and then provided a regular paper with the drawing on it for the students to label.
3. Coalesce – Students continue with research but now have enough background knowledge to ask deeper questions and make connections.  The students decided to work on comparing polar bear teeth with alligator teeth (one student brought in an alligator tooth).  Students played polar bear at choice time, they worked on their learning at home and taught their parents. The class then made hypotheses about why the polar bears couldn’t find food.  They ended up learning about global warming when they discovered that there was a lot of garbage in the arctic and the ice cap is melting.  They brainstormed ways to help the polar bears and decided to stop polluting.
4. Go Public – The class wrote letters to the polar bear and told her about what they are doing to help her.  They cleaned the playground, turned off lights and the tap.  They educated their families.
   Adema’s students were then able to bring the way they learnt about the polar bears into other areas of learning throughout the year.
    
   Penguins
    
                           Aleyna used a book by Kath Murdoch and followed her inquiry model of Tuning In, Finding Out, Sorting Out, Going Further, Making Conclusions, and Taking Action. ( I gave up trying to find the title of her book, she does have a website that looks interesting and a blog.  It might be worth checking out.) Aleyna did do her presentation within these stages but not in a way that would make it easy for me to share them here so I just wrote about things that interested me.

• She started with the newspaper article about the penguins.  The penguin needed help to survive after being found at a pool.
• She preplanned her unit around the learning outcomes that she wanted to cover. 
• They brainstormed things that they knew about penguins. (I just learnt in another recent workshop that instead of What We Know About the poster can be What We Think We Know About.  This would prevent having penguins can dance on a chart recording what we know about penguins.)  Then they brainstormed questions they wanted answered. 
• Aleyna used books, power point presentations, YouTube, experiments, games and art projects to research penguins.  She does work in a school with kids that need a lot of support so she was the nucleus of the learning.
• Near the end of the unit the kids asked four deeper questions and the students worked in groups to answer them.  Each group discussed their answer and then drew/wrote what they thought.  They then glued their work onto a penguin silhouette to display their learning.
• Aleyna also used her grade three buddies to help with some learning and they made a paper-mache penguin.
  I found both workshops interesting and I will probably take a little from each. What I really liked was the structure they used to teach skills like questioning, recording, sharing of ideas, non-fiction book format, developing a hypothesis, and categorizing.    

Learning Outcomes

This list contains six aspects of mature play and where they are directly found in the curriculum that we use.  Often other learning outcomes are met through the type of play that the children undertake.  For example, they may meet learning outcomes in measurement while comparing the volume of different cups at the water table.

 

1.     Using Make-Believe Roles                                   

Arts Education - Drama

A1          demonstrate engagement in drama activities

A2          explore and imagine stories by taking on roles

A3          demonstrate willingness to participate and co-operate in drama activities

B1           use voice in a variety of ways to explore ideas and feelings

C1           participate in drama activities from a variety of contexts

D1          participate in and share drama work

D2          respond to a drama presentation

 

2.     Using Make-Believe Props

 

Learning Writing (and Representing) and Extending Thinking

C1        create simple messages using a combination of pictures, symbols, letters, and words
to convey meaning

C3           show an interest in, and a positive attitude toward, writing and representing

C5           express meaning during writing and representing by using invented spelling and copying existing words/representations

Mathematics

C3             build and describe 3-D objects
        

3.     Using Make-Believe Episodes

 

Oral Language Learning and Extending Thinking

A7          experiment with language and demonstrate enhanced vocabulary usage

A8          connect what is already known with new experiences during speaking and listening activities

 

Learning Reading (and Viewing) and Extending Thinking

B2           respond to literature through a variety of activities (e.g., role playing, art, music, choral reading, talking)

4.     Persistence

There are no learning outcomes that relate to persistence but I look at it in two ways.

1. Working at something over the course of several days or weeks in a certain location.  A group of kids continue their fairy princess land every time that we go to the treed area of the school yard.

2. Working at something over the course of several days or weeks.  Building an obstacle course for snails and adding onto it everyday.

3. Working at something until it's done.  Filling in pattern block pictures until you run out of pattern blocks.

 

5.     Social Interaction

 

Oral Language Learning and Extending Thinking

A3          demonstrate use of social language to interact co-operatively with others and to solve problems

Physical Education

C1           identify safety guidelines for participating in physical activity (e.g., follow instructions, stay within boundaries, use equipment only with supervision

C2           follow rules and directions when participating in physical activities (e.g., stop on signal, listen to instructions before beginning activity)

C3           work co-operatively with peers during physical activity (e.g., respecting others’ personal space, not pushing or shoving)

 Social Studies

A1          participate co-operatively in groups

A2          gather information from personal experiences, oral sources, and visual representations

A3          present information using oral or visual representations

 

6.     Verbal Communication

 

Oral Language Learning and Extending Thinking

A1    use speaking and listening when engaging in exploratory and imaginative play to

–    express themselves

–    ask for assistance          

–    exchange ideas

-          experiment with new ideas or materials

 

 

 

Persistence in Writing

One trait of mature play is persistence - how can you teach it? 

 In January I started planning large blocks of time for writing.  At this point in the year most of the kids knew all their letters and sounds and I thought they were up for the challenge of writing their own books.  Boy, were they. 

These photos aren't set up  - 5 & 6 year old students were this busy writing.  For example, when the students come in Tuesday mornings they get right to work writing.  They can start a new book or work on one already started (they keep work in a bin when their not finished with it).  They then generally write for about 45 minutes, yes, 45 minutes.  I have one student who may need a little encouragement to continue but I always get lots of complaining when it's time to clean up.

I like to clean up and start sharing about 45 minutes before recess so they have as much time as they want for sharing.  Sometimes everyone shares and sometimes only a few.  They all love to share although they don't always love to listen to everyone else's sharing.  Our curriculum places great importance on oral language so this kind of sharing is very important.  I also notice how my writers influence each other.  When one writer draws a graph others follow his lead without me saying anything.  While I guide their learning about writing, it's often done individually.  The big teaching moments happen during share time from the students.

When a book is done they have the option of taking it home or hanging it on the bulletin board in the hallway.  Most kids take theirs home. 

As they became more persistent in their writing they also became more persistent in their play.  They understand that quality work takes more than a day.  So it has been very important for me to allow play items to be set up in the class for days at a time.  It would make no sense for me to ask them to disassemble a Lego building before they have a chance to play and use it.

They also like to write about their play.  Sometimes it turns into a plan but most often its a reporting of what has happened.  This class is Power Ranger crazy and there is a lot of writing and playing Power Rangers.  Some days there is a big group of kids trying to sound out Power Rangers but most often one of them will have it on their t-shirt and he helps them with the spelling.

 

 

                                    

 

 

 

The kids use our regular work bins with pencils, crayons, and erasers. Some also use glue to make a bigger book.  I cut 8.5 x 11 paper in half and some in quarters.  Students get a choice of what size to use.  When they are done I staple the book together for them.  I tried having staplers out but there were wasted staples everywhere.

 

I have read a few books on teaching writing that have influenced my practice.

 

In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study by Katie Wood Ray

 

I love love love this book.  It's very useful and usable.  My kids area always on the lookout for ways the illustrator is telling the story.  They especially like to show movement in their work.

 

6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades by Ruth Culham

 

This book keeps me in line about teaching all areas of writing.  It's easy to focus on one or two traits but if my students are to progress then I need to be thinking of them all. 

 

What's Next for This Beginning Writer?: Mini-Lessons That Take Writing from Scribbles to Script by Janine Reid & Betty Schultze

 

This is my go to book for writing instruction.  Each mini-lesson has a writing sample which is extremely helpful to see what your writers need next. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Choice Times?



 

The old overhead projector makes a great light table.




My goal was to try two choice times a day for a week. Research has shown that students benefit from 50 minutes of choice time in the morning and the afternoon. During that time I also supported my kids play with paper airplanes and snails by providing some books and supplies on each topic. I also put out the water play bin everyday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I supported the paper airplane group by ensuring that they had lots of paper and card stock. I took out books from the library on aircraft and how to drawing books on transportation. We brought the airplanes outside and measured how far their planes could fly. They did start playing a tag type game with the planes. Today they had a group discussion about how to ensure they stopped running in the class; I’m not sure what they discussed but they continued to play the game without running.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I supported the snail group by reading a few snail groups to the class, and providing lots of containers for creating snail homes. I made sure we had lots of snails and allowed the students to tend to the tank themselves. I think the biggest support I gave was by making sure I didn’t step on any snails on the floor. 

 

 

 

I also put out the water bin at every inside choice time. It contained measuring cups and spoons. On Wednesday I added some dish soap. It was mainly the girls who played with it; they spent a lot of time pouring the water from different heights. They also started drinking it on Thursday – yuck.



I did the two choice times each day. We started with a short planning discussion and then 50 minutes of play. After clean-up we had another discussion about what was learnt. One Tuesday, we started the day with choice time. The other days we had it after recess. Three times we had it outside. The total time for each choice time ended up being about 75 – 90 minutes depending on how long clean up took and how eager the students were to share.



Since January we have been having one outside playtime and one choice time. The outside time would be between 15 – 45 minutes depending on the weather, how well the students were playing and if there were other activities that I wanted to get too, most of this time I brought no toys or items for play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

When I planned to do this week I was hoping to see some grand play episodes.  While the students did further their play I didn’t see was much variety of play.  The kids that played paper airplanes continued to play paper airplanes. 

EDIT - Looking back I can now see that their paper airplanes did become the grand play episode that I was looking for.  It was just different than what I had hoped for. 

How will this change my practice?

·         I’m thinking of changing choice time to exploration time.  It’s mostly just a name change but I think that it will alter my thinking about it.  During my current exploration time students are given the choice of math or literacy workstations. 



·         I don’t think that I truly thought of my outside time as a time for play until this week.  I generally thought of it as a time for exercise.  Now I can see that during this week I actually gave them three play times a day not just two.  No wonder I felt as though I couldn’t get anything done. I will definitely keep having a daily outside time.

·         I can see how behind the scenes I have to be – setting things up, putting things away, listening to problems, watching students show me something interesting…..  I can see that this is not always the best time to have art or small group work.

·         I don’t think that I will be having Talking Tables (a language program) during choice time any more.  I will have it during workstations, writing or some other time of the day.  I don’t want their play to be interrupted.   

 



Paper Airplanes

The kids have been interested in making paper airplanes for a few weeks.  At the school science fair one of my student's big brother did a project on paper airplanes.  Today at choice time I added a few books on planes and drawing books to writing centre.  

The kids surrounded writing center as they built their planes.

They also moved supplies to the kitchen table

Sometimes they followed the directions and sometimes they made their own creations.

It will be interesting to see if this excitement continues.

What is Mature Play?

Defining mature play is probably the best way to start this study so we know what we are striving for.  For months I have been reading about how to encourage mature play, what to have in the class to encourage mature play and why mature play is important.  The info that follows is a compilation of readings, things I learnt in my class or my own thoughts.  I will provide a reading list at the end. 

 

There is a list in my text (Play at the Center of the Curriculum) that has six points that make up mature play. 

·      Using Make-Believe Roles

It’s important that children can take on a role and stay in character.

The girls are both "Anne" from the Magic Tree House.  They are spinning in the tree house. 
"It's Santa! Santa's in the tree house."

I think this is the easiest one to identify in the classroom.  I think most teachers hear it all the time.  One of my goals is to have students plan their play so that they see a variety of roles within their play stories.

·       Using Make-Believe Props

It’s important for students to be able to use an object to become another – a wooden block becomes a car or phone or dinosaur.  They also need to pretend that the block/car drives and honks the horn.

These leaves are "Fish", caught in the great pond by the playground.

I think I’m lucky to have a class without many commercial toys.  The students have to pretend with the items we have in the class.  We have a shelf in the kitchen that contains a stack of food that the students created with paper and markers.

·       Using Make-Believe Episodes

It’s important for children to create a story within their play. 

This is the point that I’m not so patiently waiting for in my class.  Several weeks ago my class facilitator showed us a documentation of a class that started playing hospital.  Their hospital play lasted several weeks with most of the class joining in at some point.  They took on roles from doctor, patient, and x-ray tech to hospital administrator. 

I’m now listening for ideas that might grow into something bigger but as of yet nothing has panned out.

·       Persistence

It’s important that children are able to play in character role over a period of time.  The text states that preschool & Kindergarten can do 5 minutes, early primary can do 20 minutes and continue for more than one day.  I think that time might be a little short for K.  I have a few kids in the class who played Magic Tree House on the swings for several days.  Each play period was about 10 minutes.

This is why I changed construction a few weeks ago, I was hoping that kids would have the opportunity to build one day and then go back and build/play for several days.  This hasn’t happed yet, but there is still a lot of time in the year.

·       Social Interaction

It’s important that two or more children participate in the play.

By having children play together they have the opportunity for language development and time to build social skills.

 

 

·       Verbal Communication

It’s important for children to have opportunities for language development as they play, plan play and create play stories.

As they play through complex stories they are able to use language in a way quite different then when working with adults.

 Leong & Bodrova have another list in their article on Make-Believe play.  They have six items to consider in their five stages of mature play

1.    Plan

No planning to extensive planning that may take longer than the play

2.    Roles

No roles to being able to create more than one role at a time

3.    Props

Using a toy to creating symbolic props to not needed a prop

4.    Extended time frame

Can last a few minutes up to all day over several days

5.    Language

Use little language to uses language throughout the play including book language

6.    Scenario

No scenario to complex scenarios that can change in response to previous play or the wants of the players.

 In their Chopsticks and Counting Chips article, Bodrova & Leong give three ways to help students plan their play.

• Role - Who is the child going to be? 
• Theme - What are they going to play?
• Plot(my word) - What is going to happen?

These will have to be taught.  I'm working on this.  My difficulty is that I don't have children pick centers they are allowed to go anywhere.  So their play may not have any focus at the beginning.  I'm going to have to find away around this.  Maybe start at the end and work backwards.
"What were you today?" instead of "What do you plan to be today?"

 Reading Recommendations

Bodrova, Elena & Deborah J Leong. Chopsticks and Counting Chips: Do Play and Foundational Skills Need to Compete for the Teacher's Attention in an Early Childhood Classroom? Beyond the Journal, Young Children on the Web. May 2003   I found it at http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200305/Chopsticks_Bodrova.pdf

Bodrova, Elena & Deborah J Leong. Assessing and Scaffolding Make-Believe Play. Young Children January 2012.  I found it at

http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201201/Leong_Make_Believe_Play_Jan2012.pdf


This book is available on Amazon.  It's pricey but very good.
Van Hoorn, Judith. et all., Play at the Center of the Curriculum. Pearson. 2011

         

Construction Center

 

One thing that I tried this year was to rearrange the construction center so that students had an area to leave their creations up for a day or two.  What I found was that I picked a spot that became a  walkway and most creations got damaged throughout the day.  The area had

all my wooden blocks but all the other blocks were stored in other areas in the room.

 

I was reading for my class when I realized that I needed to change it again to make it more usable for the students.  I removed everything from some shelves at the front of the class and one afternoon we moved and arranged the blocks.  Six kids spent their whole play time setting it all up.  I added all blocks to this area - wooden, coloured, soft, cardboard, and assorted items like styrofoam and pringle cans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area was extremely busy for a few days but has now settled into a few students every day.  The area is bordered by a cupboard, a table and the carpet area.  The students have been very careful if they have to walk through the construction zone. They seem to really like the organization and put the blocks away neatly every time they play there.

 

My goal for construction center was to allow students the option of taking the time to build and then play.  Often they have time to build but must then put it all away before playing. 

 

So far I have seen some creations played with but not by the original builder.  I'm wondering if that will change over time.

 

This is the book that I was reading.  It's the main text for my class on Play.  It's quite good and an easier read than most textbooks.

Van Hoorn, Judith. et all., Play at the Center of the Curriculum. Pearson. 2011