Stepping into Inquiry

Family Inquiry

Like many of you I am working with children and family to create a community in our classroom. I use a few tried and true strategies to accomplish this important goal. These strategies all contribute to our classroom community and includes Inquiry Work.
Structured TalkPeppered throughout the day I intentionally plan structured talks. These conversations help children learn to think more deeply, listen to each other and encourage conversation. These include: Think Pair Share, Turn and Talk, Interactive Read Alouds, Conversation Circles (eliminate raised hands).

Related skills that can develop through structured talks  are opportunities for students to develop strong communication habits and include:

• Active listening
• Empathy and understanding
• Respecting personal boundaries
• Nonverbal communication
• Conflict resolution

PlayI invest a lot of time for free exploration and playful learning. The emphasis is on the process and providing generous amounts of time for thinking, set up, play and extension. This required making choices on which resources to add to the classroom that will fuel their play and strengthen their relations with each other and with me. I am a big fan of Vivian Paley's  work and use the everyone is welcome approach which helps children learn how to enter and exit play, share resources, listen and encourages kindness.
Learning FrameworksThese valuable frameworks set up the students to have choices, work independently and build stamina. They are part of the playful learning and include Story Play, Counting Collections, Literacy and Math Play. We begin the first week of school using a lot of teacher directed, guided teaching and then independent work.
Group and Partner WorkThe Learning Frameworks include group, partner and solitary student work. Learning to work with a peer can be challenging and why I begin with teacher directed followed by guided and ending with independent work habits. I also have found that the structured talks and a generous amount of time for play help children to learn about each other and reduces cliques.
Encounters with MaterialsEvery few weeks I introduce a new material into the classroom such as fabric, wood, loose parts, water colour... The children have opportunities to revisit the materials at different points of the day such as during exploration, a learning framework, or quiet play. Sometimes, such as when we explored paint, we would create a group project for them to work on and at times invite students from other classrooms to pop in and work on the project.
InquiryOnce the children are accustomed to daily conversations and sharing their thinking we step into our first Guided Inquiry. This year we have chosen Family. This group of children are quite different, lots of diversity, including cultural, multi-age and a child who is neurodivergent. Our goal  is to continue to develop our classroom community through shared learning and experiences. The inquiry includes structured talks, art projects, photos, and read-aloud.  We begin with a question such as  "what is family" and continue to record their questions and thinking, posting them on the inquiry wall to document our journey. We use thinking maps, family maps, drawing, stories and keep asking and answering questions.
What are you doing to build a community of learners?