Cold Weather, Inquiry, and Flexible Seating...oh my!

We have been very busy the last three weeks of school.  After some reteaching of expectations and practicing our routines, we are back in the swing of things after break.  We are moving along smoothly despite a lot of indoor time due to extra chilly weather.  I am incorporating many movement breaks into our day to help increase or activity levels. We use gonoodle.com regularly and the 5th graders LOVE it! Check it out at home and create an account to help stay active during the winter months .

We wrapped up our Memoir unit by presenting our picture books.  I am in the process of scoring and returning them to students to bring home to show their families.

We have transitioned into our next reading/writing unit.  We are conducting a research project and using multiple sources to collect our information. This is my first experience using an inquiry model of teaching and it is starting off excellent.  Inquiry is a project based learning experience where student are exposed to a topic and then choose their research area.  For our projects, I have given students complete freedom in choosing their topic.  There were no boundaries at all.  This a little daunting for me, giving up a lot of control, but can already see how attached to their topics my students are. Below is information about Appleton Area School District's shared belief on Inquiry and what I referred to when implementing it.

I am beyond excited to see where our inquiry unit leads our research and end product.  Some students asked about doing extra work at home after school or on weekends - of course! Students are welcome to do any research outside of the school day, but it absolutely not necessary.  I will be giving more than enough time in class for students to complete all research and to work on/complete a final project.  If you are interested in helping your child even more outside of school for this project, using the public library as a resource is a great way to help students find materials and explore their topic.


Something else I am very excited about is a new project I'm working on. I have created a Donors Choose project and it was accepted! Donors Choose is an organization that help teachers receive donations for classroom improvement.  My project is focused on flexible seating and adding more seating to my classroom - exercise balls, stability cushions, stools, and floor pillows.  If you are interested, click the link below and take a look at my page.  Any donations would be wonderful and greatly appreciated.  If you are willing/able, please consider helping out to enhance our learning environment.  Use code LIFTOFF and Donors Choose will match your donation.

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/flexible-seating/1854765/?rf=page-siteshare-2016-01-proposal-teacher_3418180

Thanks for taking the time to check out our classroom blog! Stop back to learn more about how our inquiry research project is going!