Inquiries- Week 1

We did a lot of work on our names during the 1st week of school so our inquiries were all name based. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures of the inquires until this week had passed so I don't have pictures of the activities.

1: Shaving Cream Name Writing

Students spread around shaving cream with their hands and then practice writing their name using their finger. They thought it was too messy at first and were reluctant about touching the shaving cream but once they try playing, they absolutely love it! Afterwards we just wiped off the shaving cream with a dry paper towel- it cleaned the desks at the same time! 

2: Cotton Ball Name Gluing

We wrote the students' names in pencil on a poster board paper cut into 4 inch tall pieces. We then traced the 1st letter in black marker. The students were instructed to glue cotton balls onto only the black letter. Most of them ended up gluing their whole name with cotton balls but that's okay because our goal was for them to explore their name & they did that either way! If the students only glued the first letter, we asked them to use a marker and trace the rest of the letters. 

3: Dot Paint Names

K ___ ____ ____ 

(Kate)

We had a piece of paper for each student with the first letter of their name printed in bubble letters and the rest of the paper were just blanks for students to fill in the remaining letters. The students used dot paint to fill in the first letter and then used markers to write the rest of their name. This was a bit confusing for some because many names started with the same letters so they ended up using other's names on accident. I would help the students find their names next time instead of letting them try to figure it out. 

4: Name Sequence Puzzle

Last week we read Chrysanthemum and made a name graph with our students to see whose name was the longest, shortest, or the same. For this inquiry, we used the name papers from the graph and cut them apart. We then put the names into baggies and wrote the students' names on the baggie. This was a pretty easy task for most students, however; some would get confused when their baggie was upside down and the name on their baggie was also upside down. They would then put their names upside down too and even backwards!