Inquiries

inquiry: an official investigation

 Inquiry time is when our student explore topics through hands on activities. The activities are academic based and usually address a skill the students have been working on. We do 4 inquiries each week, one a day Monday-Thursday. Each student does one inquiry per day and must complete all 4 by the end of the week. 

We set up the inquiry activities on the student's tables- there are 2 tables for each inquiry. We keep the activity supplies in a tub with a lid so that all we have to do is pick up the tub and place it on the table for the activity to be set up! This is also great because each week we just take out the old supplies and put in the new week's materials. It is also handy to have the lid and tub labeled with numbers so that  students can see exactly which activity they are at. 

The Club Card is what we use to keep track of what activities the students do each day. The tubs are set out on the tables and students are allowed to choose which one they go to. When they are finished, we ask them to stay seated and raise their hand until a teacher comes to check their work. We typically only check for completion and if the work is not correct, we just point out how to do it correctly. We then cross off a number with a marker to show that they have completed that activity. When we pass out the Club Cards, we like to remind the students which activities they have left so that they don't do the same activity twice. If they accidentally do an activity 2 times, we just ask them to move to one they haven't done and take the time to complete it. 

Some inquiry activities take less time than others so when students are done with their activity, they clean up, get their clothes pin, and choose a center to play in. 

                     Club Card

1	2
3	4