Diving into Inquiry with Senior Kindergarten and Grade 1 Classes

As a Student Work Study Teacher, one of the first schools I had the opportunity to work at was St. Jane Frances Catholic School during November and December 2013. I worked alongside the teachers and students in the Senior Kindergarten/Grade 1 class and the Grade 1 class. In the SK/1 and Grade 1 classes, we had the opportunity to learn more about and engage in Collaborative Inquiry. In both classes, we embarked on looking at the seasonal changes using an inquiry stances. For the teachers, students and myself, it was entering uncharted territory. We approached our inquiry with both nervousness and excitement. Here are snippets of what took place throughout the inquiry process.

Using Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia Approach in Schools by Carol Anne Wien as our guide, we began the inquiry by reading the story City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems to the students. The students were asked to pay close attention to the pictures as the story was being read, which displayed the transitioning of the four seasons throughout the story. Following the reading of the story, the students were asked if they noticed anything about nature in the pictures. The students mentioned things such as the changing colour of the grass, the trees blooming and eventually losing their leaves, and different kinds of precipitation (rain and snow). Following that, the students were asked if they knew the word for the changes in the weather and the visible changes in nature that they observed throughout the story. A few children identified the word as "seasons." In addition, other children were able to specifically identify the four seasons. Following this discussion, we compiled a list of their questions about the seasons and they were written on chart paper to refer to throughout the inquiry.

The next day, after reviewing the questions the students had about the seasons, each student was given a piece of paper divided into four sections. The students were asked to draw a picture of what they thought each season looked like. The parameters were very open; they could draw activities, weather, nature and so forth. Throughout the experience, the classroom teacher and I conferenced with each student to document what they drew.

Grade 1 Student Sample

Grade 1 Student Sample

Senior Kindergarten Student Sample

This was a good activity in the sense that it gave the teachers a good indication of where the students were at and what they knew about the topic. The products were surprising to me. In the Grade 1 class, most of the students could clearly identify three out of the four seasons (summer, autumn and winter), but some exhibited difficulty differentiating between spring and summer. In the SK/1 class, most of the senior kindergartens could readily and distinctly draw pictures to show fall and winter. Some students could draw a clear picture of summer, but all of them seemed to have difficulty identifying spring. In discussion with the teachers, we arrived at a few reasons for their difficulties. First of all, even though there was only a one year age difference between the Senior Kindergarten and the Grade 1 students, that is one year of additional life experience that the Grade 1 students brought to the table. Secondly, the activities were conducted in the late fall, which gave the students immediate exposure with the season. Being late fall, Christmas was just around the corner, which allowed students to make immediate connections with the season of winter. Thirdly, spring and summer were the two furthest seasons away, which surely was already forgotten by some of the students. This could have directly affected their recollections of those seasons. For the Senior Kindergarten students, this activity informed the teachers that a focus on the two polar opposite seasons of summer and winter was a good focus.

The following week, the classes put on their jackets to embark on a nature walk around the school. On this walk, the students were equipped with pencils and clipboards to record their observations. Along with that, the students were also given magnifying glasses to hunt for any signs of autumn. With iPads in hand, the classroom teachers and I documented their discoveries and observations. When we went back inside, the students shared their discoveries as a class and we compiled a list of the things they knew about autumn (so far) and things they noticed outside on the walk on chart paper. Later in the day, I also transcribed some of the students' observations from the walk and shared it with them. Here were some of the observations and comments they made:

• “I found a red leaf."

• “The grass is not green anymore. That means it’s really fall.”

• “There are leaves on the ground and the leaves change colours.”

• “I drew a green tree.”

• “I noticed that some trees don’t change colours and the leaves don’t fall off.”

• “The pine trees didn’t change colour.”

The next activity in our inquiry involved the use of centres. Collaborating with the teachers, we co-planned sessions where the students would engage in different centres to learn more are about the characteristics of the four seasons. The four centers were divided as such:

• Book Centre: In pairs, students would peruse different books pertaining to a different season. On a sheet of chart paper, they would draw pictures or write words about things they noticed about the season they were working with.

• Picture Centre: In pairs, students would peruse different photographs pertaining to a different season. On a sheet of chart paper, they would infer which season they had and fill in the blank "I think the season is..." with the correct one. Following that, they would write phrases or draw pictures of clues they used from the photographs to conclude which season they were working with.

• Technology Centre: In pairs, students would interact on the app "Seasons!" on iPad Minis. On the app, students were given the task of dressing a character up appropriate for the weather conditions or asked to look at clues to determine the appropriate season. Other students were on the classroom computer to access preselected YouTube videos to watch that discussed the characteristics of the four seasons.

Following the activity centres, each group of students shared their findings about the seasons they had with the entire class. As a class, we then listed all of the characteristics of the four seasons on chart paper. Following that, we revisited our initial questions or wonderings to see if we could answer any of them. Our inquiry wasn't over because there was still more to discover together.

The following week, each student was given a picture of seasonal activity. The names of the four seasons were posted around different areas of the classroom. The students were given the task of classifying their activity under the correct season and they had to justify their reasons as well. For instance, ice skating is a winter activity because it is cold outside and the water is frozen to skate on. Most of the students were able to place themselves under the correct season, but it was interesting to hear the discussions that were generated amongst the children as they justified their choices, and even when they reasoned why something did not belong or was incorrect. Following this, each seasonal group shared their activities with their class, as well as their justifications. If any activities were incorrect, the class assisted in finding the correct seasonal group to move the children into. This activity not only garnered great discussion among the students, but it also allowed the teachers to play the role of facilitator as opposed to disseminator of information. Taking a different approach, in the Senior Kindergarten/Grade 1 class, the students placed the activity sheets on the floor below the appropriate season, which created as a giant bar graph to display the most frequently depicted season. This was an effective visual for the students as well.

Lastly, as part of our inquiry, students were asked to bring in articles of clothing from different seasons. In groups, they discussed why those articles of clothing were worn in those particular seasons. This gave the students hands-on, real-life experience that they would not have had with a traditional 'pencil-and-paper' task.

Reflecting on my first experience with inquiry, I must say that I was initially nervous about how to approach it. I had some lingering questions at first: How do I start? What will the students do? What is the role of the teacher? How involved does the teacher need to be? How can I fit assessment into this process? Looking back, I must say that the inquiry process went better than I expected it to. The first thing I had to do (as well as the teachers I was working with) was let go. I had to be comfortable with making mistakes and not having a completely pre-determined map of where things were going to go. The second most important thing was making sure I knew the curriculum well. All the inquiries were co-planned and curriculum-based. Even though the inquiries took the form of the students taking a leadership role in their own learning and discoveries, it was all connected to the curriculum. As a professional team, the we always referred to the Ministry Science & Technology document to ensure that there was some directionality to our inquiry. This enabled us to facilitate the inquiry process as opposed to sticking to the traditional direct teaching model we were accustomed to. When we let go and let the students take charge, we discovered that kids are capable!

A big "thank you" goes out to the SK/1 and Grade 1 teachers at St. Jane Frances Catholic School for opening their classroom doors to me. We learned a lot and enjoyed this engaging the experience!