Check out our work from the Native America Inquiry!

These are the Resource Mini Posters!

My 4th graders have become incredibly intrigued by social studies lately! They've even expressed a desire to incorporate it into every day, which is such a delight to hear, especially coming from students who usually shy away from history discussions. The new approach we've been using has truly captured their interest, and they have been exceptionally engaged in every lesson. Their enthusiasm and excitement to continue learning in this engaging way are truly inspiring. It's so rewarding to see them develop a love for history through these interactive lessons!

I teach at a TK-8 STEAM School that encourages collaboration, real-world problem solving, and creative thinking. My grade-level team organizes "STEAM Rotations" on Friday for all 3rd-grade students. The students participate in 3 different workshops led by a 3rd grade teacher. We have taken the essential question "How does geography shape culture?" and used it as the theme for one of the weeks of our STEAM Rotations. We were inspired by the real-world examples used in Inquired and wanted to incorporate some that were important to our students. Because we are a Transdisciplinary school, we were thrilled to see that Inquired organically ties in other subjects such as Science & Reading/Writing into the curriculum. This made it very easy for us to naturally blend in both our Earth Science (World Climates) and Life Science (Plants). I am providing two examples of the presentation slides from two of the workshops: The Olive Tree and the Cempasuchil (Marigold flower). These are both culturally relevant and significant to our student population. The third workshop was on the Saguaro cactus which is significant to the native peoples who live on the US/Mexico border. Students will eventually use their Concept Map notes to produce a writing piece on the Native Plant of their choice. Our next Inquired Essential question for our next STEAM Rotation will be focused on Cultural Diffusion: How can I play a part in the Global Community?

Check out our work from The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement!

We inquired about physical and human characteristics we could see in Nepal and it's capital Kathmandu.

This learning wall was built throughout the unit. We read many books about changing landscapes in our community across time. The anchor charts at the bottom of the wall helped us to talk about the modifications in our community. In language arts we used Atlas' to find common and proper nouns across our state, country, and world. We ended the unit finding one spot on our campus that needed modification. We made posters and wrote letters to our principal.

The students had a great time learning in Module 2. They were able to share through their illustrations how the land and its resources contributed to our state.

Interactive American Revolution timeline

Students are about half way through the unit. The questions were generated by students and recorded by the teacher, same with the essential question reflection ideas posted onto the window. Students have been adding connections to the map and we even added information about the Winter Olympics to our connections map! Students each made a bumper sticker to represent a continent that they learned about through group research. Students are currently researching about a country with a small group and preparing to create a travel plan.

Our team scheduled an in-person visit with our Village Arborist can discuss the Village-owned trees and someone from our public works department will talk about the landscape of Carol Stream.

Students sorted push and pull reasons for immigration.