Inquiry Week 2026

Celebrating inquiry in every classroom

Teachers across the country shared photos of students in the thick of inquiry — asking questions, testing ideas, and discovering something new. Here are the classrooms that stood out.

1st place Inquiry Week Winner
1st place Inquiry Week Winner
1st place Inquiry Week Winner
This Year’s Winners

Outstanding inquiry across every grade

These classrooms were picked for their creativity, depth of questioning, and student engagement.

1st place Inquiry Week Winner
🥇 First Place

The Colonial Era

Jefferson County Public Schools, KY · Grade 5

This end of unit project for the Colonial America unit asks students to explore an important event or aspect of colonial life. Students chose a topic and created an illustration in the medium of their choice. They also wrote a caption that explains the event from the perspectives of the different groups they studied, helping them consider how people experienced the same moment in different ways.

2nd place Inquiry Week Winner
🥈 Second Place

Migration & Movement

Maywood School District 89, IL · Grade 3

After reading about different waves of immigration, third grade students created posters about a specific immigrant group and presented what they learned to the class. The activity sparked discussion about push and pull factors and helped students understand the challenges immigrants faced before and after arriving in the United States.

3rd place Inquiry Week Winner
🥉 Third Place

My Team & Self

Alta Vista School, CA · Kindergarten

In the My Team and Self inquiry unit, students reflected on their own strengths and then identified the strengths of their classmates. They shared and celebrated these qualities as a class while learning how each person contributes to a team. The experience helped students understand the importance of teamwork and appreciating one another.

For Participants

Download your certificate

Every student who participated in Inquiry Week 2026 deserves recognition. Download the official participation certificate to celebrate their curiosity and hard work.

Download certificate (PDF)

Student Works

Explore examples from the Inquiry Work Gallery.

Click on a thumbnail below to expand and view more images.

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Students identified the two natural resources they found most interesting (soil and water) and teams worked on putting the information about those resources on the Padlet.

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Students identified the two natural resources they found most interesting (soil and water) and teams worked on putting the information about those resources on the Padlet.

Additional Info

Elisa Meeks from Iowa City Community School District: IA, 4th Grade

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

The children created a mural using collage techniques. On the mural they created a representation of themselves and then add a speech bubble sharing some of their important words of wisdom that helped them to find success in Kindergarten. We hung the mural in the hallway where it has been visible to all the students at the school and to the incoming Kindergarten class when they came in for Kindergarten screenings at the end of the year. We will also have it hanging up in August/September when the new class officials begins school.

Unit

Past, Present, and Future

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

Final Product

The children created a mural using collage techniques. On the mural they created a representation of themselves and then add a speech bubble sharing some of their important words of wisdom that helped them to find success in Kindergarten. We hung the mural in the hallway where it has been visible to all the students at the school and to the incoming Kindergarten class when they came in for Kindergarten screenings at the end of the year. We will also have it hanging up in August/September when the new class officials begins school.

Additional Info

Kathleen Mikalsen from Flemington-Raritan School District: NJ, Kindergarten

Unit

Past, Present, and Future

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

Final Product

Unit

Global Connections

Grade

3rd Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

Additional Info

Nataliya Clabaugh from Tacoma Public Schools: WA, 3rd Grade

Unit

Global Connections

Grade

3rd Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

This is our inquiry-long display after completing Module 2 Lesson 3 - Exploring States within a Region. The students completed their state scrapbook on ClassKick, which were then printed and added to our Inquiry-Long Display.

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

This is our inquiry-long display after completing Module 2 Lesson 3 - Exploring States within a Region. The students completed their state scrapbook on ClassKick, which were then printed and added to our Inquiry-Long Display.

Additional Info

Sarah Garcia from Maywood School District 89: IL, 4th Grade

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

These are connections students made between the events that tell the history of Illinois.

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

These are connections students made between the events that tell the history of Illinois.

Additional Info

Jennie Greene from Skokie District 68: IL, 4th Grade

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

For the informed action project, students decided that they wanted to organize a fundraiser to purchase a sandbox for an orphanage. The bulletin board display shows our inquiry questions, the inquiry challenge statement and the chart students created to keep the action project organized and on track.

Unit

Economic Choices

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry Challenge Statement

For the informed action project, students decided that they wanted to organize a fundraiser to purchase a sandbox for an orphanage. The bulletin board display shows our inquiry questions, the inquiry challenge statement and the chart students created to keep the action project organized and on track.

Additional Info

Valeria Laitinen from Quality Schools International: IT, 4th Grade

Unit

Economic Choices

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry Challenge Statement

Students were reading an article together and looking for evidence of what may have led to the American revolution.

Unit

The American Revolution

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Claim, Evidence and Reasoning

Students were reading an article together and looking for evidence of what may have led to the American revolution.

Additional Info

Kelly Ashline from Community Consolidated School District 93: IL, 5th Grade

Unit

The American Revolution

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Claim, Evidence and Reasoning

Students really liked being able to look at our wall to reference our learning. It’s really nice to have a place in the classroom to share student learning. We did some supplemental work to hit all of our state’s standards.

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Anchor Chart

Students really liked being able to look at our wall to reference our learning. It’s really nice to have a place in the classroom to share student learning. We did some supplemental work to hit all of our state’s standards.

Additional Info

Amanda Hargadine from Canby School District: OR, 4th Grade

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Anchor Chart

These 5th graders were super engaged and excited to learn about some of the amazing Revolutionary heroes that helped shape America. Through research and group cooperation/collaboration the students created artwork that depicted a chosen revolutionary figure. The artwork needed to display, showcase and embody the revolutionary figure being depicted. The students then presented this artwork to the peers and taught a mini lesson how their revolutionist contributed to America becoming America.

Unit

The American Revolution

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Claim, Evidence and Reasoning

These 5th graders were super engaged and excited to learn about some of the amazing Revolutionary heroes that helped shape America. Through research and group cooperation/collaboration the students created artwork that depicted a chosen revolutionary figure. The artwork needed to display, showcase and embody the revolutionary figure being depicted. The students then presented this artwork to the peers and taught a mini lesson how their revolutionist contributed to America becoming America.

Additional Info

Emily Morrison from Dubuque Community School District: IA, 5th Grade

Unit

The American Revolution

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Claim, Evidence and Reasoning

These are connections students made between the events that tell the history of Illinois.

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

These are connections students made between the events that tell the history of Illinois.

Additional Info

Jennie Greene from Skokie District 68: IL, 4th Grade

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Additional Info

Ali Golfetto from Quality Schools International: IT, 1st Grade

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Ms. Czarnecki's 1st Grade class at Detroit Premier Academy have completed the Unit 2 Final Inquiry Product. This unit focused on "Our Special Location" which was the city of Detroit. Our class investigated how our location, natural features, and climate shape daily life, and how goods and services are produced to address community needs and wants. They also reflected upon how people come together to show pride and care for the community. They were then tasked with talking to friends and family at home and select up to 3 locations, people or landmarks they wanted to feature in the collage. They independently cut out the prints and one-by-one affixed them into the collage. We are thrilled with the turn out and hope you are too!

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Ms. Czarnecki's 1st Grade class at Detroit Premier Academy have completed the Unit 2 Final Inquiry Product. This unit focused on "Our Special Location" which was the city of Detroit. Our class investigated how our location, natural features, and climate shape daily life, and how goods and services are produced to address community needs and wants. They also reflected upon how people come together to show pride and care for the community. They were then tasked with talking to friends and family at home and select up to 3 locations, people or landmarks they wanted to feature in the collage. They independently cut out the prints and one-by-one affixed them into the collage. We are thrilled with the turn out and hope you are too!

Additional Info

MONIQUE CZARNECKI from National Heritage Academies - Parent District: NC, MI, NY, CO, 1st Grade

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

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