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 realized kids were overusing soap and water in the bathrooms. After learning about the importance of using resources responsibly, they created posters to remind students of the expectations.

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Students realized kids were overusing soap and water in the bathrooms. After learning about the importance of using resources responsibly, they created posters to remind students of the expectations.

Additional Info

Whitney Duthie from Iowa City Community School District: IA, 4th Grade

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

This wall displays shows student work from the Our State and Region.

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

This wall displays shows student work from the Our State and Region.

Additional Info

Linda Withers from Waukee Community School District: IA, 4th Grade

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

My students love this unit! There is so much depth and students get to learn multiple perspectives on how Oregon became a state. The Inquiry Wall is something we refer back to all unit long and students love to see their work on the wall.

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

My students love this unit! There is so much depth and students get to learn multiple perspectives on how Oregon became a state. The Inquiry Wall is something we refer back to all unit long and students love to see their work on the wall.

Additional Info

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

Unit

Our State and Region

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Inquiry-Long Display

We taught this unit in a 4/5 blend. Students worked in groups and were engaged. Each group focused on a different region and within the group each person created an artifact to represent a different area of the Native American group's life.

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

We taught this unit in a 4/5 blend. Students worked in groups and were engaged. Each group focused on a different region and within the group each person created an artifact to represent a different area of the Native American group's life.

Additional Info

Angela Kastrava from Canby School District: OR, 5th Grade, 4th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

My students also made inquiry products like colonial cook books, posters, presentations, and skits. We had a lot of great discussions during the unit and students were engaged throughout.

Unit

The Colonial Era

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

My students also made inquiry products like colonial cook books, posters, presentations, and skits. We had a lot of great discussions during the unit and students were engaged throughout.

Additional Info

Kaberi Banerjee from Lake Washington School District: WA, 5th Grade

Unit

The Colonial Era

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

For this wall display, the students connected the different ways they could learn from others around the world and show how we are all connected through our global citizenship. Students researched different countries and learned about how goods and raw materials can originate from all over the world before they reach the stores we buy them from.

Unit

Global Connections

Grade

3rd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

For this wall display, the students connected the different ways they could learn from others around the world and show how we are all connected through our global citizenship. Students researched different countries and learned about how goods and raw materials can originate from all over the world before they reach the stores we buy them from.

Additional Info

Joanna Hecker from Lake Washington School District: WA, 3rd Grade

Unit

Global Connections

Grade

3rd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students painted self portraits and filled in hearts with pictures and words to show themselves on the outside and inside.

Unit

My Team and Self

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

Wall Display

Students painted self portraits and filled in hearts with pictures and words to show themselves on the outside and inside.

Additional Info

Jennie Greene from Skokie District 68: IL, Kindergarten

Unit

My Team and Self

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

Wall Display

Every year students present their Native American Cultural Area Museum Exhibits: students build, mold, draw, analyze, and create awesome projects to share based on their role in the group. There is a shelter diorama, story analysis, artifact analysis, food samples presentation, artwork presentation or inspired artwork creation, and clothing presentations for each of the cultural areas. Students are placed in their groups and they then decide who is going to take on which role, so it is an amazing project for student choice and demonstrating mastery in multiple ways.

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Every year students present their Native American Cultural Area Museum Exhibits: students build, mold, draw, analyze, and create awesome projects to share based on their role in the group. There is a shelter diorama, story analysis, artifact analysis, food samples presentation, artwork presentation or inspired artwork creation, and clothing presentations for each of the cultural areas. Students are placed in their groups and they then decide who is going to take on which role, so it is an amazing project for student choice and demonstrating mastery in multiple ways.

Additional Info

BAILEY GREENWALD from National Heritage Academies - Parent District: NC, MI, NY, CO, 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

This was a wonderful, student driven project. The class worked in groups to brainstorm places in several categories including: activities, shopping, restaurants, places to visit, and private lessons available. Students focused on 3 specific activities that had personal meaning to them and explained what the place was and why it was kid friendly. Then they chose other pictures of places from the general list for the middle photos and created a list of other things like schools, (mostly private, including preschools), places to shop, lessons, places to visit, etc. depending upon what was already included in their brochure. The class remained excited throughout the activity and they were all proud of their finished products.

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

This was a wonderful, student driven project. The class worked in groups to brainstorm places in several categories including: activities, shopping, restaurants, places to visit, and private lessons available. Students focused on 3 specific activities that had personal meaning to them and explained what the place was and why it was kid friendly. Then they chose other pictures of places from the general list for the middle photos and created a list of other things like schools, (mostly private, including preschools), places to shop, lessons, places to visit, etc. depending upon what was already included in their brochure. The class remained excited throughout the activity and they were all proud of their finished products.

Additional Info

Heather Chapman from Quality Schools International: IT, 1st Grade

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Final Product

We created a gameboard of our special location.

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Other

We created a gameboard of our special location.

Additional Info

Faith Lau from San Francisco Unified School District: CA, 1st Grade

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Other

Students illustrated and organized flip book handouts.

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students illustrated and organized flip book handouts.

Additional Info

Jennie Greene from Skokie District 68: IL, 1st Grade

Unit

Our Special Location

Grade

1st Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students researched Indigenous Americans and used Canva to created Infographics to share what they learned. Walden School, Deerfield School District 109

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Students researched Indigenous Americans and used Canva to created Infographics to share what they learned. Walden School, Deerfield School District 109

Additional Info

Barbara Mastin from Deerfield Public Schools District 109: IL, 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

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