Welcome to Inquiry Week!

March 2–6, 2026

All week long, we’re celebrating inquiry by lifting up real classroom work and the questions students and teachers are exploring. If inquiry is happening where you teach, you belong here. There are two ways to participate.

Submit Inquiry Work

Have inquiry work from your classroom? We’d love to see it. You can submit:

  • Inquiry Walls or question charts
  • Student-generated questions
  • Teacher Inquiry Questions
  • In-progress work from your classroom
  • Anything else that shows inquiry in your classroom!

Share Inquiry Questions

Not ready to submit work yet? You can still join the conversation. Inquiry often starts with a question. A real one that students or teachers are wondering about right now. You can share your Inquiry Question by:

  • Commenting on an Inquiry Week post on Instagram or LinkedIn
  • Replying to one of our Inquiry Week emails

We’ll be highlighting Inquiry Questions all week so educators can learn from one another.

Share Inquiry Work

Your submission does not need to be polished. If it reflects real student thinking and curiosity, it counts. And did we mention prizes?

Celebrate your students!

Inquiry Week is also about celebrating students and the questions they bring to learning.

We’re sharing a student Inquiry Week certificate you can use to recognize students for their curiosity, questioning, and thinking. It’s a simple way to celebrate inquiry, whether your work feels finished or still in progress.

Contest FAQs

Do submissions need to be perfect?

No. We’re interested in the learning process, not polished final products.

Inquiry work might include student work, vocabulary, anchor charts, images, or other artifacts that show thinking over time. If it reflects real student questions and learning, it counts.

How will winners be chosen?

Submissions are reviewed for creativity, clarity, and how well they represent the inquiry process. Winning submissions may be featured in an Inquiry Work Gallery to help other educators see what inquiry can look like in real classrooms.

What file types can I submit?

You can submit:

  • Images (JPG or PNG)
  • Videos (MP4 or MOV) Files should be under 100 MB.

Do I need to submit physical copies of student work?

No. Digital submissions work great.

If space is limited, feel free to share smaller pieces of student work or snapshots that capture student thinking, reading, or writing in social studies.

Any tips for taking photos or videos of my inquiry work?

A few simple tips:

  • Take more than one photo.
  • Include at least one full view, plus a few close-ups.
  • Make sure the image is bright and easy to read.

Clear photos help us see student thinking more clearly.

Looking for inspiration?

Explore examples from the Inquiry Work Gallery.

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

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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.

Unit

Our Changing Landscape

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

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.

Additional Info

Christine Crutchfield from Mount Pisgah Christian School: GA, 2nd Grade

Unit

Our Changing Landscape

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

My 2nd graders have been LOVING this social studies unit and are totally engaged! I guess I just want to say a big thank you for everyone who came together to create this inquiry and how user friendly it is coming from a busy teacher! Good luck to everyone else out there! Thank you again!

Unit

Meeting Needs and Wants

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

My 2nd graders have been LOVING this social studies unit and are totally engaged! I guess I just want to say a big thank you for everyone who came together to create this inquiry and how user friendly it is coming from a busy teacher! Good luck to everyone else out there! Thank you again!

Additional Info

from , 2nd Grade

Unit

Meeting Needs and Wants

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

At my school, we are beginning to create class books about Navigating School. There are 5 K2 classes and each is going to be doing a different part of the school. (classroom, hallway, cafeteria, specials, and playground) My class is going to be navigating the hallway so I created the cover page for the book. Each student if going to create a page about how they can navigate the hallway. Some ideas we brainstormed included lining up, quiet voices, eyes forward, safe bodies, and hands by our sides. I included a rough draft from one of my students in the picture. The next step will be to revise and create our final drafts. We can't wait to read our book as a class!

Unit

Navigating School

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

At my school, we are beginning to create class books about Navigating School. There are 5 K2 classes and each is going to be doing a different part of the school. (classroom, hallway, cafeteria, specials, and playground) My class is going to be navigating the hallway so I created the cover page for the book. Each student if going to create a page about how they can navigate the hallway. Some ideas we brainstormed included lining up, quiet voices, eyes forward, safe bodies, and hands by our sides. I included a rough draft from one of my students in the picture. The next step will be to revise and create our final drafts. We can't wait to read our book as a class!

Additional Info

Colleen Saia from Lawrence Family Development Charter: MA, Kindergarten

Unit

Navigating School

Grade

Kindergarten

Example Type

Students conducted research on the Native peoples of different regions of North America. Students also created the map!

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students conducted research on the Native peoples of different regions of North America. Students also created the map!

Additional Info

Natalie Taylor from IMAGO DEI MIDDLE SCHOOL: AZ, 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students used the Pixton app to create these comics.

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

Students used the Pixton app to create these comics.

Additional Info

Kerry Nowicki from Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96: IL, 4th Grade

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Final Product

We launched our Meeting Needs and Wants unit this week in social studies! My second graders were SO excited to learn about needs and wants and discuss what is a need versus a want in a community. We came up with a list of places in our community that are must haves versus may haves, and then created "2R Town", named after our class. Students worked collaboratively to build and design our town full of buildings that fit the needs of a community. Of course, a few "wants" were thrown in as well! At the end of the day today, after spending a full hour and a half learning and creating, a student told me that this was "the most fun he's ever had during social studies" and that usually he "doesn't enjoy it". Other students chimed in and agreed, saying that this unit was already fun and exciting! I am looking forward to continuing this unit with my students!

Unit

Meeting Needs and Wants

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

We launched our Meeting Needs and Wants unit this week in social studies! My second graders were SO excited to learn about needs and wants and discuss what is a need versus a want in a community. We came up with a list of places in our community that are must haves versus may haves, and then created "2R Town", named after our class. Students worked collaboratively to build and design our town full of buildings that fit the needs of a community. Of course, a few "wants" were thrown in as well! At the end of the day today, after spending a full hour and a half learning and creating, a student told me that this was "the most fun he's ever had during social studies" and that usually he "doesn't enjoy it". Other students chimed in and agreed, saying that this unit was already fun and exciting! I am looking forward to continuing this unit with my students!

Additional Info

Ashley Roth from Public Schools of Brookline: MA, 2nd Grade

Unit

Meeting Needs and Wants

Grade

2nd Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Other

Additional Info

malie koehler from Hawai‘i Department of Education: Ho'okena Elementary School: HI, 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Other

Students were proud of the work they put into their Mini Posters! Analyzing connections between historical Indigenous Americans and their cultural areas was challenging but rewarding.

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

Students were proud of the work they put into their Mini Posters! Analyzing connections between historical Indigenous Americans and their cultural areas was challenging but rewarding.

Additional Info

from , 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Wall Display

I teach 4 sections of 5th grade Social Studies and this is my first year in this position. Although higher order thinking can be a challenge, my students have accepted the challenge and continue to show me how effective and engaging the inquirED curriculum is. I enjoy looking back at the students' initial understanding at the beginning of each module compared to how much their thinking has grown in a few days or by the assessment checkpoints.

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Handout

I teach 4 sections of 5th grade Social Studies and this is my first year in this position. Although higher order thinking can be a challenge, my students have accepted the challenge and continue to show me how effective and engaging the inquirED curriculum is. I enjoy looking back at the students' initial understanding at the beginning of each module compared to how much their thinking has grown in a few days or by the assessment checkpoints.

Additional Info

Karlie Goldstine from Allamakee Community School District: IA, 5th Grade

Unit

Native America

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Handout

Students listened and participated in reading the text aloud in class. Then they worked in pairs or small groups to synthesize the reading and take notes to answer questions and fill out the organizer.

Unit

The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Handout

Students listened and participated in reading the text aloud in class. Then they worked in pairs or small groups to synthesize the reading and take notes to answer questions and fill out the organizer.

Additional Info

Elizabeth Nielsen from Skokie District 68: IL, 5th Grade

Unit

The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement

Grade

5th Grade

Example Type

Handout

Students studied a state in a particular region and made a scrapbook page, which showed human characteristics, natural characteristics, recreational land use and summarized how this state fits in that region.

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Handout

Students studied a state in a particular region and made a scrapbook page, which showed human characteristics, natural characteristics, recreational land use and summarized how this state fits in that region.

Additional Info

Rebecca Baril from National Heritage Academies - Parent District: NC, MI, NY, CO, 4th Grade

Unit

Natural Resources of the U.S.

Grade

4th Grade

Example Type

Handout

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