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
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.
Students painted birds eye view pictures, created maps and illustrated a page for a book. Their target audience was incoming kindergarten families.
Navigating School
Kindergarten
Wall Display
Students painted birds eye view pictures, created maps and illustrated a page for a book. Their target audience was incoming kindergarten families.
Additional Info
Jennie Greene from Skokie District 68: IL, Kindergarten
Winter Counts created by students! Walden School, Deerfield School District 109
Native America
5th Grade
Handout
Winter Counts created by students! Walden School, Deerfield School District 109
Additional Info
Barbara Mastin from Deerfield Public Schools District 109: IL, 5th Grade
Students researched early settlements looking for examples of cooperation and conflict. They created Mind Maps showing what they learned. Walden School, Deerfield School District 109
The Colonial Era
5th Grade
Handout
Students researched early settlements looking for examples of cooperation and conflict. They created Mind Maps showing what they learned. Walden School, Deerfield School District 109
Additional Info
Barbara Mastin from Deerfield Public Schools District 109: IL, 5th Grade
As an Inquiry Project, students created graphic novels focusing on sustainability. South Park School, Deerfield School District 109
Natural Resources of the U.S.
4th Grade
Final Product
As an Inquiry Project, students created graphic novels focusing on sustainability. South Park School, Deerfield School District 109
Additional Info
Barbara Mastin from Deerfield Public Schools District 109: IL, 4th Grade
The students had choice in their product. Some chose to write a letter while others chose to create a slideshow in Seesaw. They wanted to address the "injustice" of not being allowed on one part of our playground or the need for more water fountains in our cafeteria.
Civic Engagement
1st Grade
Final Product
The students had choice in their product. Some chose to write a letter while others chose to create a slideshow in Seesaw. They wanted to address the "injustice" of not being allowed on one part of our playground or the need for more water fountains in our cafeteria.
Additional Info
Beth Caruso from South Brunswick School District: NJ, 1st Grade
This mural was inspired by a group project we completed in the beginning of the year. We reflected on our work and recreated a mural to show how we worked as individuals to create a product as a team.
My Team and Self
Kindergarten
Final Product
This mural was inspired by a group project we completed in the beginning of the year. We reflected on our work and recreated a mural to show how we worked as individuals to create a product as a team.
Additional Info
Paula Walker from Quality Schools International: IT, Kindergarten, 1st Grade
State Scrapbook Page: Western Region
Natural Resources of the U.S.
4th Grade
Other
State Scrapbook Page: Western Region
Additional Info
Nicole Rossi from Dock Mennonite Academy: PA, 4th Grade
Students created replicas of different Native American tribal lands and homes based off of the different regions in North America.
Native America
5th Grade
Final Product
Students created replicas of different Native American tribal lands and homes based off of the different regions in North America.
Additional Info
Amanda Stewart from Pilgrim School: CA, 5th Grade
We created a gameboard of our special location.
Our Special Location
1st Grade
Other
We created a gameboard of our special location.
Additional Info
Faith Lau from San Francisco Unified School District: CA, 1st Grade
Students created a variety of written products in order to inspire the school about saving natural resources.
Natural Resources of the U.S.
4th Grade
Final Product
Students created a variety of written products in order to inspire the school about saving natural resources.
Additional Info
Carla Martinez from Tacoma Public Schools: WA, 4th Grade
Students created comic strips that encourages our community to go and pick up litter and also to reuse thing so that less litter happens.
Natural Resources of the U.S.
4th Grade
Final Product
Students created comic strips that encourages our community to go and pick up litter and also to reuse thing so that less litter happens.
Additional Info
Chelsea Dallman from Iowa City Community School District: IA, 4th Grade
Our Special Location The students used their collaboration skills to create a school mural that had symbols that represented our community and our special location. Students investigate how location, natural features, and climate shape daily life, and how goods and services are produced to address community needs and wants.
Our Special Location
1st Grade
Wall Display
Our Special Location The students used their collaboration skills to create a school mural that had symbols that represented our community and our special location. Students investigate how location, natural features, and climate shape daily life, and how goods and services are produced to address community needs and wants.
Additional Info
Chrissy Milliken from Agnes Irwin School: PA, 1st Grade
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