Ruby Bridges Mini-Inquiry

After our study about various civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr and Harriet Tubman, Room 408 did a mini-inquiry about Ruby Bridges.
Because it was a mini-inquiry, that meant that we would go through all of the inquiry stages in a short period of time.
For our Immersion Stage, we began by studying the following photograph and wondering about it.

The kids wondered:
-Why is she so little?
-Why are there police?
-Why are there white people with a little black girl?
-Why are they taking the girl away?
-Are they arresting her?
-Who is the girl?  Who are they?
-Is she in trouble?

We then talked about the different sources that researchers often use and came up with a list together.  We can learn a lot from sources like photographs, models, the real thing, books, PebbleGo, and magazines.  Many of these sources were spread throughout the room and Room 408 used these sources to try and answer some of their questions (Investigation Stage).

Nikolaus found a clue!  The words "William Franz Public School" were at the top of the building in another photograph.  

Gabbie found another clue:  Ruby was in first grade, just like us!

Allie & Drew noticed the same pictures used in different sources.

We used the "William Franz Public School" clue and looked it up on Google Earth.  We found out that the school is in New Orleans.

One of the most exciting moments of the afternoon was when some students made a connection...one of the paintings from a photograph is just like the mosaic that has been hanging in the hallway outside our classroom since the beginning of the year!

Ariah & Kierstyn noticed a painting hanging in President Obama's office...it's just like the mosaic that has been hanging right outside our classroom all year!

All of a sudden everyone was making the connection!

We even found the painting in a book!

After our Investigation Stage, the students thought about what they had learned and what they thought was important to know about Ruby Bridges and recorded it in our Think Books (Coalescing Stage).

To Go Public, we shared our new learning with each other and answered most of our questions.  We learned that even though she was little, Ruby Bridges was a civil right leader and helped to change segregation by being one of the first black children to attend an all-white school.

We think Ruby is a pretty amazing girl!  That's a lot of thinking for one afternoon!

Our Space Inquiry Journey

Our Space Systems curricular inquiry has been a long one...partly because of holiday interruptions and pausing for January assessments, but also because of the deep thinking and learning we have been doing.  Room 408 has been "space crazy" these past few months!
I thought it would be neat to revisit our journey.
We started by thinking about the schema (what we thought we knew) that we had about Earth and Space Systems & Cycles.  We posted on our Kidblogs and shared our schema with each other.

Next, we found out that our brains are like sponges during the Immersion Stage, soaking up new learning.  We used lots of sources to learn as much as we can about Earth & Space--models, photos, books, iPad apps, videos--and left tracks of our thinking and learning on sticky notes.

At the end of the Immersion Stage we thought about our schema from the beginning of our inquiry and reflected on whether we could confirm our schema, whether we had a misconception, or if we needed to do more research to find out.  

The paper mounted on the green is schema from the beginning of the inquiry, the paper mounted on the blue is reflection about that schema.

The paper mounted on the green is schema from the beginning of the inquiry, the paper mounted on the blue is reflection about that schema.

Next, we thought about our lingering questions and interests from the Immersion Stage.  We signed up for small inquiry groups based on our questions and interests.

Drew eventually joined the Mars Exploration Research Club.

Nikolaus eventually joined the Stars & Space Junk Research Club.

Once Research Clubs were formed, we started the Investigation Stage of our curricular inquiry on space.  We collaborated with the rest of our small inquiry groups to collect information about our Research Club topics.  We had Research Clubs about Mars Exploration, Moon & Astronauts, Stars & Space Junk, and Outer Planets & Dwarf Planets.

Nikolaus & Samuel found some pretty cool facts about meteors hitting the earth and even found the locations on Google Earth!

Shealee & Allie used iPad to find dwarf planets.

Owen, Andrea & Gabbie used lots of different sources to research.

Our Solar System model donated by Mrs. Thiel was a great model for research.

Of course, we had our Space Party!

After more research in our Investigation Stage we finally reached the Coalescing Stage.  In this stage we looked at all the learning and research we had done about our topics and grouped them into categories so we could begin to think about how we could teach our topic to others.

Once we coalesced our learning and figured out topics, we decided who would teach what topic and what facts we thought were most important for others to know.

To get ready for the Go Public Stage we planned out our teaching visuals.  We included posters, photographs, paintings, labels, and models in our teaching visuals.

Later this week we'll be "Going Public" by presenting to other classes and our parents.  We have a lot to teach about space!

Van Gogh Inspiration

Room 408 recently studied the art of Vincent Van Gogh and did a mini-inquiry about his art and life.

We researched online and in books and looked closely at the color, lines and subjects that Van Gogh used.  We started by thinking deeply about The Starry Night painting.

We enjoyed how his use of color and lines make you feel like the painting has movement.
We painted our own pictures inspired by The Starry Night.  We started by doing a crayon resist with watered down paint.

Then we added black construction paper accents that were inspired by the dark cypresses in the foreground.

You'll have to wait until the Exploration Celebration in April to see the finished projects!  To tide you over, here's a video of our art workshop.