Preparing for our Space Research Groups

It pays to be organized before starting research groups!
Before we started our formal investigations, each group got a big piece of chart paper with their topic written at the top. Each member of the group chose a marker color in which they will write all of their future note taking. Then, they wrote their name in that marker color at the top of their chart as a key.

  Now, I can easily look over each group's chart and see who made what notes, and who needs extra support.

We reviewed the skills for collaboration that we have gained this year by referencing our classroom chart, which has been growing with us these past 70 days. Each time we noticed ourselves using collaborative skills, we added it to the chart!

Next, each group made a label to easily identify their bucket of resources, making sure that we shared the work.

We're ready to launch our research!

Here are some serious researchers on the first day of the investigation stage of our space inquiry!

 

We are using our new reading workshop skills in action as we research.  We noticed that we are constantly using our reading strategies to figure out tricky parts, as well as using our nonfiction text features to help us find information!