Ruby Bridges

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:
-Who is she?
-Who are those faces in the background?
-Are those men cops?  Detectives?  Special Agents?
-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).

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!

All of a sudden everyone was making the connection!

Zoe even noticed that President Obama had the painting hanging in his office!

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 on their learning clipboards. (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 rights 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!