Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

Today we did our first mini-inquiry of the year! 
Our curiosity was piqued when we learned that what used to be Columbus Day has now been changed to Indigenous Peoples Day.
We started immersing ourselves in the topic by studying a painting.

We shared what we noticed and what we were wondering.

This is what we were wondering:

Next, we talked about how we can use our resources to answer our questions and learn more.  We brainstormed that we can:

• Google it
• ask Siri
• ask Alexa
• read books
• use PebbleGo
• ask an expert
• look it up on Brainpop, Jr
• watch videos

For our first research, we glued in a copy of the painting so we could study it more closely, and then watched a Brainpop, Jr video. 

When we learned something, we wrote down our thinking in our Think Books.

After we investigated for a bit, we gathered together to share our learning. I wrote down what they shared and posted it on our chart.  

We then focused on what mistakes Columbus made and I told them that when I was young I was taught that Columbus discovered America.  (They all gasped.)

We then coalesced our thinking to determine why we will be honoring indigenous people on this day from now on.

Melissa shared that it didn't seem right that we would celebrate someone who did these things, even though he was a brave explorer. Instead, we will honor the history of native people. 

 

We'll be learning more about the relationship between the native people and the settlers during our inquiry on the history of Thanksgiving in November, and learn about the westward expansion when we read Little House on the Prairie later this year.  

Learning is all about connections!