Our First Inquiry - Going Batty...

This year, our class is really interested in different animals and creatures.  Whales, dolphins and dinosaurs are all topics we've been chatting about.  This week, we read a story called Stellaluna by Jannel Cannon.  This story about a tiny fruit bat really inspired the students, and has sparked our first inquiry of the year.

In an inquiry learning classroom, the interests, questions and discoveries of the students lead the learning.  In this way, we still cover all the curriculum topics we need to cover for each grade, but the topic of study is determined by the students.  The students are more engaged and take more ownership of their learning because they are studying what they themselves are interested in.

We have been engaged in so many meaningful reading and writing activities this week, all centred around bats.  The students have been so engaged, we are going to deepen our inquiry next week.

Here are a few learning snapshots.  The students had a lot of fun working cooperatively to discover some bat facts from non-fiction books.  Please check in again soon to see some more learning in action!  We can't wait to see where the learning leads...