We recently finished a guided inquiry research project in first grade and the students did an amazing job!! Early in the school year, many of our first graders are still not able to read or write very much. However, I wanted to have them practice using PebbleGo as well as begin learning research skills such as using resources to answer research questions, learning text features, and sharing what they learn. As we know, students learn more when the learning is student-driven, so I developed a unit that allows even young students to drive their own learning.
I began by asking students what they know about bugs and reading the book Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi. This simple book shows the many different ways bugs move and act. The pictures are stunning and I really played up all of the different concepts presented in the book! After reading the book, I asked the students what they are curious about with bugs. What did they want to learn about bugs? We brainstormed a list of questions on the Smartboard and I told students they would be researchers the next time they came to the library. Each student chose one of the insects on PebbleGo that they wanted to learn more about.
On day two, students were paired up with another student interested in researching the same bug and were given a graphic organizer to write down their research. The questions on the graphic organizer were the same ones that we came up with as a group so they were driven by the students (and I used pictures to help those not able to read the words yet). Students used PebbleGo and either wrote words or drew pictures to record their information.
On the third day we were ready for students to share what they learned. I created a Flipgrid board and students recorded short videos sharing the information on their graphic organizer. Of course, I first modeled what a recording should look and sound like.
Finally, on the last day students watched each other's videos to learn what their classmates shared.
This short unit was the perfect way to introduce research skills to young first graders while using a guided inquiry model. Students were so engaged during the unit! This is definitely a lesson I will repeat again in future years.
Happy Researching!
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