A day at Burns Bog

Today, we went on a fun fieldtrip to Burns Bog. It was the first trip to Burns Bog of many trips to come throughout the year. Today’s trip was the start of a unit of inquiry for the students. While walking through the trail of Burns Bog the students were instructed to think of any questions or wonders they had. It was a cold day but the students were so excited to walk through the forest and look at their surroundings. Throughout the hour walk, the teacher would stop at certain trees and point out different fungi, moss formations, and pools of water and have the students ask questions about what they were observing. It was great to see how a fieldtrip was organized and how it took place. It is a process to get all of the parent drivers organized and to make sure everything takes place at a certain time but for this field trip everything went smoothly. It was great to see the excitement on all of the students faces as they came back to the school and saw hot chocolate with marshmallows waiting for them. It was a great way to end a fun yet cold fieldtrip. The rest of the day was spent on formulating inquiry questions. The students were instructed to go back to their desks and write down any questions or wonders they had about what they observed during their fieldtrip. It was exciting to see how the teacher incorporated inquiry into the classroom. The difficult part for the students was to remember every question they had while on the fieldtrip. When they were instructed to write their questions down it was a challenge for some of them to remember. However, I was walking around and helping those who were having difficulty. Once I helped jog their memory, away they went and the questions began to formulate in their minds. I think incorporating inquiry into the classroom is so important. I saw firsthand how it allows students to be creative and use their minds to explore topics that really interest them. I am excited to see what will happen in the classroom once these questions are gathered and revised. This is something for me to look forward to and see how a unit of inquiry will come together in the classroom. Also, within this class, they do a postcard exchange. On a weekly basis they get postcards from different schools around Canada. It is a cool way to connect this school to other communities around Canada and learn about different areas that they may not have any knowledge about. I read out the two new postcards to the students today. They were very excited to learn about a school in Ontario and Quebec. Today was a fun, exciting day and I’m excited for the many visits to come.
-Jessica Nerada