Category Archives: Inquiry

Autumn Tree

Image October 26, 2014 Yuka Zaiki Leave a comment

We decided to invite autumn into our classroom our way 🙂

1. Paint two pieces of long craft paper brown. Dry them.

2. Crumple up newspapers and scrap papers and have a paper ball fight!!!! (WARNING: psychologically prepare yourself for an out-of-control scream and laughter for about 5,10min)

3. While the paper ball fight is going on, quickly prepare the tree trunk as you keep an eye on the students. If you crumple the painted paper first, it will add texture to the tree and make it easier to form the trunk.

4. Trunk doesn’t have to be perfect yet. Once you sort of have it, let the students throw the paper balls into the hollow trunk. When the trunk is filled, it will look perfect!!!! 🙂

We cut out a little hole in the tree and made a squirrel sit in it. We also made autumn coloured leaves and put them on our tree. The students were very proud of their tree!!

Inquiry, Science

Welcoming Autumn into our Classroom

October 26, 2014 Yuka Zaiki Leave a comment

Studying about seasons <Autumn>

Let’s go on a walk! I took my students out for a mini walk around the neighbourhood one afternoon. We stopped at a park and I let them run around.

“Look at the leaves! They are really pretty now.”
“Maybe you can collect all these leaves on the ground and dive into it!”
“It’s getting a little cold isn’t it?”

While I was there, I dropped these comments casually to direct the students’ attention to the changes that were happening in their environment.

After the stroll, I put up a couple of summer pictures and asked my students: Who likes summer? Most of my students raised their hand and excitedly started sharing why they like summer – we can eat ice cream and we can go to pool and dad and mom takes me to the beach, etc. We then discussed things we saw during our walk that were different from summer. The trees are pretty! The leaves have different colour! We can get acorns! etc. were some of the things they mentioned.

Going on a walk and dropping topic-related comments prior to introducing the topic seemed to have work very well with these students.

During our Autumn topic we explored the nature a lot. We collected leaves of all sizes and colour, acorns, pine cones, seeds, etc. We then used these for various crafts. The students were always very excited to make crafts out of things they themselves collected!

Then one day a student came up to me and asked me “Yuka, can we bring all the leaves inside?” I asked her why. She told me it was because she liked autumn and she wanted autumn to come to our classroom. Of course I couldn’t let my students bring in piles and piles of leaves to the classroom. But I thought bringing autumn in our classroom was a brilliant idea. So together we made it happen: Autumn Tree.

Inquiry, Resources, Science

Solar System Songs

Video September 26, 2014 Yuka Zaiki Leave a comment

Inquiry, Science

Next chapter and a start of my new career

September 26, 2014 Yuka Zaiki Leave a comment

Vancouver… I fell in love with the city. I didn’t want to but some times we all have to do things we don’t necessarily want to do. So, I left. I’m not going to lie. I was really sad to leave the city. All the people I met, all the memories I made, the lifestyle… everything… I loved everything about it.

But a new chapter has to begin sometimes, and now was the time.

JAPAN.

Life works in a mysterious way. Two days after my return, I got hired as a full-time teacher and I started working at a bilingual school in Japan. I now have a kindergarten class and the students are absolutely adorable!

My school is an inquiry based kindergarten. We have monthly themes but that’s about it. No structured curriculum or goals regarding these themes. The kids were working on solar system when I started my job. The students learned about solar system through songs, crafts, videos, and books.

Here are some solar system songs they absolutely loved 🙂 During circle time, the students request these songs. Sometimes I wonder if they ever get sick of hearing these songs but… I guess not!!

Here are some crafts they’ve done. First we made a coffee filter art. Then we cut holes on a construction paper and pasted the coffee filter art to represent their own planet. Glitters and stickers were a great hit!!

When I started working with these students, we decided to start a banner project. Every time we have a new theme or some events, we will be creating a big banner for the class! This is a fun, interesting, and crafty activity but can be very educational. Timing will be the key for this activity. Making a banner at the beginning of the theme can become a tool to know how much the students already know. Any time after the introduction of some main factors of the theme would be a great way to check for their understanding. It can also simply be a tool to introduce new ideas! Here is a picture of the banner.

Inquiry, Philosophy, Social Studies

SS: Theory to Practice

August 9, 2014 Yuka Zaiki Leave a comment

The culture unit was my first inquiry-based unit and I initially had no idea where this was going to go. I have only been with my students for 5 weeks when I started this unit and knowing they had not much experience with an inquiry based learning made me worry a little.

Lessons:

During the lessons, discussions were a great way to get into the students’ mind. I tried to give many opportunities for everyone to talk. It was interesting to see how many things the students knew as an individual. I also found it interesting how students knew specific facts and not necessary the rationale behind it. It really was like pieces of puzzles that they had – not the full picture.

Motivation and Curiosity Level:

The students throughout this unit were very motivated and remained curious about the topic. The biggest way to maintain their curiosity was to conduct the lesson in a game-like manner. I planned each lesson as interactive as I can – thanks to SMARTboard -, which made the students look forward to the lesson.

Students’ motivation level was highest during the inquiry research project. The students did an amazing job and were very excited to work on the project. Every morning they would come up to me and ask whether we were going to keep working on the project or not. The pairing also worked very well because the students were helping each other understand the passage and discussed the material, which led to another question or curiosity. The shift of curiosity was very quick during this process and students were frantically searching for interesting facts.

This curiosity did not only stay within their assigned country but to their friends countries too. During silent reading, students were asking me if they could read the country book we were using for our research. Many students started checking out country books from the library to take home too.

Presentation: Sharing with the Buddy Class:

The students were extremely excited about this presentation. This became another motivation for them to learn the material well. They wanted to “Wow” the older students with their knowledge. After the presentation, we had a little discussion period where we shared our feelings towards the activity. Everyone was very happy and excited at the fact they knew more information than the older students and were able to teach them.

Bulletin Board:

By the end of the project, they had a strong sense of ownership and accomplishment towards their work. When I posted the work on the bulletin board along with the pictures I had taken during the presentation, students were proud to show it to their parents.

Being proud of their work made them want to share their knowledge with whoever was interested in the matter. During this project, students were able to come across so many opportunities to share their knowledge (i.e: during research, with their partner, with the buddy class, with parents) that they were experts by the end of it.

Although I was worried in the beginning, this unit turned out to be a big success. I was able to observe the power of inquiry and experience the amount of enthusiasm it generated.