Squirrel Investigation

It's been a long time since I've blogged about an investigation.  Admittedly, I'd been stuck.  Stuck between this place of having gotten pretty good at the "investigation" process with young children while at the same time feeling less and less sure it was always the best use of their time.  

Since first discovering Ken Robinson's work 10+ years ago, I've been a HUGE believer in the importance of curiosity and creativity in learning.  So much of my work with young children is centered on these ideals.  The last several years, though, more and more of my reading has been pulling me in the direction of valuing agency and impact too.  Lately I'd been realizing much of the focus of our investigations was on acquiring content.  We aways started with inquiry, but so much of what happened after that was learning the content that answered their questions.  Yes - it was hands on, and yes it was joyful - but at the end of the day, so much of it was about content.  And I kept finding that I was having a lot of trouble getting out of the cover-it-all rut.  

Heading into a new year teaching a new grade, I have committed to spending less time covering content.  Instead, my focus is on letting go so that kids become more responsible for learning how to learn themselves.  I know it won't be easy for me, but I know it's the right move for them.  Along with helping kids learn how to learn for themselves, my other main goal is on helping them find meaningful ways to make an impact with their learning.  Because, at the end of the day, those are the skills I hope they'll carry with them as they move through school and through life.  

So this year our inquiry/design cycle is front and center of our investigation process.  And instead of spending months and months on squirrels, we moved through our cycle in just a few weeks.  Because, the process (at least, I think!) is what it's all about.  Luckily, I have this chart to hanging in the classroom to keep me on track. 

So it always begins with a spark.  Our squirrel spark came from all the Scaredy Squirrel books we were reading as part of our writing workshop exploration of Melanie Watts' books.  Then out came the adorable pictures of squirrels, and they were hooked.   

Realizing the long list of the things they could learn about squirrels simply from looking closely at photos was a powerful experience for the kids.  It was also an easy way to build some more collective enthusiasm and interest in our topic.  

I knew a little bit of background knowledge about the parts of a squirrel would be important for helping everyone move forward, so that's what we did next...with the goal of noticing and thinking more deeply as we drew our own squirrels.

And since my goal this year is for the kiddos to take more ownership/responsibility for acquiring the information, they signed up for interest groups before beginning the next phase of our investigation....

  

Using the same concept web they were introduced to during our mini human body investigation, they recorded things they already know about their topic and then added their new learning.

Pretty impressive for the second month of school!

Out we went on a squirrel hunt.  The squirrels stayed exactly where I thought they would (as far away from a loud group of first graders as possible!), so we settled for finding lots and lots of acorns instead. Luckily we brought along Ms. Lemaire along, and she turned out to be quite the oak tree expert.  She opened our eyes to thinking about squirrels and their homes in new ways.  

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Time to become the teachers.  Each investigation group taught the rest of us what they learned, and by the end of the day we couldn't believe everything we had discovered!

We learned to mark and reflect on our new learning using books as well.

Keeping in mind the goal of impact, I knew it was time to start thinking/learning about  why squirrels are important...

And we hit the jackpot when we discovered squirrels are huge oak tree planters!

Then sometime magical happened.  During our Spanish morning meeting Senora Roth mentioned that she doesn't like squirrels, and the kids were outraged.  Thus, our purpose for learning was born.  Immediately we were on a mission to teach her how adorable, clever, and important squirrels really are.  

Sometimes it's easier to figure out what you want to make once you know how you want to make an impact.  They brainstormed ideas such as making her a book or a movie, but they decided that if they really wanted to help her get over her fear of squirrels she needed to be around them more.  So our squirrel museum idea was born.  

They worked together to make a list of all the things that would be most important for Senora Roth to know about squirrels.

They each chose and planned a project, 

And then they got to work creating...

We met in small groups to share feedback so that each kiddo would have ideas for making their project even better

added labels,

and written explanations.

They delivered their invitation (a little more hurriedly than I would have liked since I would be absent the next day!) to Senora Roth,

and the big day arrived.  There was so much joy and excitement in the air!  They made our welcome to the museum sign, dressed up as squirrels (ears, tails, and sharp claws for climbing too), 

set out their projects, 

And then she finally arrived!  

Mission complete.  Now that she realizes how important they are, she definitely feels better about them.  It's amazing what happens when learning and purpose collide!

I'll be the first to admit there's a lot more we could have done and learned about squirrels.  But since I led kindergartners in a squirrel investigation two years ago (yet am embarrassed to admit how little I remembered about them!), I reminded myself that it's okay for investigating to be more about the process.  Find a spark/wonder, learn how to learn, bring your learning to life by using your hands and creating, and then make an impact with your learning.  At the end of the day, that's what it's all about.