Assessing Inquiry Learning

Inquiry
The book Life Story, by Virginia Lee Burton, and a great video called "All About the Earth's History," as well as our work constructing a beautiful Montessori timeline of life, have inspired your children to begin their own research utilizing the expanding collection of information books we have in the classroom.  Several students showed pictures and read information to the class today, and some shared research they had done at home on everything from arthropods (invertebrates with segmented bodies and jointed limbs, e.g., crabs, spiders, trilobites, and insects) to horseshoe crabs, which are actually considered "living fossils."  The excitement grows as we explore scientific theories about the creation of the earth, the demise of the dinosaurs, trilobite extinction, and the evolution of our ancestors.  This is definitely a favorite Inquiry unit!  Our focus for the next couple of weeks will be rocks and fossils.  If you have anything interesting to share, please send it in or come in and tell us about it.

Yesterday the children drew, labeled, and wrote what they think they know about the rock cycle and how fossils form.  This is the starting point for this part of the Inquiry unit.  After lots of activities and learning experiences, their knowledge will have grown.  As a way of assessing their learning, I will ask them to draw, label, and/or write about what they have learned. We will then reflect on their learning by comparing the "before" and "after" pieces of work.  The children enjoy this kind of assessment activity, and it clearly indicates the depth of their understanding.  It also gives me information about the effectiveness of my instruction.

Portraits
The portraits are finally finished and hanging in the room with the more abstract portraits they did in art right next to them.  I will be putting a photo of each child holding their class portraits in my gallery, but I invite you all to come in and have a look at their excellent work. 

Homework and Spelling
Wow!  The children are being very responsible about their homework, and last week everyone was a Spelling Star!  That's a first in all my years of teaching.  Thank you for your support at home.  It makes such a difference in your child's confidence in themselves and their learning.

Check my gallery for the latest photos of the children and our classroom activities. 

Posted on September 26, 2008 2:34 PM | Permalink