Hutchinson: Who are we? Where are we starting?

Welcome to the beginning of our Inquiry Notebooking project.  Since teachers from Van Arsdale and Hutchinson will be working on this project and sharing ideas throughout the year, it makes sense that you should know each other and each other's work.

Hutchinson 4th grade team
Linda Dawkins (left) Reading, Writing, Math, and Literacy
Amy Bergh (middle) Reading, Writing, Math and Science
Kathryn Potter (right) Reading, Writing, Math and Social Studies 

Linda, Amy and Kathryn have made sense of the instructional day with some departmentalization.  They embrace the use of essential questions and post them in their classrooms to continually revisit as a part of the learning process.  

Daily Schedule

8:50 - 9:05        Get Ready
9:05-9:10          Announcements
9:10-10:00        Writing
10:00-10:50      Reading
10:50 - 11:25    Art, Music, or P.E.
11:35 - 12:15    Science/Social Studies/Literacy rotation
12:15 - 1:00       Recess/Lunch
1:05 - 1:45        Science/Social Studies/Literacy rotation
1:50 - 2:30        Science/Social Studies/Literacy rotation
2:30 - 3:30        Math
3:30 - 3:35        Homework, Clean-up and Dismissal

Focus for Inquiry Cycle One

The team is focused on the planning process and wants to think about how to making choices about the student work and thinking that will be in the notebook.

Chalk Talk: "Why use notebooks?"

As we begin this year's project (Inquiry Notebooking in Science and Social Studies), we're starting to explore the tool that will be used to capture thinking and work of students.  The tool (the notebook) can be used in a variety of ways to support student learning.  Consider taking a look at the charts created during Van Arsdale's chalk talk. It reveals their thinking about the question, "Why use notebooks?"  Feel free to add additional thoughts, now and in the future, in the comment space below this blog post.  Let's see how our understanding and ideas grow throughout the year as we examine the notebook as a tool for learning.