My thinking in March...

     After attempting to plan for after spring break for quite a while my head is still spinning. After meeting with Jeff, we know what are kids need to know, but we're still brainstorming different ways our students might get there and what it will look and sound like. 

     We're in the midst of our Colorado History unit. Within Colorado, we need to cover geography, government, economics, and history. All areas are covered, and now we're ready to dive into the history of Colorado.  So, our reading and writing is going to support the students' learning of Colorado's past. I know the standards we have to cover, and it can be done in a variety of ways. 

   So, how that's going to look exactly...I'm not sure. One thing I do know for sure, is that I'm ready to jump in and try out literature circle inquiries. We have always done literature circles, and I'm excited about taking them to a deeper level, while supporting the authenticity of living a curious life. I like how our text stated, "Instead, we ask (when a student finishes a book), "Has this book changed you in some way? Where does this book take you next? What do you want to find out or do as a result of having read this? Do you have any lingering questions?" (pg. 203) These are questions I want to constantly ask young readers. 

Below are some of my ideas as of today.

-read biographies about influential people in Colorado that would then lead to further questions about Colorado and it's past (this seems awfully big and broad)

-read historical fiction novels about Colorado which would lead to questions...(this seems awfully big and broad as well) 

-read shorter texts (nonfiction articles, myths, biographies) about each time period that we're studying...which would lead us into the inquiry process (this seems more logical, but not as exciting...) 

Any other great ideas? 

Like I said before, my head is spinning. One advantage to the last idea is that my teaching would really coincide with the learning happening when Jeff is with our students. It is also a way we could ensure we truly have covered all of the content. I'm also trying to figure out where our writing ties in. Of course, they're constantly writing to learn, but I need them to write a nonfiction piece as well...

This blog post is just a small preview of how I think. (Scary, I know!) But, I'm excited about using literature inquiry circles to reinforce the learning happening in Social Studies and literacy.