Enrichment: Grades 1-3

Animal Inquiry Circles Unit Plan

Step 1: Introduce Inquiry Circles- With students, launch the
Inquiry Circles with an introduction of the learning path for the
next several weeks of WIN by watching the Inquiry Circles video
(27 minutes-Can be split in half over 2 sessions). Spend time
pausing the video and pointing out important aspects to notice.
Explain to students that they will be working together to do
research about animals and will teach the group about what they
learn.
Step 2: Review Turn and Talk guidelines with anchor chart and
practice several Turn and Talks. Tell students they will be
experiencing Turn and Talks frequently during the Inquiry Circle
process.
Step 3: KWL Chart: Explain how a KWL chart works. Model, as a
whole group, how to fill in the Know column of the chart with
information about the teacher animal. Groups fill in their Know
column on large note-taking paper.
Step 4: KWL Chart: Explain the Want to learn column and model
with the teacher animal. Groups fill in their Want to learn
column on large note-taking paper.
Step 5: Determine categories to sort new learning and label
Learned column accordingly (what they eat, where they live, )
Step 6: Text and Graphic features lesson- Use anchor chart to
explain that good readers/researchers get information from text
and graphic features in books and articles. Model finding
information in an article and writing it on a Post-It note (name,
too) and sticking it on the Learned column of the KWL.

Step 7: Give groups one article on their animal and have them
practice finding and recording new learning and placing it in the
correct category on in the Learned column.
Step 8: Students will receive bins with books and articles about
their animal. They will spend several sessions using these
materials, in addition to videos, to capture new learning on their
chart.
Step 9: Checking new learning- Groups will examine Post-It notes
for repeats and errors. Students will discard any Post-Its that the
group determines are not essential.
Step 10: Mini-lesson on effective ways to convey information
using text and graphic features. Model with teacher animal.
Step 11: Groups create murals. Members add text and graphic
features about the animals.
Step 12: Taking the learning public- Groups present their learning
to teach the class about their animal. The audience takes notes
and asks questions.