At the start of our Grade 5 Sharing the Planet unit, there was a lot of empty space on this wall. By the end, there were rocks, a couple of NEWater cartons, and bits of coloured paper all over it. You can see a fair bit of the unit in this one photo.
We started with questions in green. One of my favourites was “Is metal a type of rock?” There was another about what kinds of rocks you can find crystals in. I liked those questions because they were the sorts of things the kids actually wanted to find out. As we learned more, we added blue slips. Some were about the rock cycle and some were about erosion. Towards the end of the unit, we added purple slips and gave the kids some time to reflect on what they’d learned.
I liked having the kids’ photos next to their contributions. You could see who had asked a question or shared something they’d figured out. And by the end, you could look back at the green slips and remember what we were wondering about before we knew much about any of it.
Next unit, I want to use the wall more while I’m teaching. I can see myself starting a lesson by pulling a question off the wall and asking, “What do we know about this now?” Or we might read one of the blue slips together and see if anyone wants to add to it or change it. I think I’ll start there. A few minutes to go back to something the kids already put up and see where it takes us.
