Inquiry Centers · Week 1, Monday · 60 min

• Sound Scientist Station: an experimental area where students create and record unique sounds, analyze their characteristics, and document discoveries in listening journals.
• Musical Invention Station: design and construct simple instruments using found objects, exploring how different materials create varied sounds.
• Sound Mystery Challenge (from Morning Meeting): the teacher plays sounds without visual cues and students guess what makes each one unique, building listening skills and curiosity.

What is a map? · Week 3, Wednesday

Key question: how do mail carriers know where to go?

• Morning Meeting (20 min): read Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney and recite the class's mail carrier poem.
• Literacy (40 min): a cardboard box turned into mail slots, one per child. They write notes to friends and put them in each other's mailboxes.
• Math (40 min): sorting mail by numbers. Number paper mailboxes 1 to 10; children match index cards with dots or numerals to the right mailbox and deliver the mail.

+ 2 more in the full excerpt

Performance task: Raising money for a cause · Engage & Serve, final week

Children decide what community organization they want to help, then raise money or food for it. They make the signs and flyers for their fundraiser and count the money.

• Assessment: observation during play, children dictating what they have learned, student reflection, developmental checklist.
• Rationale: a culminating activity that gives the children an opportunity to contribute and feel engaged in being community helpers themselves.