Inquiry Based Activity

This assignment was a little harder than I expected. I chose to do an activity for 4th grade involving the Water Cycle. The students could work in pairs. After looking at countless websites for videos and games, I was able to choose a video from Scholastic that explained the Water Cycle very well. I thought the video would be interesting and engaging for 4th graders because it involved 2 boys talking about their soccer game being rained out. I also found a game the students could do that would help them become familiar with the vocabulary words such as precipitation and evaporation.

I provided a website for the students to go to after they watch the video and play the game. I created questions based on this website. I used multiple choice and had one fill in the blank. This part was harder than I thought it would be. I had to read information about the water cycle and then formulate questions that the students could answer. It is more time-involved than I expected. I also included an extra-credit opportunity in which students have to draw the water cycle and label the parts.

Something I had difficulty with was finding a website that was the reading level of a 4th grader. Since it's been awhile since I have been in 4th grade, it was hard to remember what 4th graders are capable of. I am observing a 4th grade classroom right now, so I was able to think about these students and try to imagine if they could complete the worksheet. I didn't want the assignment to be too difficult, but I also didn't want it to be super easy because the students would get bored.

Overall, I liked creating an Inquiry Based Activity and plan on using them in my classroom one day.