I love talking about “culture”, “cultural competency”, “diversity”, and “inclusion”— but not when they are used as fluffy euphemisms to avoid talking directly about “race”, “racism”, “anti-racism”, “anti-blackness”, and “systemic justice”.

When you have a student that loves worms this much you better start your own worm bin Ms. Aiko (she/her/hers)

“I think I’m this color.” “I mixed these two.” “I’m darker than you.” Talking about our skin colors and skin tones #RepresentationMatters It only took until 2021

used our identity maps to see what’s similar and different between us. Except we challenged ourselves to be open-minded and work with someone we don’t normally pair up with. “It was cool to be openminded.” “it was fun.” “It was interesting.”

Stretch Zone, Stress Zone, Comfort Zone 🎯 Here’s what the first graders said to draw in each.

We made our own Important Book. What is important about us? #identity

💨✅💡We wanted to count efficiently so we grouped pattern blocks in 2s & 5s. Then we practiced counting aloud. Some of us used our number chart. #InquiryMath #SkipCounting #efficiency #NumberSense

🥼Practiced our science skills by using the scientific method. We wondered, “what is sound like?” 🔊Check out what we learned from our experiment 💡

“When Dr. Nana hit the tuning fork and put it in the bowl the water splashed.”💦 #inquiry #ScientificMethod

Experiments are the best.

More experimenting. Anything that makes a sound vibrates!

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, FIRST GRADERS.

Asked the first graders how we can get more #knowledgeable on a topic and this is what they said : “Don’t just read about it, OWN it!” “Then record what you learned.” “When I go to dance class, I practice after at home.” 🤯 #LearnerProfile

What would you want to learn about if school didn’t tell you what you had to learn? Here’s one of many enlightening responses from a first-grader “What would happen if nothing was real” 🤯🤯🤯 #PersonalInquiry @kjinquiry

Burning questions up on the Wonder Wall 🔥 🔥 🔥 #history #inquirer

When learners are given constant #ICL_Opportunities to ask big questions in the classroom, they’ll start digging into identity. Those are the biggest questions, after all.

Our Meet the Author page ✍️ “We should add what languages we speak!” #identity #writersWorkshop

Visiting the doctor for a writing check-up 🩺Patients receive their evaluation at the end ✔️ #peerEditing

We made a fort and wrote about it! What’s your dream fort like? What’s in it? Who would you invite? Inspired by the book Don’t Forget to Write 826 Valencia

🎂✊