Here's a fun activity that could be done at anytime of the year to introduce or review the PYP concepts with your class.  My co-teacher, the awesome Audrey Pagoli shared it in our collaborative planning meeting and I fell in love!  It's a great way for the students to look at one thing through the different lenses that the PYP Concepts provide.  It can also be used with just about anything across the curriculum. Here, I used it as a whole-class activity to look at our class stuffy, Domo...it's a bit messy and my whiteboard marker stopped working...but you get the idea!  

    This was a great activity to kick off our Who We Are unit and as an "introduce yourself" task at the beginning of the school year. I am also feeling this as the cover page for student portfolios: 

   My other Grade 4 partner in crime, Kristi Wheeldon, took this activity and used it to explore materials and matter in our current unit, How the World Works. I really appreciate activities that can be used across curriculum areas and can be easily pulled out of the PYP toolbox. 

Attached is a very generic copy of Exploring the Key Concepts. However, it is a very simple thing to whip up a 3X3 table and tweak it to suit what you are doing. Happy exploring! 

Generating Questions and Sorting Questions are Student Keys to Driving an Inquiry. I am always trying to find effective ways to include student voice in planning an inquiry. These two simple but effective resources help me to hand over the keys to the inquiry vehicle so students can drive their own inquiries. 

Generating Questions
Students can write the central idea in the middle, and begin formulating questions for each concept. 

Sorting Questions
For students to identify their most powerful questions that could guide their inquiry and deepen their understanding, they can sort their questions. The Generative-Genuine double continuum is a great tool to sort questions. Inquiries need questions that are both generative (that take us somewhere) and genuine (that we care about) and this does the trick just nicely. I named each quadrant in order of value to inquiry as:

1. DRIVERS: Questions that are both generative and genuine which will drive student inquiry.
2. LOOKERS: Questions that are genuine but quick to look up.
3. KEEPERS: Questions that are generative but low interest which may be kept for later.
4. SNOOZERS: Questions that are not compelling nor could not drive an inquiry.

Although students pursue one DRIVING question, the thinking involved in generating questions and the insight it provides is valuable information about student learning.  

When asked to explain inquiry, this is how I make sense of the different inquiry cycles available.

I have made a table with the cycles or processes I use and aligned them with Kath Murdoch’s model. We use the cycle that best supports the student's inquiry and leads to ACTION.

Many cycles or processes have elements that are key to a quality inquiry, such as, the traits for writing, or, the elements of music for composition. I find these equally useful.

As inquiry is an active present verb, it is also important to plan for inquiry where students are actively connecting and thinking within the discipline(s). For example, students should not only study scientists and their discoveries, but also experience BEING a scientist to make his or her own discoveries.

In addition there are skills and key questions, even attitudes, that can be used at different stages to support the inquiry. For example, you can use the questions within Problem Solving Talk and Problem Solving Steps for the Math Problem Solving Process. Alternatively, you can use the Question Frames for the Reading Comprehension Cycle.