Fieldwork: Group 3 Inquiry

We wanted to make sure we kept the Spongebob storyline consistent and alive during our next lesson.  The students reacted so well to this that we knew it was an important touch. 

For our inquiry lesson, the students were presented with a problem they needed to solve!  Plankton wanted to open his very own Krusty Krab so he can master the Krabby Patty.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have any money and has no idea how the bank works.  The students needed to research, solve the problem, and give the information to Plankton.  As we presented the topic, the students were confused as to why they were helping a bad guy.  Of course, we didn't expect this but Jen recovered extremely well and explained to the students that we have to help everyone.  After that, the students were excited to research! 

We explained to the students the process of problem solving and what the best approach was.  We then broke them into groups.  Kiera took her group to Bikini Bottom, Shannon and I took our group to the Krusty Krab, and Jen and Michaela took their students to Mrs. Puff's boating school.  This was a cute extra touch that kept the students excited.  Each group had a set of articles with information regarding the bank and how it works.  While researching, the students had to fill out a problem solving worksheet while learning new information for Plankton.  My group did very well taking facts out of the articles and writing them down.  At some points, Shannon and I read and reread the important facts that were represented.  This age seemed to do well with the read aloud approach.
After the students finished, they returned to their seats for the sharing portion.  I ran the closing at this time.  I went to several different students and asked what they found and how they could help Plankton with that fact.  We had many students participate and excited to share their findings.  Now it was time for the students to tell Plankton what he should do!  The students had to write a letter to Plankton giving him different options to open up his own restaurant.  Many students told him he should save his money and/or take out a loan.  I think this was a great example of the mastering process and our students' abilities.
We gave our students a writing checklist.  This was something I found on Pinterest and recreated for our class.  The checklist required students to follow certain rules while writing to Plankton.  This checklist was much easier for the students to follow instead of the Bishop Dunn rubric.  They seemed to really enjoy this and of course Spongebob was there to cheer them on!