4th Grade English UOI

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2026.04.27

Hello, everyone. I am Anne, the 4th graders’ English teacher.

We have officially launched our first Unit of Inquiry (UOI) for the term. It has been a pleasure to observe how much the students have matured over the years, especially when compared to their time as 1st graders. Now that they have gained more life experience and practiced their own forms of study, they seem much more comfortable with the inquiry process , particularly in asking high-quality questions about the central idea.

For this first unit, students are tasked with inquiring into the topic of well-being—specifically the different types that exist and the various factors that affect them. To get started, we held a “warm-up” activity where students gathered definitions from online resources and interviewed friends and family to see how others define the term.

During the initial “unpacking” of the central idea, students shared their prior knowledge and worked through some of the more difficult vocabulary. While our understanding started off very general—leaving some students feeling a bit confused or lost at first—the transformation was incredible. It was amazing to see how many interesting and deep questions they generated once they moved past those initial general understandings.

After exploring the general concept, the students turned their focus inward. They were asked to rate and measure their own well-being and list the specific things they believe contribute to it. This exercise also encouraged them to reflect on the nature of emotions, specifically whether their well-being remains the same or changes on a daily basis.

To wrap up our discussions before the Golden Week break, we categorized the factors that affect us into two groups:

Things we can control.
Things we cannot control.

What’s next?

When we return from the break, we will pick up right where we left off. The students will begin inquiring into how to create their own “Well-Being Recovery Kit”. These kits will consist of practical things they can do to return to a sense of balance whenever they face challenges that are beyond their control.