Start with a question you can’t answer from your desk.
Most of what’s on this site is for the person who can book a day. If you teach grade 3 or grade 5 and want to try a walking investigation yourself, start here.
Free session: Build a walking investigation for Unit 3.5 or 5.4
Thursday, January 21, 2027, 4:00 to 4:45 PM, on Zoom. Free.
For grade 3 and grade 5 teachers starting The People and Governments of Massachusetts or The Civil War and the Ongoing Fight for Civil Rights this spring.
In 45 minutes you’ll draft a question, a four-stop route within a fifteen-minute walk of your school, and the sources you’d need, using the Investigating History inquiry sequence with the town as the text. You’ll leave with the one-page planning template and a draft on it. I facilitate; I don’t lecture.
Getting your district to book a day
If the session makes you want me to model the walk with your class and plan with your team the same day, that’s Model and Plan, booked by a school or district. Send your principal or curriculum lead to the For districts page, or forward them this:
“Backyard History runs a one-day walking investigation for Investigating History Units 3.5 and 5.4. One class in the morning, teacher planning in the afternoon, no bus. Listed by DESE. Spring bookings close at the end of February.”