Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose? To inquire into the following:

Class/grade: School:

Fourth

Age group: 9-10 School code: 006610

Oak Forest

transdisciplinary theme (Unit 4): Who We Are

Teacher(s): Forman, Harwell, Thorne, Pettit, Dhillon, Ward Date: Jan. 2- Feb.12, 2013 Proposed duration: 30 hours; 6 Weeks

PYP planner

An inquiry into the nature of self; Human relationships including families friends, communities, and cultural; An inquiry into personal, physical, mental, social, and spiritual health; An inquiry into what it means to be human; An inquiry into beliefs and values; An inquiry into rights and responsibilities.

2. What do we want to learn?

central idea

What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, and reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry? Key Concepts: Change perspective Causation

Change forces interactions to maintain customary order.

Summative assessment task(s): What are the possible ways of assessing students understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? Students created a visual item and presentation comparing either the sun and moon, the sun and earth, or the moon and earth. Students also had to incorporate a mathematical element into the visual item or the presentation. A rubric will be used to assess the presentation.

Related Concepts: sequence, pattern, beliefs, consequences What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? *purpose of war *relationship among sun, earth, and moon *cause and effect of war What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? Provocation Instead of allowing students to get their breakfast as they come in, students will be directed to be seated and wait for instructions. Students will be called to get their breakfast in a certain order, which may result in students not having first choice of the most desirable breakfast items. A discussion will then follow as to how this affected the student and what steps could be put in place to maintain order. Teacher Questions 1. What is the purpose of war? 2. How are the sun, earth, and moon related? 3. What causes war?

Taught: February 14, 2011 April 1, 2011 Revised: November 14, 2012 International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

Planning themight we know what we have learned? 3. How inquiry This column should be used in conjunction with How best might we learn? What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for? 1. Students will complete KWL to assess prior knowledge.

4. How best might we learn?

What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions? 1. What causes day and night? Darken room. Use a flashlight and a globe to model day and night. 2. Provide students with a list of some important events that occurred, using American During the Age of Revolution as a source. Ask each student or group to locate on age-appropriate web site for each event. Have students create chronological lists, then a timeline. Please internet resources on the timeline Combine the sites into a hotlist and post on class or school website. 3. Draw a model of the Earths revolution to demonstrate seasons.

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?

1. Form a hypothesis, test it, and give results. 2. Create and assess timeline. 3. Assess students drawing of the Earths revolution. 4. Assessment of the essay and correctly displaying the phases of the moon.

4. Phases of the moon. Using oreo cookies, students will create moon phases and answer the following questions in essay format: 1. What causes the phases of the moon? 2. How does the moons gravity affect the oceans?

5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Resources will be used to broaden and develop the understanding of the unit activities. Computer Lab- students will use a block of time strictly for research Library- students will use the school and public library for books that are related to their topic of research Art- students will use their artistic ability to show what they have learned Music Teachers- the teachers will incorporate music from the different countries for the students to compare and contrast the types of instruments used in different countries Reading stories from Pearson Reading Street textbook: The Stranger, How Night Came from the Sea, Eye of the Storm, The Great Kapok Tree, Amelia and Eleanor (ISBN: 0-328-22121-x) McMillan/McGraw-Hill Science-A Closer Look-Grade 4 Chapter 4 & 5 (ISBN:978-0-02-287753-8) Houghton Mifflin Social Studies Grade 4 Chapter 9 (ISBN: 978-0-618-93906-0)

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Taught: February 14, 2011 April 1, 2011 Revised: November 14, 2012

Visit from local political figure, possible Town Hall Meeting, Smart Boards, Graphic Organizers, interactive journals, Specialty Teachers

International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

Reflecting on the inquiry

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included. We believe we did not meet all of our goals. This is due to the lack of planning time, conflict with curriculum maps, fully understanding the IB process, and understanding what can be taught when and how. The central idea did cover all lines of inquiry however the lines of inquiry do not mesh well. How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more accurate picture of each students understanding of the central idea. Improvement can be made by implementing a pre and post test.

7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP? What were the learning experiences that enabled students to: Develop an understanding of the concepts identified in What do we want to learn? KWL charts to develop prior knowledge. Graphic organizers to research and obtain information.

Demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills? Students were able to cooperate effectively by assigning a variety of tasks and jobs. Students were able to collaborate to find information for their individual summative projects.

Develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? Students were able to communicate and cooperate effectively. In addition, through presentations, students were able to gain more confidence. Also, students were able to demonstrate empathy toward one another.

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme? Students also used graphic organizers, visual and written assessments to prove connections between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme.

Taught: February 14, 2011 April 1, 2011 International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 Revised: November 14, 2012

Reflecting on the inquiry

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning? Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning. Students showed curiosity during leveled readers, powerpoints, investigation, and United Streaming videos. These are a few student inquiries during the unit: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What do you mean the layers of the atmosphere? How does a meteorologist know what kind of weather is coming? Why are there two kinds of clouds in the sky at the same time? What causes thunder? How does the Sun heat the Earth? How does the temperature change?

9. Teacher notes Teachers need to plan better, quality experiments to teach the material. Teachers were overwhelmed by the number of SPIs that were included in this unit. The central idea needs to be re-evaluated in order to better serve the focus of the unit.

At this point teachers should go back to box 2 What do we want to learn? and highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the inquiries.

What student-initiated actions arose from the learning? Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to reflect, to choose and to act. Students were enthusiastic to go outside and identify clouds. They collected various items to be recycled. Students were able to correlate how human activities influence the atmosphere through research. Students were excited to observe the weather and make accurate predictions.

Taught: February 14, 2011 April 1, 2011 International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 Revised: November 14, 2012