My Journey as an Inquiry teacher: Our second unit

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Tuning In

Day 1

We started our new unit by taking our understanding of the previous unit further. We made the connection by watching the video on changes we experience on the Earth. Our knowledge of the previous unit became our prior knowledge for the second unit.

Watching the video we realized that change is connected to many other factors. This made us connect to our theme - How the World Works.

Post this we then delved into our prior knowledge. We looked at a mystery picture to think back on what it made us connect to.

We wrote our thoughts on sticky notes.

Day 2

Visible thinking

Students posted their thinking on 3 walls. They could read each others post and re - post their ideas if they changed their minds.

Wall 1 -They were asked to make a list of all the planets in the solar system.

Wall 2 - They were asked to pictorially represent what they thought the solar system was according to them.

Wall 3 - We used the padlet to write down our thought on the essential question - “Of all the planets in the Solar system why is the Earth the best place to live?”

Day 3

Think Puzzle Explore

The students were given sets of cards. They had to read the word and match it to the corresponding picture or definition. This gave us a clear picture of the prior knowledge of the students.

We have placed these cards on charts. As we go along the unit the students will be encouraged to keep an eye out and change the cards matched as they learnt more about the mysteries of the Solar system.

Day 4

Unfolding the Central idea

The students worked in pars and wrote down what they understand by the central idea.
We brainstormed and discussed what concepts/attitudes and learner profile we could work on in this unit of inquiry.

Finding Out

Moving further into the inquiry we started with a scavenger hunt. We went around the class hunting for information to fill our question sheets.

We shared our findings with each other.

Solar system quest

Once the students were a little familiar with the planets they were set off on a solar system quest. On this quest the students will have to complete four steps to reach their final task.

Step 1 of the quest

Just exploring the Solar system

We did a little quick silent assessment to know if the students knew the order of the planets.

Step 2 of the quest

The students set out to find out the basics of the different planets.

While the students were busy finding out how far the planets are from the sun we also set out to explore the concept of distance in Math. We learnt about the different units of measuring distance.

We went around school to explore measuring using different tools.

Sorting Out

Using our understanding of measurement we measured out how far the planets are from the sun to show the same through a model.

We also made a model to show what are all the elements that make up the solar system.

Step 3 of the Quest

As the next step the students were each assigned a planet that they had to research about and become an expert on.

Creating our models of the assigned planet

Presenting our home assignments

Stay tuned to see whats next in our quest......

In literacy, we have been learning about how to write a non chronological report.

We looked at different reports to understand the features of a non chronological report.

We as a class brainstormed all the things we are curious to know about planets. Our reports on planets will include all the points we discussed.

We have also been learning about the features of a non fiction book. We took all our research work and compiled our own non fiction book, complete with a glossary and bibliography.

In Math, we have been exploring angles and polygons.

Scoot time

Exploring with shapes and angles

B.U.I.L.D. time

We worked on reinforcing our addition and subtraction skills, through our BUILD stations.

Portfolio time

Grade 3 has also been busy reflecting on their work and selecting what they would like to add in their E portfolio.

The goal of portfolios at EIS is -

To show evidence of accomplished unit of inquiry
To give students the sense of ownership over their education
To show student progress in their knowledge and skills

Celebration time

PYP celebrated the festival of Dashera. We saw a short video to understand why we celebrate Dashera. Post that we had a garba session and let our hair down and danced to our hearts content.