Kindergarten Unit of Inquiry How We Organize

OurselvesAugust – September 2012

Central Idea

Successful communities work together to

make and follow agreements.

Lines of Inquiry

• Characteristics of a successful classroom• The way members of a classroom

work together • My role in a successful classroom

Teacher Questions

• How do we keep our classroom a happy and safe place for everyone ?

• Why do we need to follow agreements ? • How do my actions affect the classroom

community ?

During this unit we will try to be:

Attitudes Cooperation

Empathy

Respect

The Learner Profile

We are KAP. This is our first week in Kindergarten.

August 2012

Tuning into the Central Idea:Successful communities work together to make and follow agreements.

What does it mean? Here are our thoughts at the beginning of the Unit of Inquiry:

We don’t know!

August 2012

Tuning into the Central Idea:Successful communities work together to make and follow agreements.

What does it mean? Here are our thoughts at the beginning of the Unit of Inquiry:

August 2012

Tuning into the Central Idea:Successful communities work together to make and follow agreements.

What does it mean? Here are our thoughts at the beginning of the Unit of Inquiry:

We worked in groups to make a block zoo.

We worked together on a collage monster.

Each monster looked very different.

Reflecting on our group tasksWhat helped your group work well?

What did not help?

Explaining what we are doingAsking questionsSmilingLetting everyone join inHelping someone join in by showing them what to do.Saying ‘ok’, ‘yes’, ‘lets put wings’ListeningSharing ideasSolving problems

If someone doesn’t want to join in. When someone didn’t know what to do.People messing up the pictureDoing things without checking (with the group) firstPeople saying our sandcastle is boringPeople moving away from the group

“Can I put another pom pom on?”

“STOP IT!!”

“I think there is something wrong.”

“Can someone help me put the sand out please?”

“Hey, that’s mine!”

We worked with our partner to create

‘body sculptures’We had to be good

communicators, good listeners, respect each

other and show enthusiasm!

We brainstormed what would help make our classroom a happy and safe place to be. Here are our initial thoughts.

Then we cut them up and tried to sort and group our ideas.

This is our KAP classroom agreement

Our classroom agreement is not the only agreement we have to follow. We looked at the UNIS Code of Conduct….

UNIS Code of Conduct

…and made connections to our class agreement.

We tried to make one agreement from each collection that would help keep our classroom a happy and safe place to be. Here they are:

• We are caring (to people, animals, plants, books, toys…)

• We keep our hands and feet to ourselves• We listen and look at the person

speaking• We are safe and stay with our teachers• We use kind words and an inside voice• We share and take turns• We are fair and tell the truth

Ms Cami and Ms Ilsa came and did a puppet show. We learned that…

Ms Cami gave us a balloon in groups. We had to try and keep it in the air by cooperating.

We are working on improving our communication skills by speaking

and listening with respect.

How many active listeners can you see?

We worked in pairs to create a plasticine person. We had one colour each. Here are our reflections.

• It was hard because me and Melissa kept making mistakes

• My partner did not understand, it would help if we speak the same language

• It is hard if your partner is not joining in• It is hard if someone doesn’t want to join in.• We did it quickly because we used our words

and we were kind and worked together• I helped my partner join in

Charlie and Lola – ‘Yes I am, No your not!”

• They squabbled!• They didn’t share the colours• They drew on each others work• In the end they shared• They needed to change their attitude• They need to respect each other• They were trying not to squabble, and trying

to say “yes!”

Story characters help us to understand the PYP Learner Profile and Attitudes

Frog wanted to play with Toad. MatthewThey were helping each other to get better. AdiWhen Frog felt better, he shared the bed with toad. DavidToad was doing silly things. MinhFrog told the same story to Toad to make him feel better. Ella

The Little Red Hen

Cooperative

Rainbow fishWe read ‘The Rainbow Fish’ about a fish who learned to share. “First he was not sharing so he did not have any friends, then he gave his shiny scales to all the fish. He was happy!” Anna Ly We wrote stories based on ‘The

Rainbow Fish’. This is Seo Won’s story:“Peaky Parrot asked her friend, Tee for a blue feather. Tee gave it to her and Peaky flew away. Tee gave her gradmother an orange feather. Grandmother said, “thank you.”

This is Oliver’s story, ‘The Turtle Wanted to Share’:“First the turtle said ‘no’ to the tree. Then the turtle said, ‘no’ to the butterfly. Finally he changed his mind and he shared his house to the tree.”

Cooperating in pairs to make a person using plasticene

• Taking turns• Listening to each other

Towards the end of the unit, we have learnt more about cooperation. This is our thinking about what is

important when working in a group?

You need to be nice and also tell the truth. JohanYou have to share with somebody. AdiIf you share some toys to another of your friends, they will play with you, if you don’t share, they could be sad. KateBeing nice, that means, no hitting and no pinching. EmmaIf you cooperate, you can make the team work quicker. MatthewTalking in your group about where to put this and that. DavidIf something happens to a person, you can tell what happened. EllaBe good listeners. Ms AmyListen to your friends and teachers. Anna Ly

Why do we need to follow our class agreement?

Because it might make you a little happier if you do. MatthewBecause it might make you a little bit safer. DavidBecause you will make new friends. EmmaSo you can keep everyone safe. EllaBecause you might get in trouble. Kai

End of Unit AssessmentThe children were asked to work together to build a structure. The remaining group observed and listened. They used Edward De Bono’s thinking hats to organize their thinking.

Yellow Hat Thinking(What is working well?) They were playing fairlyI see somebody sharingI heard someone say ‘please’They asked nicely for the blockThey did tidy uyp very wellThey were using kind wordsThey were helping each other.“Can I have that block?” “yes”

Black Hat Thinking(What were the challenges?)

Someone said “no” but then they helped each otherThe castle fell downSomeone shouted at someone else when the castle fell downI saw someone was not sharing

By observing other groups working on a cooperative task, the children were able to demonstrate their understanding of what cooperation looks and sounds like.

We are learning to give feedback to our friends.

We will try to remember our class agreement for the whole year!

We are caring (to people, animals, plants, books, toys…)

We keep our hands and feet to ourselves

We use kind words and an inside voice

We listen and look at the person speaking

We are fair and tell the truth

We are safe and stay with our teachers

We share and take turns