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Planning Who We Are 1 2
Planning Who We Are 1 2
transdisciplinary theme: An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and
values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human
relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights
and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
PYP Planner
central idea: Our body is made up of different parts that work together.
Goal: Your task is to create a resource for children to help them understand one way
they can look after their body.
Role: You are a healthy lifestyle expert who is in charge of teaching children at
schools how to look after himself or herself.
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Related concepts: Living things: body systems
Form: Identifying features and categorizing and describing parts of the body.
Similarities and differences between people. Structure of body systems.
Function: Purpose/role of parts, typical and atypical ways of behaving.
Responsibility: Choices, actions/consequences, childrens rights, what they
can control vs. what their parents insure.
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the
central idea?
- The parts of the body and their roles. (form/function)
- How the body parts work together.(form/function)
- Looking after our body.(responsibility)
What teacher questions will drive these inquiries?
What is the difference between external and internal organs?
What happens to food when you eat it?
What can you do to take care of your body?
What does it mean to be healthy emotionally?
What teacher provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. Videos, 3D diagrams of the body, books from the library,
experiments
Prior knowledge activities listed in box 3. Students have options to express their prior knowledge about body parts,
functions, systems and taking care.
Students will watch videos related to parts of the body, systems, typical and atypical functioning, taking care of oneself.
Students post questions on the Wonder Wall. Any student may choose any question and use resources such as
books, prior knowledge or the internet to find out the answer and re-post.
GOING FURTHER:
Parts and their functions:
Students match functions to parts and sort them into systems.
Formative:
Group Discussions
Students will sort food labels into healthy and unhealthy categories.
Students will choose a Paralympic athlete and create a hero poster for them to raise awareness and support.
Parts working together:
Students will create a map of a chosen body system, including labels of all the parts.
Create a comic of activities they do through out the day and explain how each system is used.
Looking after our body:
Students will divide up a paper plate and use pictures taken at the grocery store to sort food into groups.
Students will list different ways to take care of our body and then write their function on a body map.
Students will use a venn diagram to express their responsibilities vs. their parents and shared ones.
Students will plan and lead an exercise session for the class.
Students will write an explanation piece to try to explain the benefits of a healthy choice.
Students will come up with a way to track how much water they drink a day.
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Books: NCIS library books and selection of personal books. Research and experiments.
People: Videos of experts on topics surrounding taking care of yourself. (nurses, doctors, meditation practitioners)
Visits: Visit to local hospital to see how people are taken care of etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eVG45_iF9U (How the Heart Works) this channel has other videos on the systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5iCoCaofc (Exploring the Heart)- this channel has other videos on the systems.
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Websites:
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/kids
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/nutritionforkids/games/foodgroupsgame.html
http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Activity.aspx?siteId=15§ionId=64&contentId=56 make a healthy lunch box
digestion
Students were able to name most body parts and organs throughout the unit.
Because a lot of the names and information were new to them, they sometimes
need prompts or more time to recall new names. The working together part was
demonstrated as they took part in the science experiments. They would often tell
you what was going to happen next, or tell you how the system process would
progress, before it was conducted. They have shown understanding through
writing that the nervous system is the boss of all things that happen in your body.
One student has begun speaking about parts working as teams when he is
referring to different systems.
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.
More of a focus could be placed on the concepts of function and form instead of
responsibility. This way, they could discuss and show their knowledge of body
systems (how the parts work together)
Students all chose to use the computer as it was new for them. Because of this,
they needed a lot of support with how to use a search engine to get pictures,
and also, how to use powerpoint. The final project was still theirs and they did a
great job at presenting it to the school at our assembly.
In general, the project really boosted their confidence and helped to show them
what they can achieve.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central
idea and the transdisciplinary theme?
The central idea: Our body is made up of different parts that work together. Fits well
with the personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health part of the
Transdisciplinary theme. I think that the lines of inquiry could be changed a bit in
order to get more at the mental, social and spiritual health areas under the concept
of responsibility.
1.
9. Teacher notes
Areas to Add/Change:
Student Questions:
Why are there two nervous words? Nervous like the way you feel
and the Nervous system.
What makes you taste things?
How does your brain tell your parts what to do?
Are involuntary muscles like battery controlled cars?
Why do we have two places to breathe in from?
Why is the small intestine 4 people long?
When creating the body poster map for each of the systems, I drew the parts and
they told me where they went. This way, the representation was clear for them to use
as a reference. They had the opportunity to draw and place major organs of their
bodies on their own life size torso maps, and include with each one, the function of it.
Although choice was great for the prior knowledge tasks, they took up a lot more
time than expected.
We were unable to sort food labels, as most of them are in Chinese. We resorted to
going further into what the benefit of each food group was.
The exercise sessions were a hit with the kids. They really enjoyed planning them
and they took the challenge of explaining each exercises benefit really well. They
were motivated to write, and very excited to share. More work needed to be done on
respectful listening before delivering.
The biggest success of this unit was during our week of body systems experiments.
As pre-learning, we watched videos, read books or talk about each system while
making a body map of the organs or parts needed for that system. Then, to help
them consolidate and understand more in depth, we conducted a series of
experiments. These were extremely helpful and the language and understanding
they were using by making comments and predictions throughout were invaluable.
We were able to squeeze in a small bit about the responsibility of taking care of our
mental health. They really enjoyed breathing and visualization exercises, and were
able to describe how they were positively affecting their bodies. Yoga could also be
introduced.
PSPE: The 2016 Paralympics began during our first weeks of PSPE, which provided
a great opportunity for students to link body systems and parts to athletic activity and
learning completed in their homeroom. We discussed the function of different body
parts and organs linked to movement and breathing during physical activity and how
leading an active lifestyle contributes to a healthy body.
ART: Students learnt about who they are as artists as we explored the art elements
of line and color. They really enjoyed mixing colors and using lines to create
interesting patterns. They also used the work of Mondrian as inspiration for a primary
colors piece and Miro for an abstract piece on line. This unit was very successful and
students were able to develop an appreciation for these two art elements.
Performing Arts: Students studied the Recorder a member of the woodwind family
of instruments and the basics of stage performance. They learnt how to care for the
instrument as well as how to play solo and ensemble pieces and even how to show
appreciation for a stage performance. Some students experienced some challenges
reading the music notation and memorizing lines of a monologue, but they were very
engaged in this unit of work. They demonstrated a high level of commitment, caring
and integrity throughout this unit.