Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose? Class/grade: Age group:

Transdisciplinary 1 Grade 1
Transdisciplinary Theme
To inquire into the following: School: The International School
School code:
How We Organize Ourselves
Title: Farm to Table
 The interconnectedness of human-made systems Teacher(s): Abad, Maria; Ahola-Weldon,
and communities Kristie; Antonis, Sophia; Barros, Carolina;
Bellamy, Cassie; Briglia, Robert; Fornell,
Tamara; Fowdy-Drouhard, Lara; Grimm,
Akiko; Jansen, Julie; Musselman, Peter; Nan,
Central Idea
Hu; Olson, Janet; Pack, Dan; Platt, David;
The food people eat goes through several steps from the Prince, Britt; Richards, Kamela; Tellez,
farm to our table. Ivonne; Widdows, Gloria; Wirsching,

Rubric for.pdf Teresa ; Woods, Robert

Proposed duration
Summative Assessment Tasks
number of hours: over number of weeks:
What are the possible ways of assessing students' understanding of the
central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we (Week 7, 6 Weeks)
look for?

Steps from farm to table 2. What do we want to learn?

Performance Task
Key Concepts
Task: Each student will choose a product and demonstrate
the steps of how the food goes from the farm to the table. Key Concepts
What are the key concepts to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Students will create a flow chart like a comic strip or poster
or 3-D model showing the steps. The student will present  Change
the work to the class.  Connection
Assessment Tool: Rubric

Evidence: 1. Students will be able to identify where food Related Concepts

comes from. 2. Students will be able to explain the
difference between processed and non-processed foods. Distribution and process
They will spend time looking at food labels and discuss the
processing steps. 3. Students will understand that food
often goes through many steps before we eat it.
Possible Actions: Students may comment about the origin
of foods in their lunches and about whether or not they are
processed. Students may comment at home about
processed food and about the countries different fruits and
vegetables come from.
Lines of Inquiry
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central
idea?
 1. Where different foods come from, both locally
and internationally.
 2. The steps involve in getting food to our table.
 3. How food can be processed and changed.

#2_1stGrade rubric.pdf
Teacher Questions
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

1. Where does our food comes from?

2. What are the steps our food goes through to get to our
table?
3. What happens to the food when it gets processed?
Prompts: pizza from Pizza Monday, foods from lunch
boxes, Outdoor Garden
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned? 4. How best might we learn?
 Prior Knowledge
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?
 Students will create a web of ideas about where
their family gets food (super market, mom and pop
stores, coops, farmer's markets, CSAs, your
garden, hunting, fishing).
 Students will make a flow chart predicting how
food goes from the farm to the table. Students will
make a chart of a processed food (like potato
chips) and a non-processed food (apple). Or,
children will be given a piece of orange and some
orange juice. Children will predict the process and
teacher will record answers.
Teachers will look for evidence of understanding of the key
concepts of process and unprocessed foods. Also, the
teacher will look for evidence of understanding systems or
steps, and international versus local.
Formative Assessment
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of
the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Students will make a mobile of the steps to create a
processed food and another mobile for a non-processed
food. Students will identify where the foods come from.
Students will compare and contrast the steps needed for
the processed versus non-processed food.
Teacher will look for evidence of understanding
processed/unprocessed, as well as where the food comes
from.
Learning Activities
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?
 Students will visit the TIS garden and identify the
foods grown.
 Students will take a field trip to a supermarket to
see what is available and where it comes from.
With this information, students can look at the food
pyramid to see all the foods we can buy locally to
have a healthy diet, and what other foods we
would have to get from somewhere else.
 Students will locate on a map the countries of
origin for the different foods found on the field trip.
Students will make drawings and place them on
the map.
 Students will make an international fruit salad with
fruits from around the world to see the global
connection to the foods we eat.
 At home, students will keep a diary of the foods
they eat. At school, students will keep a record of
foods they eat. This information will be recorded
on a class chart with three categories: local/non-
local/origin(where did the food come from)
Students will notice if they eat more or less
processed food, local or non-local food.
 Students will examine packaged foods to identify
the ingredients in the product.
 Students will place their lunch foods in the
corresponding categories of the food pyramid.
Students will identify the foods they are missing in
their lunch for a healthy diet. They will write a note
in their track language to their parents requesting
these foods in their lunch.
 Students will conduct experiments to learn the
difference between a fruit and a vegetable.
Students will make predictions if it is a fruit or
vegetable. Students will draw what they imagine is
inside the fruit or vegetable. After cutting the fruit
or vegetable, students will make an observational
drawing of it. Next, students will identify if it is a
fruit or vegetable.
 To learn how foods go through a process,
students will make butter from scratch.
 To learn how food is changed, students will make
mo-chi from scratch.
 Students will make a survey of where their family
 buys food and then graph the results.

 Students will watch harvest videos on youtube to

see food delivery systems. Students will make flow
charts to illustrate the process.

 Students will cook a food from scratch(homemade,

using a recipe with the ingredients) in the
classroom, like ice cream or bread or soup.

English Specialist Connections:

 In English class, students will have key vocabulary

reinforced such as: local, non-local, international,
national, imported, exported, processed, fresh
(non-processed).

 Students will integrate sequencing words: First,

Next, Then, After that, Finally in their writing and
re-telling of stories that connect to food and
cooking. For example, students will read Eric
Carle's Pancakes, Pancakes! that explains the
process of getting flour, milk, eggs from the farm
to make pancakes.

 Students will also write or tell the story of Tomie

DePaola's wordless book Pancakes for Breakfast.

Transdisciplinary Skills
PYP Transdisciplinary Skills

Thinking skills social skills, thinking skills,

communication, research
 Acquisition of skills
knowledge
 Comprehension

Social skills

 Accepting
responsibility

Communication skills

 Presenting

Research skills

 Collecting data
 Organizing data
 Presenting research
findings

Learner Profile
 IB Learner Profile

 Inquirers
 Knowledgeable
 Reflective

Focus Attitudes
Focus Attitudes

 Appreciation
 Cooperation
 Curiosity

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software,
etc, will be available?
BOOKS:

 La leche, de la vaca al envase. Editoral juventud (English version too)

 El gusto del mercado Mexicano. Por nancy maria Grande tabor (English version too)

 Alimentos y cultivo. Por Pam Robson

 La vida en la granja. maquinaria en la granja. Por Lynn M. Stone
 Portrait of a Farm Family. By Raymond bial
 Farm. By Ned Halley. Eyewitness Books
 La cocina y la comida en la historia de Amnerica. Weekly reader
 Vamos a recoger mananas y calabazas. Por Amy y Richard hutchings. Scholastic
 English books: Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola, Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle, A-Z
books-- Making Pizza, Taste This, I Set the Table

http://aitc.oregonstate.edu/resources
Guest speaker who is a pig farmer.
Field trip to the New Seasons.
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to
facilitate the inquiry?
Expert: shipping company owner Mr. Brazie
[Please begin typing here]
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? 7. To what extent did we include the elements
of the PYP?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing
evidence of students' understanding of the What were the learning experiences that
central idea. The reflections of all teachers enabled students to:
involved in the planning and teaching of the
inquiry should be included.  develop an understanding of the
In the summative assessment, most students concepts identified in "What do we want
started at the beginning of the process and then to learn?"
clearly showed the steps that the food goes through
to get to the kitchen table. However, this year some
of the students struggled to figure out how to do
the steps of the summative assessment. For
example with ice cream, most students would be
able to identify the cow as the first step; other kids
would start with the ice cream cone.
How you could improve on the assessment
task(s) so that you would have a more
accurate picture of each student's
understanding of the central idea.
 Ideas for next year:
I liked the assessment, but next year we could
make a plate/dinner instead of a poster, improve it
so they have to tell where the food came from. The
plate could include: local, international, and
processed foods.
For example: Summative assessment: Students are
at a big feast. They must choose from an
assortment of foods that include processed, local,
international foods. They will also write a menu and
share the reasons for their choices.
 Emphasize the continents/map skills, clarify
local and international, differentiate between
processed, not processed.
 Less focus on the actual process of making
processed food.
 Give own opinion of what is good for them.
 Class reflections:
-The poster did not show all of their learning, but
their oral response to assessment/questioning was
impressive.
-I am not as happy this year with my students'
work.
-In my class, they chose a food, then made a
process (how to make it) not a focus on ingredients,
but what happens to
-Class dynamics make a big difference, I am very
surprised and happy with the outcome in my room.
-The depth of the entire process was missed; they
could explain the process, but missed its starting
point. In my case, I should give them much better,
detailed instructions.
-Outcome was impressive when specific guidelines
were given.
-Explaining processed food is a complicated,
challenging task for first graders. There are so
many steps that fit within in the term "go through a
factory"
-Confusion between processed food and cooked
food
Some students struggled because they researched
more complex processed foods. For example, candy
includes sugar, which is a processed food in and of
Change and connection:
 An example of an activity that illustrates the
key concept of change was the "chocolate
posters" activity. In this activity, we made
posters of the cocoa beans to chocolate. This
activity help children to show step by step
how the chocolate is made, and the
ingredients to used.
 A second example of an activity that allowed
students to understand the changes that
foods undergo was the research of the steps
to processing. Students were surprised to
learn that the steps used to involve just two:
milk comes from the cow to your mouth.
Now, there are many intermediate steps, for
example: pasteurizing, packing into cartons,
etc.
 An example of an activity that illustrates how
the students were able to make connections
in this unit was the "bread-making" activity.
We made bread, and through this activity
children learned volume, measurement, and
leveling the flour which concepts are related
to math. And children learned adding wet to
dry, and kneading and punching down the
dough related to science.
 Another great example of an activity that
allowed students to make connections was
learning about making pancakes.We learned
about pancakes. Children understood that
process food is made and does not grow.
 demonstrate the learning and
application of particular
transdisciplinary skills?
social skills, thinking skills, communication,
research skills
Students demonstrated the learning of social skills
by evidencing their understanding of the ways that
people work together (organize ourselves) to make
sure that food is available. For example, students
understand that the farmer, the packager, the
seller, all work together to make sure that food is
available.
Students demonstrated the learning of thinking
skills by evaluating the positive and negative
aspects of some types of foods. For example,
students identified that processed foods, while more
convenient, are not always better. Another example
is that students have to critically think about the
label of "organic" and whether or not that is actually
better for people.
itself. For those students who are able to take on an
extra challenge, they could research more complex
items; others can stick with more elemental items.
What was the evidence that connections were
made between the central idea and the
transdisciplinary theme?
How We Organize Ourselves:
 The interconnectedness of human-made
systems and communities
In class discussion, students talked about the
systems for delivering food to communities and
homes. Students use sequencing words (First,
Second, Third... Next, Then, After that, Finally) both
orally and in writing.
Students were creating/imagining their own
processed food: Miso-yogurt
Students are comparing where their snack/lunch
items are coming from.
Students demonstrated the learning of the
communication skills through their final project. In
particular, this is the first major experience where
students have to target their presentations to a
specific audience (e.g. parent guests or fellow
students).
Research skills presented through their final
projects.
Students organized their research results about the
processed food and explained how it was processed
in sequence. They demonstrated the skills to
organize multiple information in groups and tried to
use some sequential words for explaining steps.
 develop particular attributes of the
learner profile and/or attitudes?
Attribute:
inquirer: The students are eager to find out where
their food comes from. Students seemed
particularly interested in WHY some foods are
processed and others are not. This lead some
students to really understand the origins of
processing food; for example, that food was
originally processed as a form of preservation.
Another natural connection to the inquiry is trying
to find why some of our foods come from far
distances. For example, why do the Japanese eat
more seafood or why do our mangoes come from
tropical locations?
open minded:The students are willing to try new
international foods. Students learn to respect the
personal food choices of others; for example, some
students only eat organic, or vegan, or because of
food allergies. Students also learn about cultural
foods and how to appreciate/respect these food
differences.
knowledgeable: The students know more about
where their food comes from domestically and
internationally.
Knowledgeable: 1 The students know what was
healthy food, the natural food is more healthy. 2
The students know what was processed food. They
also learn that while all food begins at the same
place, some food becomes processed while others
stay original.
Attitudes: The students know waste food was bad
action.
Curiosity: The students are curious to know
whether there are more processed or non-
proccessed food in the lunch boxes. Many of the
examples listed in the section above about inquiry
helped the students to foster their attitude of
curiosity.
Appreciation: The students learn to appreciate
local & international foods, less processed food,
organic food, and cultural foods. As students were

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
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.
How to make.. bread, cake, ice cream, chocolate?
They keep asking where the food is made?
Why do people process food? What do they like?
(one likes dry fruit, one is fresh)
Tools: What is a millstone? How does a butter churn
work?
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.
1. Where does our food comes from?
2. What are the steps our food goes through to
get to our table?
3. What happens to the food when it gets
processed?
Prompts: pizza from Pizza Monday, foods from lunch
boxes, Outdoor Garden
The first two questions are excellent, the third
should be adapted to: What is the extra step that
processed food has?
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 continue to ask where their food comes
from (they are obsessed with reading their stickers
on fruit)
Students learn to appreciate the healthier food.
Students know how complicated it is to bring to
food to our table and how processed food is made.
exposed to different types of foods, they learned to
appreciate the differences and how those
differences reflect different groups of people.
Students also learned to appreciate "food" in
general; for example, one of the students wanted to
throw some carrots out that were placed in her
lunch, but her classmates stopped her because they
knew about the amount of work that went together
to get that food to her lunchbox.
Cooperation: The student know it takes many
steps and peoples' cooperation for food to get to our
table. As students were developing their social skills
and learning about the cooperative process of
getting food to different groups of people, they
learned about the ways that people can work
together, more generally, to achieve a goal.
9. Teacher Notes
For next year:
Summative assessment: Students are at a big
feast. They must choose from an assortment of
foods that include processed, local, international
foods. They will also write a menu and share the
reasons for their choices.
Reconsider re-arranging the order so we can visit
the grocery stores not around
Thanksgiving/Christmas
The students are more aware of the food they eat.
The students start to study the package of the food
they eat often to see where it is from and made.
They are curious.
English for next year:
Create a schedule of sharing materials earlier
Use cookbooks to introduce table of contents, non-
fiction captions
Follow through with sharing our version of Pancakes
for Breakfast
We need to reflect on and strengthen our
connection to the transdisciplinary theme.
They use key vocabulary.
They use sequencing language orally and in their
writing.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
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