How The World Works 2016/17

2016/17

Central Idea:

Animals have unique characteristics that enable them to interact with their environment.

Lines of Inquiry:

Animal habitats and environments.
Physical and behavioural characteristics of animals.
How animals’ characteristics help them to live in their environment.

Concepts: form, function, connection

Related Concepts: adaptation, classification, behaviour

Story # 1

Many little creatures and critters became more visible during the short Spring weather. The students collected the little creatures in the playground and wondered about them.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/852383217667629056

Daniel “I saw snails.”
Salva “I think we saw ones with lines.”
Harris “Vera’s snail was coming out. They were living together.”
Vera “I read the book. The snail wanted to climb the book.”
Isabella “I have a snail. Some snails have something in their back. The shell is the snails house.”
Gabby “Snails have slime.”
Carolyn “Snails have antennae. Those are their eyes.
Daniel “They go super slow.”
Salva “They can’t go very fast because they are sometimes sticky.”
Harris “They don’t have legs.”
Minseong “They cannot go higher. You can’t touch it. They fall down.”
Salva “I think they don’t like the sun.”

They went to the library to look for books that would give them more information about ‘snails’.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/852388149401600000

Oliver “How do they come from babies?”
Salva “How do they live?”
Emily “What do snails like to eat?”
Gabby “Why are the snails so slow?”
Amy “Why do they hide in the shell?”
Emily “How do snails take a shower?”
Minseong “Where do they like to live?”
Vera “How do snails eat?”
Hally “How do they protect themselves?”
Emily “How do they find friends?”

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/854565018888617984

SLO’s

appreciation of own environment and all living things in it
develop a sense of wonder and curiosity
develop an inquiring mind
ask simple questions
draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
use inquiry to acquire information
make statements that reflect their understandings
participate in shared reading, posing and responding to questions and joining in the refrains
write phonetically to tell a story or express an idea
write a sentence that begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop

Story # 2

The students were very interested in skeletons. The following pictures of skeletons encouraged conversations about animals, their characteristics and the environment they live in.

I think…

Vera “…it is a skeleton from a giraffe.”
Daniel “…it is a skeleton from a dinosaur.”
Carolyn “…it is a land dinosaur because I see legs.”
Minseong “…it is a dinosaur skeleton.”
Harris “…it’s the bones from a T-Rex.”
Salva “…it is a dinosaur like a giraffe.”
Isabella “…it’s the inside of a giraffe, the bones.”
Ricky “…a giraffe.”
ChanMin “…a dinosaur.”
Gabby “…a giraffe.”
Salva “…it is a type of dinosaur because they have something in the head, when they hear something they make a noise.”
Daniel “I see that giraffes have long legs.”
Vera “They have long necks because they can eat very tall leaves, they can go up to the very tall trees.”

The students then gathered into small groups and discussed a second skeleton. They shared and justified their views.

A group of students explained that “this skeleton belongs to a crocodile. They lived in the water, in the ocean and in lagoons (which are kinds of beaches), and it eats meat and fish.”

He is a crocodile because…

Minseong “… He has a tail and legs and short hands.”
Gabby “…he has short teeth and crocodiles have sharp teeth and they can eat fish and meat well.”
ChanMin “…he has long teeth.”
Harris “…he has long teeth and he swims and walks fast.”
Daniel “…it has a long tail. He can swim. They can also go out of the water.”
Salva “…he has very long teeth and a tail. They can’t walk very fast.”
Harris “…His skin is green and brown.”
Daniel “…he has a long head.”

Another group of students explained that “this skeleton belongs to a dinosaur. They liked to eat people and meat and fish, and they lived a very, very long time ago when people were not there yet.”

He is a dinosaur because…

Carolyn “…a dinosaur is bigger than a crocodile. Because there is a sea dinosaur and it looks like a crocodile.”
Vera “… it’s teeth are sharp and it does not look like a crocodile.”

A third group of students shared their ideas about another skeleton in Mandarin.

Amy “This is an ape’s bones. And apes can turn into human beings. This picture could be taken in the museum. Apes are reptiles.”
Isabella “This could be a normal monkey’s bones, because their bones of the hands are the same as ours. This picture could be taken using x-rays in the hospital.”
Hally “It has 4 pointed teeth which are for biting hard stuff.”
Ricky “This could be a tiger or a lion’s bone.”
Lele “I see its tail is very short. It might be a caveman’s bones. Some cavemen can light a fire and some cannot. Their teeth are very sharp.”
Hally “Cavemen hang on trees like monkeys. They use tree leaves for clothes.”
Amy “Maybe tails don’t have bones inside because they are soft.”
Isabella “It might be a leopard or a cat’s one. Some bones are big and some are small.”
Amy “This could be a bear’s bone because the ears are shaped like a semicircle.”
Isabella “These could be fossils which have circle shape, square shape and triangle shape.”
Lele “When bones evolve they gradually change into rocks.”
Amy “Fossils were found in the oceans in the earliest, it was evolved from a kind of worm.”
Isabella “Fossils will be alive.”

The students ideas, wonderings and misconceptions will be discussed and explored further during the unit.

SLO’s

communicate views and knowledge about people, places and their immediate environment in different mediums
use inquiry to acquire information
make statements that reflect their understandings
listen to others
ask questions to gain information and respond to inquiries directed to themselves or the class
listen and respond in small or large groups for increasing periods of time
observe, discuss and comment on the information being conveyed in illustrations

Story # 3

The students drew pictures of animals and shared their ideas about animal habitats, and physical and behavioural characteristics of animals.

: This is a sea dinosaur. They live in the water. They like to eat small fish and other dinosaurs come to drink in the river. They have 4 legs. They don’t have ears. I want to learn about if they sleep. They died a long time ago because the volcano came. They ran so slowly because they are heavy.

: Sea dinosaurs eat fish. They live in the oceans. Their eyes are black. Their teeth are white and sharp.

: This is a dragon. He has a tail and a bi tummy. He likes to eat meat. He gets meat from a pig. He likes to live on the grass.

: Bunnies eat lots of carrots to help him grow bigger. They live where flowers, grass are, and sometimes they live in a house, and sometimes next to a house. They like to hop. They can be white or brown. When they are white they are small bunnies. When they get bigger, they may turn into brown or other colours. Their tails are like circles. Their bodies are round. Their ears are pink inside.

: Frogs live on a lily pad. They can swim in the water. They hop on land. They are from tadpole. Tadpoles are black with a long tail. First tadpoles will grow their back legs. Then the front legs will come out. Their tails will disappear. Frogs can be green and black. They like hopping. They have semi-circle shape eyes. They have patterns on their bodies.

: Birds live in a person’s garden. They build a bird nest at the top of nice and straight tree. They like eating little worms. Some birds stay in nests to look after eggs. They may take a break on the roof. They like hopping from one window to another.

: This is a dinosaur. It is trying to eat a car that is inside a volcano. They were a long time ago. I went to the dinosaur zoo. It was in a movie. Its mouth was open and we went inside. They like to live in a land like a desert.

: These are two dinosaurs. The big one likes to eat the smaller one. The red part is the mouth. It has a long neck and a long tail. It has 4 strong legs. It has very sharp teeth. It lives in a hole.

: This is a baby dolphin. The dolphins can jump very high. They eat fish. They can shout really loud, just like singing. They can swim very fast.

: This shark likes to bite fish and after he drinks the fish blood and then he eats the fish. He lives in the sea. He has eggs. After he will go to fins more fish.

: The dogs climb upstairs and downstairs. He eats bones. People go to buy foods for dogs.

: These are whales. They live in water. They like to eat fish. They have very big bodies. They can splash in the water. They are blue and white.

: This dinosaur is a T-Rex. He can lighten the night when its night. I saw this dinosaur in Spain. They like to eat birds. They catch them with their sharp teeth. They also have long tails. They live in dinosaur volcano’s because I saw one there.

: Dogs like to eat bones. They live at home. They like playing with balls. When there is a fire they will bark.

: The giraffe is very tall. His neck is so long. If it was not so long he cannot get the leaves to eat. Giraffes like to sleep. They sleep on the ground. They live in the grass. If he goes near the lion, he will eat him.

Story # 4

The students are curious about bones and skeletons. What does a human skeleton look like? Ms. Jo brought in Mr. Bones. The students use an app on the iPad to learn more about the different bones and muscles in our bodies.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/860796044610740224

Story # 5

The students read the book ‘Where Animals Live.’ They discussed the pictures and information shared in this repetitive text. They discussed the positional words on, above, under and in.

The students then drew pictures of different habitats and animals that live in them. They labeled their pictures and shared their ideas with peers.

SLO’s

participate in shared reading, posing and responding to questions and joining in the refrains
write phonetically
listen and respond in small or large groups for increasing periods of time
observe, discuss and comment on the information being conveyed in illustrations

Story # 6

Who lives in the Arctic?

The students shared their ideas with a buddy (thinking routines Think-Pair-Share). Some examples of their ideas:

polar bears
ice tigers
snow bears
ice fox
penguins
snow leopards
rabbits
snow owls
snow birds
snow tigers
sea lions

Teacher “How do they live in the Arctic?

Daniel “It is calm for them.”

Vera “They can hide there a lot and catch people.”

Minseong “Because it is cold and warm. They can stay warm”

Vera “They have big fur to stay warm.”

Isabella “They have feathers.”

Lele “They have lots of feathers to keep them warm.”

Hally “Because they have so many.”

The students watched a video to help them learn more about the Arctic.

What is ‘camouflaged’?

Salva “There is a leaf and they can look the same.”

Minseong “Camouflaged is you cant see it.”

Daniel “Invisible.”

Story # 7

The students listened to the story ‘The Great Kapok Tree; A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest’ by Lynne Cherry. In this story the man exhausts himself trying to chop down a giant kapok tree. While he sleeps, the forest’s residents, including a child from the Yanomamo tribe, whisper in his ear about the importance of trees and how “all living things depend on one another”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw0arFtHeVw

The students shared their thinking using pictures and words.

Story # 8

The students began to discuss different animals and their habitats. They brainstormed ideas and recoded their information on a graphic organiser.

Tiger

Lion

Ladybugs

Peacock

Next the students chose how they wanted to share what they have learned. Their choices were:

make a book on the iPad
make a poster
create a puppet show
make a model

Most students chose one or two options and began to create their poster, models (Triorama’s) and puppets.

They used the iPad to create a book using the app Book Creator

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/874256804233977856

They created puppet shows.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/871963234584190976

: Cheetahs can run very fast and that he has sharp teeth to help him hunt.

: Ladybugs have wings under their colourful shell.

: Mice can climb trees and use their sense of smell to find food.

: Frogs live in the rainforest. Female painted frog can lay up to 1000 eggs at one time.

: Snakes have scaly skin which helps them move, and that some snakes can swim.

: Dogs use their sharp claws to help them dig for bones and their sharp teeth to eat meat.

: Bunnies like to eat flowers and grass, and that their big, long ears help them stay safe from predators.

: Peacocks can be very loud and they have beautiful feathers.

: Some snakes play dead to help them survive and that snakes eat mice.

: Tigers use their sharp teeth and claws to hunt for their prey, and that the snow tigers’ white fur helps them stay camouflaged.