Where We are in Place & Time 2016/17

2016/17

Central Idea:

Homes reflect cultural influences and local conditions.

Lines of Inquiry:

• What constitutes a home
• How homes reflect local culture
• Factors that determine what people live in.

Concepts: form, connection, perspective

Related Concepts: culture, needs, ownership, locality

questions/provocations

• What do people do in their homes?
• What would happen if you didn’t have your home?
• Why do houses look different in different places?

Story #1

What is a home?

The students drew pictures of their home and shared their thinking.

• Oliver “It is a house where you can watch TV and eat and sleep and not be cold. And eat breakfast. I have many toys and my family in my home. We need to be able to sleep. If we sleep outside the mosquitoes will bite us. This is my grandparent’s home and he can watch me from there. If we don’t have a house and there is a storm, then we can die. My sister is going downstairs in my grandparent’s house.”
• Daniel “You can live in a house that is not so cold. If we don’t have a home, then we will be sad. The homes are so important to live in. My house is really nice. There are new beds and we can jump into my bed. My home is special because it is big. I feel good in my home because I have my parents. It’s important because I like my parents.”
• Vera “Your whole family lives in your house and you won’t be lonely. I love my home because I have hamsters in it. My home is special for me because I have my parents in my home. And I can play in my home. And my brother is in my home too. This home is in Germany. It looks like a house and it is really big and it has a big garden. I need a home because when I don’t have a home I won’t have a place to sleep, and when it rains it will be cold.”
• Minseong “When you are so cold you go home. You can also play in the house. I can play Minecraft at home. This is my tree house in Korea. It is a play house. It is in the garden. I like my home in Korea because it is a tree house. It is special because it has a chimney.”
• Salva “You can sleep so well in a home.  You can eat a lot in a house. I like my home because you can play so many and watch TV. My mum told me the Zombies are not here. We need a home because you will have nothing to eat and you will die. If you don’t get a home, then you get nothing to play and nothing to control. And no family. You will not be able to play with anyone. And no one will be able to come to your home and you won’t have any friends. I can see the stars from my home.”
• Isabella “I like my house because I sleep there. My mum loves me at home. If there is no home where can I live in?”

• Gabby “I like my home because I have my toys there. Also because that is where my mummy and daddy and brothers and sisters are. There are puzzles, it’s just for play.”
• Carolyn “A home is where you live. If you don’t have a home, then nobody will cook for you. There will be no place to sleep, for free. I need toys in my home or it will be boring. This is the inside of my house.”
• Emily “I can play a lot in my home. Because I can do my homework at home. My parents and grandparents can look after me. If we don’t have a home, we will be homeless. My home is warm.” (in Mandarin)
• Harris “You play and watch movies in a home. It is very hot in Australia. So the water is there. It is open on the top. I like it in this home and everybody is there, and my parents and my grandparents. This is my home. The other home is where I live. I was in a home in Australia for a week. I see smoke in my home, at the top there are 2 chimneys. I need windows because I can see outside and I can see down. I have a bedroom because I need one to sleep.”
• Hally “I like my home because I can play with my sister. If there is no home how can I be together with my mum and dad?”

• Amy “If you don’t have a home there won’t be anyone to cook for me. I have no place to dress up if it’s Halloween. If I don’t have a home, I don’t have a place to sleep. You can only sleep outside in the tent. I can make a decision of my own at home.” (in Mandarin)
• Lele “If there is no home there is no mum, no dad and no me.”
• Ricky “Home is a place where you can sleep and play.”
• Vivian “Because I need foods.”
• Chanmin “If I don’t have a home then I don’t have rice to eat.” (in Korean)

The students watched a ‘BrainPOP’ video on ‘homes‘.

SLO’s

• not all families are the same
• appreciation for what they have
• know what a home is and start to identify/name its physical characteristics
• homes in different cultures
• shelter is a basic survival need
• resources are necessary to meet the needs of living things
• all resources come from nature
• their thought for others
• a sense of wonder and curiosity
• draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
• make statements that reflect their understandings
• respect differences

Story #2

I see, I Think, I Wonder

I See…

• Daniel “Snow.”
• Oliver “A snowboard.”
• Hally “A rope.”
• Gabby “A tent.”
• Carolyn “A box outside the tent.”
• Isabella “Lots of snow on the trees.”

I Know that…

• Vera “This is somewhere where it is really cold and it is winter.”

Wonder:

• Vera “What is this?” 
• Daniel “Do you live somewhere near?”
• Hally “Were you cold?”
• Carolyn “What is inside the box?”
• Isabella “What is the bin for? Is it for old food?”
• Emily “Do you like snowy days?”

I See…

• Vera “A bee nest hanging.”
• Minseong “A thing for fire.”
• Daniel “The tree house has something on top like a balloon, a tree.”
• Hally “Trees.”
• Isabella “There are dots on the top of the roof.”
• Oliver “A tree and some wires, If you touch it you can die.”
• Isabella “There are pipes, because we can get water from it.”
• Gabby “There is a lot of shade.”
• Daniel “There is a nest.”
• Daniel “Then you can sleep better.”
• Vera “In that house mosquitos come and they don’t sting because the nest is up.”

I Know that…

• Daniel “This is a tree house.”
• Harris “Tree houses are made out of wood.”
• Salva “Somebody made that house. They put something red, if there is a fire then it will go away.”
• Oliver “Tree houses are made from trees, you cut it and glue it.”
• Isabella “We live in tree houses.”
• Salva “If you don’t get a house then you will die.”
• Vera “This is a place where it’s warm and not winter.”

Wonder:

• Daniel “Do you go into a treehouse after school?”
• Minseong “What was inside? Is it only a bed?”

Vera “Why is the thing like a bee nest? What is it?”

SLO’s

• develop an inquiring mind
• ask simple questions
• observe, discuss and comment on the information being conveyed in illustrations
• listen and respond in small or large groups for increasing periods of time
• a sense of wonder and curiosity
• make statements that reflect their understandings
• the features of local and other environments they encounter
• communicate views and knowledge about people, places and their immediate environment in different mediums
• listen to others’ perspective
• interpret and analyse visuals and multimedia to gain understanding

Story #3

Do homes look different?

• Daniel: When I was in Hong Kong I saw different houses. My house was like a hotel. They are different colours and different types. This is my tree house. Some people have tree houses because you might sleep in a tree house. If you sleep in an awesome tree house you won’t be sleepy. The next house is a star house in Hong Kong. The second house is where my grandpa lives. It has a place for where the fire comes out, the chimney.

• Oliver: I was in Hong Kong. Not all the houses were the same. They are different colours. Homes are different because they have other colours. In Slovakia my grandma and grandma live on the 6^th floor.
• Carolyn: Some houses have gardens and some don’t, because they don’t want. I have seen a clock tower home. I live there. I live there because my mummy tells me to live there. This home is Crystal Hill, it is in China. The houses in Hong Kong don’t have clock towers. Some people have babies so they have to live in different houses. They only need one or two rooms.
• Vera: When I was in Germany my house was white and pink. In China my house is shaped like a rectangle. The first house is like a farm house. It has a big garden because there will be chickens, or they will not have a place to lay eggs. Because then you will have food. If you don’t have chickens and they don’t lay eggs, then you couldn’t have many foods. Because they have chickens in the garden they have to wash eggs and put them to the supermarket. The second house has people who are really young or really old like a mummy and grandma. Because they are really young people are just together and they have a baby and they sleep with the baby so they don’t have many rooms. The third house that’s called the bird house because there is a butterfly it has wings and a bird, it is sitting on the house. It’s not real. I live in one of that type of house here is China but I don’t have a butterfly.

• Gabby: Houses are different because they will be tired of seeing the same kind of homes when people go from one place to another. My house is connected to another house. I have stairways from the 3^rd floor to the 1^st floor. I used to be on the 2^nd floor and moved to the 3^rd because my sister said so. There are two homes together. There are numbers on my house. There has to be numbers on my house because then we know which one is ours! We needed to look inside of the house. In my neighborhood, all of the houses have numbers on them so that all the other people know which house is theirs. There is a neighbor. He is so loud and my mummy and my family didn’t like that.
• Harris: The yellow house is in a sea. There are lines so it keeps the house from not sinking. The purple house is my house that I can sleep in. That house is very tall and you have to climb up. It’s way up. It has an elevator because it will take a long time to step up there. The blue house is my second house. It has horns. Then there is a big house for my mummy and daddy and for me. I want it big because I want it for everybody.

• Hally: Some are tall and short. There are so many people in buildings. I saw a car house.
• Salva: In Spain there are too many houses because there are too many people. The middle one is my house. The first one is grandpas house. This is for my family for Ariadna and me and Valeria.
• Isabella: I have made two houses. The first house has stripes. The second house is a castle. A princess lives in a castle, and a king.
• Lele: I saw a boat house. I saw a very big house that only has doors, no windows, in Hong Kong. I saw an underground house in China. There are stairways and tunnels. I saw a kind of house that has a pointy top.
• Minseong: I came to some houses in China. This is my home. It is an apartment. You can go in there, 5 people live there.
• Emily: Some houses are square. In U.S.A. I saw a house that was shaped like a star. This is the place I live. My grandpa, grandma, mum, dad, brother, uncle, sisters and brothers live together. We have our separate rooms. We eat together and do homework. We have a balcony and a flag on top.

• Amy: In the Maldives I saw 2 houses built with straw.
• Ricky: I live in a house that is built with red bricks.

SLO’s

• use illustrations to tell a story
• homes in different cultures
• resources are necessary to meet the needs of living things
• draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
• make statements that reflect their understandings
• respect differences

Story #4

What is an igloo?

The students watched a video which explored a number of different houses around the world. We discussed key information about the homes.

Some homes in North Canada are made out of ice and snow. They are called igloos.

• There is a lot of snow.
• Everything is frozen.
• Water turns into ice.
• The homes are made out of bricks made out of ice and snow.
• It is warm inside and cold outside.

The students drew pictures to share their thinking.

• Carolyn: Can you have a fire in the igloo?

• Vera: Is the door always open?

SLO’s

• not all families are the same
• appreciation for what they have
• what a home is and start to identify/name its physical characteristics
• homes in different cultures
• shelter is a basic survival need
• resources are necessary to meet the needs of living things
• all resources come from nature
• the impact of simple actions on their immediate environment
• know how to ask questions about the natural and physical environment
• a sense of wonder and curiosity
• draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
• make statements that reflect their understandings
• respect differences
• draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
• make statements that reflect their understandings

Story #5

The students watched two different videos. The first house was a yurt in Mongolia and the second a houseboat in Malaysia. The students used drew pictures to recording their understanding.

• Carolyn “You can cook and play toys in the boat. You can swim. They are good swimmers because they keep practicing. They have a special cream for their face. They swing babies. If they pee and poo in the ocean, why would they go inside the water?”
• Gabby “It would be fun to live on the houseboat. You don’t have to go to school because there may not be school. They wash their dishes, play, swim, eat their food, read books on their boat.”

• Vera “You do have to go to school. I went on a holiday and I saw a country that was on the sea. And they had a school where they had to drive to school. They drive with their home. And then we went up the place and we saw monkeys. That’s the mummy. She is cooking. They also have flowers, some are still closed and some are still open. It is day time and also two girls, kids from the mummy are catching fish. Daddy is coming back from work soon. He works in the night and sleeps on the daytime. They slide down the side many, many, many times. They eat fresh fish. Daddy’s work is to get food from the dry land he gets bread and milk to cook cakes and it is mummy’s birthday today. Mummy’s name is Flower and her sisters are twins and their names are Sunny and another Sunny. And the dad’s name is Florian. Pee and Poo goes into the sea.”
• Isabella “I am wearing a dress on the boat. The boat can float on the water. They live there because they can swim on the water. Some people live on the water boat because they can go somewhere. They can go to Shanghai. She can find food.”
• Hally “This is the people on the boat. And the people have shirts. They use the sun to dry out the clothes. They eat fish. The babies swing on the boat.”

• Amy “The kids live in the boat. If babies want to play, mummy will put them on a swing which is made with net and string. They made a special cream, which can protect them from sunburn. The big kids are good swimmers because they swim in the water every day (in Mandarin).”
• Emily “They are cooking a cake on the boat. They are skipping. They wash their dress and put it in the bamboo because they need to put it in the bamboo to dry. The baby is in swinging in the board. It is in the ocean.”
• Oliver “My picture is, this is my dad, me and my brother and sister and mum. And my dad go in the water and in the sea and I wont know if there are sharks. If there are sharks. We are living on the boat. Then he has a water brick and then he shoot the shark and he dies. They live there because we can swim in the ocean. And we will make fire in the ocean because we take a stick and eat with the sticks and we will cook fish, sharks, dolphins and crocodiles.”
• Minseong “Because children is too many here because children is playing in the houseboat. Here they go diving and here they dive to the shark. Then they go to the house.”
• Salva “Kids are swimming in the water. There is a shark in the water. They can dive into the water, standing on a bamboo stick.”

• Harris “They can stand and dance in the boat. They cook their food in the boat. The big kids can swim.”

Story #6

How do you build a hut?

The students have been exploring with sticks and mud, and wanted to know how to build a hut. We watched three different videos to see how huts are built.

• Oliver “He is cutting the tree.”
• Daniel “Take a bamboo, it’s so easy.”
• Oliver “it’s not bamboo, it’s a tree. He is doing the roof.”
• Daniel “He is making it with plants.”
• Oliver “How about a door?”
• Salva “It’s like play dough.”
• Carolyn “He knows how to make a pot.”
• Minseong “It’s like a hut.”
• Carolyn “Then he will need to dry it in the oven.”
• Oliver “When it’s dry.”
• Minseong “It’s a mud house, WOW so awesome!”
• Carolyn “He is building the wall.”

• Oliver “He is using a stone.”
• Salva “Making a triangle.”
• Gabby “A pyramid.”
• Salva “It’s almost like a ice-cream downwards.”
• Harris “It’s like a rocket ship.”
• Carolyn “How is he going to find a door? He is getting grass. He made a grass house.”
• Carolyn “There is the door!”
• Gabby “It’s made with grass and sticks.”

Story #7

Can I make a house?

The students brainstormed some of the homes they have inquired into and made a list of materials they may need to build the houses. During play time the students collected sand, stones, twigs, grass and leaves, which they planned to use to make their houses. Some of the students began to create houses in the playground.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/833967320745734145

They created houseboats, tree houses, mud huts and houses made out of rocks.

We are creating different homes from around the world @nischina @shemogani pic.twitter.com/d7WfNYZrE5

— Shemo Gani (@shemogani) February 21, 2017

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/834015949300707328

Amy “I can keep some toys on the roof. On the first floor, I can keep a sofa and a TV. I can put everything from the side and take it out. Here is the door. I can go from the door and jump onto the 2^nd floor. The 2^nd floor will be the place where I live. When I go home I can put some toys. On the 2^nd floor I can hang some lanterns when it is Chinese New Year. At night I will make a bulb for the toys so that the night will not be that dark. I can put my Friends name on the side so she can play with me.”

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/834288262646620161

ChanMin “The animals can’t go inside. People in Koran live in it. There is a place to eat and sleep. These is a roof. You have to open the fence to go in. We put sand because in the jungle you have this.”

Vivian “This is a tree house.” We used paper and leaves and tape. It is made out of trees. It is in the jungle. There is a ladder to go up and up.”

Vera “This is a houseboat. This is the bed in the house. There are flowers upstairs because the flowers like rain and so no rain goes on the bed. So they drink the rain. They live on the houseboat because they like to go swimming and they like to see fish and they like to eat fish too. They get food from the sea. In There (yellow circle on the side) inside is grass and it is like the motor. And upstairs the motor there is a kitchen. The house is made of wood and some metal.”

Minseong “This is my home in Korea. This is the door. This is a chimney. So many things in here. My grandma and grandpa live here. There are lots of toys because sometimes there are no toys because I can’t find it. It is a very cold place. And sometimes so hot. We need some something in here to be hot when it is so cold. You are cold then you need to hide into the bedroom in the bed because the bed is so not cold.”

Salva “This house is made of mud and chimney and sand. They need the chimney because they will be cold. They sleep on some grass. They play and watch TV. It is a cold place but inside is hot.”

Oliver “I made a house which is made with mud and water. I am making a chimney and I made it all by myself. This will be a house in Slovakia. People who live here like their house. Inside it is a little bit dark. They need to do some fire. And they cook outside. The toilet is inside. And on the roof, there is a swing because kids like it.”

Carolyn “The house is made of stone because they only found stones. They don’t want to hurt the plants and take the leaves off. It will be good for windy weather. The flag they found on the floor. There are tables in there that are made with wood. There is a fence because they don’t want people to come in there.”

Daniel “This is a sticks and stone house. The roof is made out of fabric. Carolyn helped me with this. This is my house. It is really, really high. You can do everything you like in the tree house. My family live in the tree house and I only sleep and take breakfast and play with an iPad in the tree house. This house is in Tarragona. It’s my favourite country and it is there behind my house. They live safely and they make sure that no monsters come and my brother protects me. And then I tell my brother I don’t need protecting I can do it myself. The End!”

Harris “This is a mud tree house. I have my friends in it. There is a stick on the top. It is for turning and when it turns it makes everything grow. So many people live in it, under and over. Because then nothing eats them. This house is in the woods. There is a telescope on the top and you can use it so see if something bad is happening. There is a home to get in. They have a pool so that can swim in the woods.”

Ricky “Mine is a tree house. It has 2 floors. On top of the house is where people live. The top is the roof of the house. On the side it has a slide, then you can climb on and slide down from the second floor.”

Lele “This is the house I built. And I painted. On top of the roof, the extra part is for water proofing. I used some tape to make it stable. I used a paper box, and I have a door in the front. I have built my roof bigger than the body because it can keep it dry in rainy days. This house is for toys storage.”

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/834598967513997313

Hally and Isabella “This is a house for dinosaurs. At the top it has a light. And under it was a window. There is a big fence around the house on the second floor. It has a ladder and a door on the side. There is a small window on the first floor so when dinosaurs live in the house, they can look through the window. We prepare some meat and water in the house as well, in case dinosaurs will get hungry and thirsty.”

Emily “My house is a igloo. I’m making this because my grand parents like to live in cold places. It has snow base at the bottom. It has a window. The popsicle stick part is for putting my house’s name on. Inside the house it has some furniture like bed, lamp.”

Gabby “I used boxes, markers, paints, fabric, duct tape, see-through tape to make a mud house. The wet mud can dry. People make mud houses if they have no home. The weather is hot and sunny. You can get mud houses in the forest. You need mud, water and stones to make the house. People need beds, toys, pillows, water and food.”

Story #8

Houses in Australia

Ms. Suzy showed the students different houses she saw on her trip back to Australia.

The students discussed their observations.

• Daniel “I can see that they are building a house.”
• Vera “How do you go inside the house?”
• Oliver “In Slovakia there are some old houses and new houses and they are made with bricks.”
• Minseong “I think it’s about sand”
• Oliver “I see a big house, in the night you put the light and the light goes around and around.”
• Vera “I see a bridge and the water, so that the boats don’t get crashed on the rocks.”
• Salva “When the boat is going the light is helping the boat not to crash.”
• Oliver “They have tiny windows.”

• Harris “so that people don’t jump out on to the sand and the water.”
• Daniel “This house is really tall and somebody can go at the top.”
• Salva “If you can’t see the light it goes peep, peep, peep.”
• Oliver “In Slovakia there a little bit bigger houses. The last one is a holiday house.”
• Harris “It is in the sand, it’s a wood house.”
• Gabby “It’s at the beach.”
• Oliver “I see a small number. Because you need to know which one is your house.”

Story #9

Materials, Locality and Environment

The students discussed and made a list of materials used to build houses; metal, sticks, mud, water, bricks, stones, bamboo, leaves, rocks, trees, fabric, wood, grass, concrete (sticky sand) and cement. They created a graphic organizer to help them sort out the different materials that need to be used to build their houses.

They grouped their homes by locality and the environment and explained their thinking.

Water

• Lele “This house is on stilts because it is on the water.”
• Vera ” My house is in the water because it is a houseboat. They are in a floating home. Because it is flooding the dry land every time.”

Forest

• Oliver “There are animals in the forest so they need strong houses so that the animals can’t break it.”

Jungle

• Amy “This is a tree house.”
• Vivian “It is in the jungle. They make the house with trees and sticks and stones.”

Desert

• Carolyn “My house is in the desert and it is a hot place. They stay cool with a fan. They find what they need on the ground around them.”

SLO’s

• sort and classify objects into categories by attributes
• resources are necessary to meet the needs of living things
• the features of local and other environments they encounter
• all resources come from nature
• make observations about locations and patterns in their immediate environment as part of their primary geographical explorations

Story #10

The students went on a field trip to Gan’s Grand Courtyard, which is a Chinese styled house situated in the heart of Nanjing. During their visit the students saw:

• Daniel “In the Chinse house there are a lot of Chinese things.”