Unit of Inquiry 2: How We Express Ourselves

Central Idea: Presentations are a powerful tool to describe artifacts and celebrations.


Key Concepts: Reflection, Connection and Perspective.

Related Concepts: Artifacts, celebrations, interpretations

Our unit is an inquiry into:

The role of artifacts in our lives (Reflection)
Celebrations and artifacts (Connection)
Reasons for celebrations in a community (Perspective)

Our teacher driven questions will be:
What makes artifacts memorable?
How are celebrations and artifacts connected?
Why do people have different points
of view about celebrations such as New Years?

During this UoI we will be particularly focused on the PYP Learner Profile attributes:
Open-minded
They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the
perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to
seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.

Courageous
We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and
cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in
the face of challenges and change

Communicator
We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We
collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.

Summative Assessment:
Students to create a puppet with an artifact and present what their puppet is celebrating and what their
puppet is using for the celebration.



Vocabulary
Artifact
Past and Present
Then and now
Museum
Personal
Memorable
History
Presentations
Culture
Tradition
Tolerance
Celebration

Transdisciplinary Skills

Communication
o Writing
Recording information and observations; taking notes and paraphrasing; writing summaries;
writing reports; keeping a journal or record.
o Viewing
Interpreting and analyzing visuals and multimedia; understanding the ways in which images and
language interact to convey ideas, values and beliefs; making informed choices about personal
viewing experiences.
o Presenting
Constructing visuals and multimedia for a range of purposes and audiences; communicating
information and ideas through a variety of visual media; using appropriate technology for effective
presentation and representation.
Thinking Skills:

o Synthesis
Combining parts to create wholes; creating, designing, developing and innovating.

Self-Management:

o Time management
Using time effectively and appropriately.

Research Skills:

o Presenting research findings
Effectively communicating what has been learned; choosing appropriate media.
o Planning
Developing a course of action; writing an outline; devising ways of finding out necessary
information.

GIS Standards
Reading:

o Associate the long and the short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the 5 major
vowels.
o Read common high-frequency words by sight (the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does)
o Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ
o Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
o Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
o With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
o With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
o With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
o Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text
o With prompting and support, name the author and the illustrator of a story and define the role of
each in telling a story.
o With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in
which they appear (what moment is a story the picture depicts).
o With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters
in familiar stories.
o Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Language

o Identify nouns in context
o Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (He hops; I hop).
o Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and
exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.
o Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and
spelling when writing:
o Capitalize dates and names of people.
o Use end punctuation for sentences.
o Identify frequently occurring root words (eg. Look) and their inflectional forms ( looks, looked,
looking)
Listening and Speaking
o Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about appropriate topics and texts
with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
o Following agreed-upon rules for discussions (listening to others with care, speaking one at a time
about the topics and texts under discussion).
o Build on others talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple
exchanges.
o Describe people, places, things and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings
clearly.
o Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts
and feelings.
o Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.





Writing
o Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the
topic, and provide some sense of closure.
o Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include
some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order and provide
some sense of closure.
Mathematics
o Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract
o Determine the unknown whole number in an addition or subtraction equation
o Estimate, identify and compare lengths of time: second, minute, hour, day, week, month
o Read and write time to the hour
o Estimate, measure, label and compare using non-standard units of measurement, capacity, mass
o and volume
o Estimate, measure, and compare using non-standard and standard units of measurement, length,
time, capacity, mass and volume and temperature
o Use a calendar to determine the date and to identify and sequence days on the week, seasons and
months of the year
o Estimate, identify and compare lengths of time: second, minute, hour, day, week, month
o Read and write time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour using both digital and analog clocks
o Identify and order coins and notes
o Use simple, single step money word problems
o Estimate, measure, and compare using non-standard and standard units of measurement, length,
time, capacity, mass and volume and temperature
o Use a calendar to determine the date and to identify and sequence days on the week, seasons and
months of the year
o Estimate, identify and compare lengths of time: second, minute, hour, day, week, month
o Read and write time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour using both digital and analog clocks
o Identify and order coins and notes
o Use simple, single step money word problems
Social Studies
o Differentiate between people, places, and events in the past, present and future.
o Formulate and ask questions about the past, the future, places and society.
o Explain why people live in social groups (e.g. families, communities, and nation).
o Orientate in relation to place and time.
o Identify what a celebration is.
o Compare the similarities and differences between celebrations (food, flags, music, language,
traditions, artifacts)
o Discuss how it feels to be part of a celebration. (feelings)
o Identify and explain what country they come from.
o Ask questions about each others cultures.
o Identify and explain aspects of their own and others cultures and celebrations.
o Show respect towards others cultures and celebrations.
o Recognize his or her family celebrations and traditions.
o Explain why a particular celebration is important to his or her own life.
o Identify the reasons why people celebrate (culture, religion).
o Research how people celebrate (music, costumes, food, rituals etc) using a variety of sources.
o Compare and contrast celebrations observed by others in the class and worldwide.

GIS Specialist Newsletter
Unit 2 Grade 1

Art
Learning Objectives: In Unit 2- The students will be able to:
Make their own color wheel and know what primary, secondary, warm and cool colors are.
Learn the primary and secondary colors and will use these colors together to discover how they
mix.

Activities/Projects/Connections:
Connection to Where We Are in Place & Time UOI: Change- how colors change with added
elements
Art Book Making
Art Book Cover- Color Wheel
Page 1- Primary Hands (primary colors and handprints)
Page 2- Blotter bugs ( naturally wonderful way to learn about color mixing and secondary colors)
Page 3- Warm/Cool colors (How do colors make us feel?)
Page 4- Neutral colors (Introduction to black, gray, brown and white)
Page 5- Imagination Painting ( Imagination is best tool for creating any kind of artwork)
Page 6- Self Portrait/About the artist (How students see themselves)
Conclusion (Tying it all together)
Music
Learning Objectives: In Unit 2- The students will be able to:
Sing songs with others
Demonstrate appropriate audience behavior
Distinguish between high, middle, and low pitch
Develop listening skills



Activities/Projects/Connections:
Composition project focusing on instruments and rhythm
Singing and moving to You, Can, Can and A Beat in My Feet
Singing The Drum and Bash Bang Band to reinforce steady beat
Connection to Where We Are in Place & Time UOI: Reflection- discussing/writing about
composition project
Create a visual representation and movement sequence of a piece of music

P.E.
Learning Objectives: In Unit 2- The students will be able to:
Explore music and movement
Explore manipulative skills
Develop water safety skills and technique

Activities/Projects/Connections:
Connection to Where We Are in Place & Time UOI: Connection- how working together affects
team activities
Games such as soccer, basketball, volleyball with an emphasis on technique
Playing team games to get a better understanding of co-operating and working together
Swimming: developing water confidence and technique

Technology UOI Grade 1
Create a PowerPoint Presentation about your favorite festival.
Students choose 1 festival/celebration that is culturally relevant e.g. Diwali
Concepts: identify the features of you celebration, identify 3 interesting facts about the celebration and
show these features in images of the celebrations.
Technology Skills: Safe searching and research, safe Image download, acknowledge your source, text and
layout, inserting an image, saving and retrieving files, organizational skills.
Technology Learning outcomes
Create a cover page in PowerPoint
Insert and text and layout in PowerPoint
Insert new slides in PowerPoint
Search using a kid safe browser
Download and save an image safely
Save, name and retrieve files

What Parents Can do to Support Childs Learning Outside of School

We will be talking more than usual at school about being open-minded, respectful, and appreciative. We
expect such discussions to follow naturally from our encounters with each others different artifacts and
cultural celebrations. Please weave the considerations of open-minded, respect and appreciation into
your conversations at home as well.

Finally, this UoI really zeros in on communication through presentations. Help your child to understand
that a good communicator
speaks loudly, clearly and slowly
organizes his or her thoughts (in child-friendly language, explains it so that it is easy for someone else
to understand.)
looks into the eyes of the listeners and pays attention to their reactions
is a good listener to comments and questions (and also other presentations!)

We are looking forward to hearing all about your childs special artifacts, memories, and cultural
celebrations.

Regards

Grade 1 Team