PYP Unit Planner - Overseas Family School

Attitudes - appreciation, commitment
Learner Profile Attributes - principled, reflective, caring
Skills - thinking - research
Key concepts - Causation, perspective, responsibility
PYP Unit Planner: Grade 4 Sharing the planet
Central Idea:
The sustainability of natural environments is of global concern for the preservation of
living things.
An inquiry into:
● what natural environments are
● why natural environments need to be sustained
● issues that hinder sustainability
● how natural environments can be sustained
●
Reflecting & Taking Action: Feb 27 - 29, Mar 5-9
So what?
● How does a non-sustainable future concern
me?
What can I do?
Summative Task Success Criteria Group task presenting learning about one Biome
● identify a biome based sustainability issue/s of global concern
● discuss cause and effect of the issue/s
● describe various perspective/actions on the issue
● present possible solutions/actions
Format possibilities
iMovie or oral presentation taking on roles of presenter, scientist, environmentalist, local
community member, organisation/NGO worker
Sorting Out & Going Further Feb 6-10, 13-17, 2024
How and why...
● How are biomes changing/being affected?
● Why are non-sustainable practices
continuing?
● What are some cause and effect situations?
● Which biome/issues am I/my group most
interested in going further with?
Which NGO supports my issue/s?
Key learning experiences
● Select 1 of 6 Biomes to “go further” with in
groups of 4
● Research issues within the biome
● Research NGOs involved in the issue - select
one for your group to represent.
Meet with other Biome groups to share
information and form common actions.
●
Key learning experiences
● Preparation of presentations with Biome/NGO
groups in HB rooms - iMovie or oral
presentations (summative)
● Present your Biome committee Declaration at
Earth Summit 2012 (grade-wide task)
● From the 2 Biome focus committee meetings
a list of the 3 top issues facing the Biome
globally will be agreed upon by all 6 groups
and presented at the final assembly.
●
MUN elements/connections
● COMMITTEE MEETING Wed 29th Feb
period 2 Rdg
Present group presentations in focus group
●
MUN elements/connections
● Focus groups/committees - 4 HB students per
biome/issue meet with 6 classes x 2 sets
COMMITTEE MEETING Wed 22nd Feb
●
Big Ideas: (enduring understandings as a result of the learning)
●
that there are different perspectives
●
there are responsible actions that can and are being taken by individuals and
groups
that I am able to take positive action to contribute towards sustainability
●
Tuning In & Finding Out: Jan9-13,16-20, CNY, Feb13
What...
● What are the natural environments/biomes?
● What does sustainability mean?
● What are the concerns?
● Who are the people/organisations working to
preserve environments?
Key learning experiences
● Speaker: Kayshap Choksi Conservation
International NGO
● DVDs showing biomes of the world - note
taking
● Identify and research generally the biomes
and issues
● Identify related NGOs working to preserve the
environment and the living things within it.
MUN elements/connections
12 yr old silences the UN Earth Summit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY
This is an example of a student who speaks about her
group’s concerns to the UN.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl7ims_it-s-yourgeneral-assembly_news
Link to a video showing some clips of world leaders
speaking at the UN
period 2 Rdg
Classes to be divided: 2 sets of six classes -biome-based
Speaker: Mr Choksi from Conservation International to be scheduled during Tuning In
Committee Meeting One Wed 22nd Feb period 2 Rdg
Committee Meeting Two Wed 29th Feb period 2 Rdg
EARTH SUMMIT Friday 9th March (P4) presenting the Declaration scrolls
Art Liaison with Jen (24 masks in parade format)
Music Liaison with Mikki (Transition Music, Opening and Closing Song)
IT Liaison (Screen and Projection if need be)
Photos for slideshow - Kirsty Atkins - to be taken during committee room meetings
Event Logistics - considerations
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Transdiciplinary connections
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rooms
Presenting focus group “Declarations” at an
Earth Summit 2012 assembly
IB Planner Grade OFS
Class/ grade: 4
School: Overseas Family School
Title: Sharing the planet
Date Jan9 - March 9 2012
Age group: 9-11years
School code: 7030
Teacher(s): Grade 4 Teachers
Proposed duration: 8 weeks ( 36 Days)
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
Transdisciplinary Theme:
An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the
relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.
Central Idea:
The sustainability of natural environments is of global concern for the preservation of living things
Summative assessment task(s):
What are the possible ways of assessing students' understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
see overview above
2. What do we want to learn?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Causation, perspective, responsibility
Related concepts:
sustainability, interdependence, conservation, weatlh, consumption, distribution, ecology, ecosystems, habitat, energy
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
see overview above
What teacher questions/ provocations will drive these inquiries?
see overview above
3. How might we know what we have learned?
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?
Identifying biomes Rainforest, (Marlene/Ryan, Moira)
Arctic tundra, (Kirsten, Paul K)
Deciduous/Temperate, (Paul A. Matt Y.)
Ocean-coral, (Trevor, Jyoti)
Deserts -desertification, ( Anthony, Dale)
Grasslands/savannah ( Matt W, Milica)
1. Teacher led classification of what a biome is and what is sustainability. Direct students to related reading resources, video clips, songs, websites. Prior
knowledge was limited so emphasis spent on tuning in phase.
2. Teachers identify NGOs / organisations involved within their biome as a starting point for students - see list of 25+ NGOs on the server.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
4. How best might we learn?
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?
● Children to create trioramas to depict the plants, animals and landscape of that biome.
● Cause and effect on Graphic organisers- Group work
● Students’ joint creation of storyboards for classroom display.
● Web quests, group work, investigating biomes, making posters
● Topic sentence starters got students thinking about biomes and points to focus on
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Tropical Rainforest, (Marlene/Ryan, Moira)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rai
nforest/
http://www.newton.k12.ks.us/tech/fourth_grade
_internet_activities1.htm#Science
NGOs:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids
http://www.rainforestconcern.org/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/
kids-for-forests
Ocean-Coral, (Trevor, Jyoti)
Biome
http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/coral
reef.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
invertebrates/coral/
http://www.coralcoe.org.au/edures/primaryscho
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/peopl
e-places-kids/china-desert-kids.html
http://inchinapinch.com/hab_pgs/terres/desert/desert.htm
Deserts( Anthony, Dale)
website for your biome
Arctic Frontiers http://www.arcticfrontiers.com/
Alaska Coalition http://www.alaskacoalition.org/
Alaska Wilderness League http://www.alaskawild.org/
NGOs:
Arctic tundra, (Kirsten, Paul K)
Websites: see Arctic Tundra websites document in Arctic
Tundra Info folder for websites and brief description.
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wild-Places/Arctic.aspx (great
general info and listing of threats)
http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Tundra
(Wikipedia website w/general info)
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/hab
itats/tundra-profile/ (general info from National Geographic)
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/hab
itats/tundra-map/ (tundra map)
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/hab
itats/tundra-threats/ (Nation. Geog.)
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc will be available?
Key websites for each biome
Savanna ( Matt W, Milica)
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/savanna/s
avanna.shtml
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna.htm
Action group links NGOs
http://wholevillage.umn.edu/index.shtml
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/mi
ombo_woodlands/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/nami
bia/index.html
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/africa/whe
rewework/northern-kenya-rangelands.xml
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/africa/inde
x.htm
Temperate/Deciduous Forest, (Paul A. Matt Y.)
Website with good kid friendly information about the
biome, animals, climate and plants
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.ht
m
Kid friendly information and lots about the animals
found
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/tempdecid
/tempdecid.shtml
Basic information about the biome
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomeforest.htm
Website with good kid friendly information about the
biome, animals, climate, plants and the human
impact.
http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/temperateforest.ht
ml
American NGO website with basic facts about all
biomes including the temperate deciduous forest
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/habitat/
forest.php
A one stop shop for all information on this biome
http://inchinapinch.com/hab_pgs/terres/d_forest/td_fo
rest.htm
A great slide show for this biome
http://www.slideshare.net/fozzie/temperatedeciduous-forest-presentation
General resources - All Biomes
ol.html
http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/coralreef.ht
ml
http://www.teachnetlab.org/ps101/bglasgold/lesson7coralreef.htm
NGOs / organisations
http://www.coral.org/
http://reefrelief.org/
http://globalcoral.org/
http://www.icran.org/
http://www.reefcheck.org/
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/
http://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-factsheets/
Kids page for Sonoran desert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0zIQjzmnT8
NGOs
http://saharaforestproject.com/
The production of key resources, such as clean water, clean
energy and a sustainable production of food represents
some of our time’s greatest challenges.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/chihuahuan
desert/index.html
WWF's vision: For the people of the Chihuahuan Desert to
conserve the region’s biodiversity by recognizing, respecting
and appropriately using their natural heritage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5eeE93uEA Rap song about Biomes and their general characteristics - a bit of fun
1. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm
2. http://www.mbgnet.net/
3. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/
4. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/
5. Here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ-_17NbGb4&feature=related
above with note taking worksheet located on the server.
6. http://inchinapinch.com/index.htm Very child friendly website on a range of biomes
Website for the book 50 simple things kids can do to save the earth
http://www.50simplekids.com/
Global Dimension - searchable online resources -always enter “free” in the search info
http://www.globaldimension.org.uk/resources/browse/
David Taylor has supported the unit by preparing a set of bookmarks and a ppt of the process as it stood at Mtg One
http://www.diigo.com/user/david_taylor/G4?type=all + bookmarked links to environmental NGOs
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AVKDi1PxIJ9hZGM4cGM0eDRfNjlmdng1NDU5cQ&hl=en_US