1st+Grade+Unit+Planner


 * ** 1st Grade Unit Planner ** ||
 * Class/grade: First Grade Age group: 6-7

School: International School Songdo School code:

Title: What’s in My Community?

Teacher(s): Evelyn Marcantoni, Lynn Pendleton

Date: 12/14/2009

Proposed duration:

Number of hours over number of weeks || • ** transdisciplinary ** ** theme **
 * **1. What is our purpose?**
 * To inquire into the following: **


 * Where We Are in Place and Time **

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.

• ** central ** ** idea **

Public areas strengthen communities and provide people with opportunities to connect.


 * Summative assessment task(s): **

a. Create their own Songdo city that includes their choices of essential community facilities and spaces. They have to justify and explain their selection to the class. Use rubric to assess.

b. Read and match pictures of community facilities they have visited with short descriptions of the facilities purpose. This may include them writing and adding to the description.

c. Review the mind map and see what was added from their learning. ||
 * **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? **

function, connection


 * What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? **

Public facilities and spaces are important in our daily lives.

Public spaces are for all the community and help us connect.

Public facilities are planned and cost money thus we need to look after them.

Public spaces and facilities are different from our homes.

• Different public facilities/areas have different functions. What are these?
 * What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? **

• How and why do public areas /facilities develop ?

• How do these places differ from our homes? || // This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?” //
 * **3. How might we know what we have learned?**

** What are ** ** the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? **
 * What evidence will we look for? **

What they are and how the community uses them. Teachers record the students’ answers on a mind map. This could be looked at again at the end of the unit to see how the information has grown and developed. Evidence to look for would be recognition of public facilities and their functions. A higher level would be knowledge of their location in Songdo and surrounding areas. Gather student ideas of ways to protect these facilities and roles.

List the places that students connect with others and see where public spaces and facilities fit into these


 * What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? **

Students make use of a “Reflection journal to record: Questions to ask at the facilities we visit (what we want to find out) Devise an interview and put it on the computer. They are to interview family members about their favorite public places. Later they will interview visitors to a chosen facility and record results. ||
 * **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? **

Create a wiki to encourage people to share their favorite public space/ facility from their home city. Graph the places that students have visited. Graph the places that their buddy class has been Compare results. Devise a poster that promotes ideas for looking after the space/facility. Introduce de‘Bonos //thinking hats// and use these to explore the ideas. Have students with their family’s document thru photos and video different ways the public spaces are being used and post them on our wiki. Have a family picnic community games for grade 1 students with their families at Central Park. They will have field trips to various public spaces and interview visitors. Create a Venn diagram outlining how our homes and public spaces are alike and different. Document how Central park has been developed. Create jointly constructed Big Books with simple information with some of the facilities

**What** **opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile?**


 * Inquirers ** _They will undertake purposeful constructive research and find out about their city.


 * Risk takers ** – they will be scaffold to practice interviewing people they are unfamiliar with and come to know areas of their city. They will justify selections of facilities in their summative assessment task.

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
 * Caring ** - they will identify their role in protecting and sustaining public areas. ||
 * **5. What resources need to be gathered?**

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? ||