Inside this issue

Unit Overview

Tuning In

Finding Out

Sorting Out

Going Further

Making Conclusions

Taking Action

Did You Know?

KG1 PYP Newsletter Unit Overview

Over the past 6 weeks, our KG1 learners have been investigating the central idea: “ Transportation systems enable people and places to connect.” To explore the scope of the unit, they inquired into: how transportation meets the needs of a community, why people use different transportation systems and how and why transport re-sponds to changing needs.

October 31, 2018

Tuning In

This first phase of the inquiry cycle sets the tone for the development of the inquiry. During this phase, students engaged in the central idea and established its relevance and worth. They focused on their prior knowledge and experiences and identified questions and problems to investigate.

Using the “I see I think I wonder” VTR, we tuned into the different types of transportation system.

We shared our prior knowledge of what makes a community and the different modes of transportation

used in a communities.

We demonstrated our understanding of the transdisciplinary theme “How

We Organize Ourselves” by organizing our classroom.

Finding Out

Children located and gathered plenty of information from a range of sources to further clarify or extend their questions. During this phase of the inquiry cycle, learners developed their research and communication skills as they were asked to demonstrate fluency and flexibility in their thinking.

We used our research skills to browse through different media to find

different modes of transport.

We created “real graph” to show different modes of transport used to

get to school and analyze the data to determine most common mode used.

The “Zoom In” VTR was used to help make connections to how

transportation meets the needs of a community.

We used our thinking skills to classify different modes of transportation

according to where they are (land, sea, air).

Sorting Out

During this phase of the inquiry, the learners reviewed their collected information to see which parts support or address their questions and which parts do not. As they made sense of their newly gathered data, they started making connections with their theories and added onto their existing knowledge. The children revisited their questions and added additional ones worth inquiring into.

We reflected on the line of inquiry “how transportation meets the needs of a

community“ by matching transport modes to the places they are used in a community.

We used our thinking skills (comprehension, evaluation, and application) to examine world maps, identify different continents, and landforms then

determined which transport mode would be best under different circumstances.

Going Further

This part of the inquiry cycle provides an opportunity for learners to pursue an area of interest more deeply by elaborating on their ideas and taking responsible risks. Children worked at various levels of thinking and used various creative and critical thinking skills as they applied their learning in new situations.

Using the key concept “change”, we created time lines to show the change in transportation modes.

We went further into our inquiry by demonstrating how different forms of

transport work together in a community.

We went to the RAM as a means of deepening our inquiry into how

transportation evolved with time.

Teta Nuha visited our class to give us a personal insight into how

transportation has changed through her life span.

Making Conclusions

During this phase of the inquiry cycle, students were asked to think beyond the information they had gathered and made sense of in previous stages. Learners considered what they now understand in terms of the big ideas from this unit by establishing connections and identifying patterns and relationships. Learners analyzed and evaluated the information they had gathered.

We reinforced the learner profile attribute “thinkers”, by analyzing how transportation systems connect people and places and what influences people to

use different transport.

Taking Action

During this final stage of the inquiry cycle, learners applied their learning to new situations. Children celebrated their learning journey as they looked at the bigger picture of what it means to be a learner.

We created maps showing transportation routes we take and the

corresponding modes of transportation

We shared personal experiences of transport modes used

Did you know….? Less than one hundred years ago, most people were born, lived and died within 100

miles or less. Today, people can travel all over the world in a few days or weeks. Mod-

ern transportation has changed how people work and live. People can live in one place,

but work with people in another country.

One of the oldest types of transportation is by boat. Sea traders set out in small boats thousands of years ago to trade their goods with other people. Today, ships still use old sea trade routes.

In some parts of the world, people still travel mostly by walking or by riding animals,

such as donkeys, horses and camels. Flying is one of the most popular ways to reach faraway destinations. Over half a mil-

lion people are in the air at any one time.

In cities around the world, people travel on buses, street cars and subways. These modes of transportation are quick, inexpensive and often cleaner than cars.

https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-transportation/

Amman Academy P.O.Box 840 Khalda 11821 Amman, Jordan E-mail: info@aa.edu.jo Website: www.aa.edu.jo Telephone: 06-537-4444 Fax: 06-533-1760

Compliments from

the KG Department

Yasmin Bsieso Sumaya Haddad Maria Momani