8/7/2019 Year 4 How We Organize Ourselves Newsletter

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YEAR 4 NEWSNIST

How we organize ourselves 

May 4, 2010

Our final unit of inquiry for the 2010-11

academic year comes under the How

we organize ourselves trandisciplinary

theme.

Our central idea is:

People adhere to governing

systems that impact their

behavior.We will be inquiring into this through

the concepts of PERSPECTIVE and

RESPONSIBILITY.

Our Lines of Inquiry are:

Governing systems

The actions and choices we make

as members of society (moral

reasoning)

Our awareness of the

consequences of these choices

and actions

Thai Studies, drama, library and ICT will

be working with us throughout this UOI.

Thai Studies will bring the local

perspective on governing systems -

looking at the Monarchy and Thai

government structures.

Drama will enable the students to

experiment with their ideas of moral

reasoning and character choices.

„“ Sometimesthe questions

arecomplicated and theanswers aresimp le” 

Dr. Seuss.Picture from http://ontheyogamat.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/meet-my-therapist-dr-seuss/ 

FIELD TRIP:This Friday, May 6th we are taking a field trip to Parliament House and the

cabinet meeting room, as well as to the Throne Room. This trip links to our Thai

Studies work regarding governing systems in Thailand. We will leave school

promptly at 7.45am and return at around 1pm. Students will need a packed

lunch and a water bottle. Meal plan students will get a packed lunch from the

cafeteria but you may which to supplement this.

8/7/2019 Year 4 How We Organize Ourselves Newsletter

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YEAR 4 NEWS: How we organize ourselves

TRANSDISCIPLINARY LEARNINGWays in which we will be using both

receptive and expressive language

throughout our unit of inquiry.

Language Arts:Written LanguageReading and Writing

Read fiction in order to follow

characters’ decisions and identify

reasons behind them, identify governing

systems at play in each context.

Read examples of persuasive writing

Persuasive writing - taking a stance

Writing accounts of their own

experiences

Writing reflections after learning

engagements and experiences during

the unit

Viewing and PresentingView relevant videos and video clips:

choose different ending videos, ANTZ,

Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies.

View role-plays and react to them.View dramatic techniques, such as use

of body language, and discuss their 

significance

View organizational charts such as

flow-charts, hierarchies, processes

Create flowcharts and diagrams to

visualize governing systems, character 

choices in fiction, students’ own

choices and so on… Share their understanding using different

forms of presentation, such as role-plays,

puppet shows etc… 

Listening and SpeakingListen to anecdotal stories involving choices,

right vs. wrong, different perspectives etc… 

Listening to other people’s perspectives and

different interpretations of situationsListen to text read aloud, react and make

predictions.

Listen actively during debates/discussions in

order to formulate opinions

Listen actively in order to develop own point

- of-view

Take part in conversations in order to express

your point of view and develop it further 

Develop ability to articulate thinking verballySpeak deliberately and thoughtfully in order 

to debate or defend a position

Use speech to persuade

Develop ability to use speech dramatically

Mathematics

There are governing systems in mathematics

too. Timetables, schedules, measures of

time all ‘govern’ us in someway. 

As well as this we are continuing on with our 

number work. At the moment we are

looking at fractions. 

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES were extremely successful.

It is always great to watch the students confidently

sharing their learning with you. We enjoyed watching

the students’ pride in the new learning space. We

hope you have a clearer idea of how it is working

now. The collaborative element is something that

both the students and the teachers are finding

extremely valuable.