Throughout this Unit of Inquiry the students were able to talk about the importance of planning a trip before setting out to travel. They were also able to inquire into how and where to get tickets and whom to contact when arranging a trip. The students came up with a variety of ideas, including searching for the information on the internet, asking other people for help and contacting the airport or the train station. The travel agency role play area was set up for students to play in and act as travelers and travel agents. Students developed their social and communication skills by taking on different roles, speaking, and actively listening to each other. They particularly enjoyed using their travel journals to help them take on the parts of traveler and travel agent . They demonstrated how to plan a trip, booking flights, reserving hotels and suggesting different leisure activities. As we thought about organizing a trip, we generated ideas and came up with several ways of getting help from others. For example, besides searching for information on the internet for tickets and places to visit, we might speak to people who could be helpful in organizing a trip, such as travel agents. Getting inspired by acting as travelers, and talking about places both near and far away, the students were encouraged to arrange a trip with their friends. In small groups or in pairs they discussed where to go, chose appropriate transport for their destination, decided on the purpose of the trip and talked about expected weather conditions and appropriate things to pack. The students were provided with suitcase-shaped pieces of paper which they were able to with drawings, trying to focus on :
Working together, students made decisions when answering each question and drew pictures to ‘fill’ their suitcases. After they finished their project, each group of students was able to share their plan with the whole class. Later they were able to use these suitcases in the travel agency role play area as brochures to help to arrange a trip.
0 Comments
Last week as part of the Elementary School we celebrated International Mother Languages Day. At TIS we celebrated the day by emphasizing the importance of maintaining home languages, and appreciating the beauty and diversity present within our community and worldwide. We would like to thank parents for volunteering to read a story to students in their home language which students enjoyed listening to during the multilingual read aloud session. Later in the day we had a ‘drop everything and read’ session where students loved sharing the books they had brought in from home written in their home languages. Visiting the Railway Station Students’ inquiries about appropriate types of transportation led us to discuss which type of transport is convenient to use to get to different destinations. In discussing different forms of transportation available in Uzbekistan, students found out that trains are an exciting and easy way of traveling through the country. Teachers suggested a trip to Tashkent railway station and children were excited by this idea. After arranging the trip we talked about any wanderings students might have, and what they expected to see and find out during our trip. They came up with many different questions. Visiting the train station gave us a great opportunity to see how passengers were buying tickets. The children were also able to see how people went through the check in procedure and waited for their train. They discovered that there is a children’s room with a playground and some toys for children to play with while their parents are busy with the check in procedure. After the field trip the students were able to discuss and share their findings with each other. Exploration of MapsThrough our inquiries about journeys the children discovered that there are many kinds of maps. Inspired by their interest in maps, the students were given the opportunity to read a range of different books and explore a broad range of maps. The types of maps we have so far discovered are: city maps, country maps, and world maps. We also considered students’ home countries, and tried to find them on the globe or world map. We looked at a world map to see how far these places are from Uzbekistan. It was interesting to discuss which places are closer, and which are further away, and what form of transport might be most appropriate to use to travel there. The students were excited to draw maps of their houses, classroom or school. To have a clearer picture of the layout of the school campus, we took a tour starting with the ELC playground and moving on to include the gym, Elementary School building, The House (where Russian classrooms are located) the Secondary School building (where PS2 students go to have library and music), the school canteen, the big soccer field at the rear of the school and the secondary art building. Later on the students were able to create a view of the school using wooden blocks and also drew a map of the school. When students shared their travel journals and gave presentations about the countries they visited, they learned many things from their friends’ holiday stories. They found out that some of their friends experienced cold and snowy weather and enjoyed winter activities, while other students enjoyed summer-type activities, spending time on the beach. They found it interesting that all these events happened in the same time period. Students also found out that they used different kinds of transport, depending on how far they traveled. As we discussed how people around the world use different forms of transport to go to school, the students talked about how they travel to school, and also how they move around the city. They discovered that some of their friends come to school by car, by bus or by bike, while some students come to school in a stroller or on foot. Later they were encouraged to look at different photographs of famous places around the world. Some photos were of places that had been visited by the students during the winter holiday. The students were able to sort pictures of familiar destinations into sets of near and far. They also discussed the possible and less likely, or impossible, forms of transport which might be used to get to a particular destination. The book “This Is the Way We Go to School” by Edith Baer was very useful in helping the children to continue to learn about transport usage. The students also had an opportunity to talk about how it is important to plan a trip before setting out to travel. The students discussed how and where to get tickets and whom to contact. As a provocation, the PS2 teachers acted out the part of a travel agent and of a traveler. They demonstrated how to plan a trip; booking flights, reserving hotels and suggesting different leisure activities. After discussing travel agency procedures, the students were suggested to set up a class travel agency role play corner. On Monday, PS2 students will be able to set up a travel agency role play area together. How We Collect And Organize DataThe students were also introduced to the Venn Diagram and the bar graph throughout this week. They were asked to sort different activities according to whether they were appropriate for winter, summer or both. The students were invited to sort animal toys according to whether they are found on land, in water or both. They were then provided with insect and dinosaur counters and were encouraged to sort them according to the different attributes they themselves come up with. The students were extremely excited to share the journeys they had taken recently, and writing about it in their travel journals. We would like to thank parents for supporting their children by sending photos from their trips to many places, it helped to make students’ stories more vivid and more enjoyable to write about and share with friends. Each child wrote about a place they had been to, what kind of transportation they had experienced, what the weather was like, which clothes they took with them and interesting activities they took part in. Those students who completed their writing journal had an opportunity to present it in front of the others, while others are still working on the final details. As the students were talking about the places they had traveled to recently, a conversation arose about the distance to various places, what transport we can most effectively use to get to each, different weather during the year, and what differences we see as the seasons change. We have been learning how we can collect information from the world around us and represent it with numbers. We talked about how organizing objects helps us to easily count and solve some problems. We started by classifying classroom objects and toys according to attributes, such as purpose, color, shape or other categories the students came up with. It was interesting to have conversations about how we can sort things into sets, how attributes are the same or different within a set, and the number of objects in each group. We will continue our inquiries into categorizing, collecting and presenting information in many ways. We are happy to see you all after the Winter holidays. The students also seemed excited to be back to school and to be able to play together with friends. As was mentioned in the last post, we have now started working on our “Where we are in time and place” Unit of Inquiry in which we focus our attention in journeys. You can ask your child about the 'International Airport' role play area we set up together to help to explore and learn about how and why people make journeys. To begin with, the students shared their experiences of traveling, and discussed the steps needed to take a trip by airplane using ‘going on a plane’ sequencing cards. After discussing airport procedures, both classes of PS2 students were split into small groups to set up airport dramatic play areas including an area for packing a suitcase, a taxi rank area, a check-in section, a scanner for luggage, a departure lounge and a boarding area. After setting up the airport in our classrooms, the students have been enjoying role-playing going through procedures, starting with packing appropriate items to take on a trip, and continuing by going through check in and security. They are very patient and polite while waiting in queues, and are enjoying acting as passengers, check-in staff, flight attendants and pilots. As was mentioned in the last post, students are invited to bring photographs and used tickets from their most recent trip to help with the design of their travel journals or posters. Photographs may be sent via email and we can print them out here at school. Thank you very much for your continuous support.
In order to stimulate students curiosity and set the stage for inquiry, we often used the ‘SEE, THINK, WONDER’ routines throughout this Unit of Inquiry. This routine encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations of the images they are observing. The students were often asked to make an observation of photographs projected onto the screen or the front cover of different stories before heard the story itself. Their observations were then followed up with what they thought might be going on when they were encouraged to back up their interpretations with reasons. The students were introduced to another version of story telling. They were shown some pictures of statues and were asked to imagine the story that the statues represented. Through the discussion they came up with different stories. Later they were able to create and express their own stories instead of making statues using recycled materials. Our Uzbek Studies teacher, Ms. Shakhnoza has been introducing different ways of expressing the famous Uzbek story “Zumrad and Qimmat”. We had an opportunity to have the story read to us, watch an animated version of it, see the story being performed using puppets, and (perhaps the most exciting version) was to watch the performance role played by teachers. The students and teachers discussed the characters of the story and talked about how they might change some of the characters’ choices in certain situations. Afterwards, the students enjoyed role playing this story using puppets and costumes. The students have enjoyed dressing up during Spirit Week. You can see below some photos that we were able to take during the busy week. After the winter break we are starting a new Unit of Inquiry under the Transdisciplinary Theme "Where We Are In Time and Place". We will focus our inquiry on Journeys.
If you are taking a trip, you might discuss the purpose of the trip, what to take with you, and consider asking your child to make some simple recommendations/decisions. Children are invited to bring used tickets, photographs, brochures to school after the break. This will be helpful in aiding them with sharing their experiences with others. Thank you very much for your support. We wish you a restful and relaxing time with your family and friends. For those of you celebrating, a Merry Christmas and to all of you, a Happy New Year. We have continued to have parents visit our class and read stories to us. The students were very proud to help to translate the stories from their home language into English and to make connections to other stories we have read at school. They were able to find similar characters and noticed how they were named in three different languages. As a provocation, the teachers acted out the story of The Three Little Pigs for both PS2 classes. In our version version, the wolf told the story from his perspective and the little pig told the story from her perspective. Following this provocation, through group discussion the students began to understand the concept of perspective. The students were then asked whose side of the story they believed and why. A lively discussion followed: We read different versions of familiar stories and discussed how the stories and characters were different. We also tried to put ourselves in the wolf’s shoes and considered how we might act and what we might eat if we were placed in a similar situation. Each time after teachers read a story, the students were encouraged to compare how the story was similar to and different from other stories we read. We also discussed the wise and unwise choices the characters made. Inspired by the different versions of stories, the students chose to express the stories from different perspectives. They were encouraged to split up into small groups and to tell their stories through role play and dance. In addition, some choose to express themselves through their drawings. The students were able to connect the stories to their own lives and shared stories from their own experiences. They also suggested some possible alternative choices for the characters of the stories we read. The students were fascinated by Kseniya Simonova’s sand art performance. They carefully observed how she used her hands and movement to manipulate the sand on a light table. Afterwards, they were encouraged to split into small teams to create and express their own stories using the light table and sand. We would like to say a big thank you to Mrs. Dora Elia Pinedo Hernandez, Nicolas' mother, to Mr. Abdurasul Khalilov, Abdubosit's father for visiting our class and reading stories in their mother-tongue. It was a good opportunity for students to make connections between different stories, discuss characters from stories from around the world, and to see parents (adults) as part of our learning community. The students were very excited to hear different languages and to try to work out what the stories were about by looking at the pictures. We try to teach the children to become internationally minded and we value the wide range of mother tongue languages spoken in our school community. As we are inquiring into different ways of expressing stories, students were engaged in using puppets to retell their favorite stories. We were very lucky this week to have a professional puppet theater group visit us to perform. The students were excited to listen to the music and songs accompanying the story. We have also been discovering other ways of telling stories, and tried to do so through drawing, music and dance. After listening to and watching different musical performances, we discussed the rhythm, events, actions, feelings and usage of musical instruments. The children tried to represent different characters from a story by playing musical instruments and creating movements and actions. It was exciting to watch and discuss the musical performance. Students shared their ideas about the rhythm and different musical instruments representing the characters. This week we started our second Unit of Inquiry. This unit falls under the Transdisciplinary Theme of How We Express Ourselves. The Central Idea is We express our thoughts and ideas in many different ways. The Lines of Inquiry which will be guiding our learning are:
Throughout this unit, the students will explore different ways of expressing stories. They will be able to orally tell, dance, draw and act out stories. They will also paint stories while listening to and being inspired by music. Children will become familiar with book terminology including author, illustrator, title, spine, blurb, and front and back cover. As an initial provocation we watched a retelling of the classic story of Snow White through ballet. It was naturally without words and lyrics. Then the students were encouraged to reflect on what they had seen. They also reflected on how the story made them feel and how it was interpreted by the dancers. The story provided a common but open-ended starting point for our Unit of Inquiry. We continued our inquiry by brain-storming about the different ways in which people express stories and came up with:
The classroom was set up so that the children could initially express themselves and experiment with different media and art materials. So far the they enjoyed listening to two traditional stories; The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and The Three Bears. They enjoyed drawing the stories, performing using puppets, and acting out the story wearing costumes. In order to make an authentic home-school connection, we would like to invite you to come and read stories to the students in class, in your mother-tongue language, or to present different versions of familiar stories, for example through music, drama or visual art. Please contact any of the PS2 teaching staff if you are interested in sharing a story with the children.
During our inquiry the students continued playing and enjoying games we learned together, helping each other with remembering the rules. With the help of parents and teachers the students were introduced to different traditional games. We would like to say a big thank you to Mrs. Feng Zhu, Junhan’s mother and to Mrs. Dora Elia Pinedo Henrandes, Nicola’s mother, for visiting our classroom and sharing their favorite childhood games. Mrs. Feng Zhu introduced us to a traditional Chinese game called, "Eagle and Chicks". The students enjoyed running away from the eagle holding on to each others cloth. This game was not only very physical, with lots of running, but also great for encouraging teamwork. Mrs. Dora Elia's traditional Mexican game, “Loteria”, a game similar to BINGO, was great fun, too. The students enjoyed playing this game as a whole class and they were introduced to some Spanish words. We were also introduced to Russian games by Ms. Lisa, our Russian teacher and some Uzbek traditional games by Mrs. Shakhnoza, our Uzbek Cultural Studies teacher. As students played the different games, they discussed the rules of each game making connections and finding similarities between them. Teachers noticed some of the students creating their own games with friends while playing outside during recess. When these students were shown photographs of them playing games and encouraged to share with their peers, they were proud to explain the rules of their newly created games. Sharing, taking turns, and being caring to each other are some of the most common topics we discussed during our Unit of Inquiry. We discussed the importance of carefully considering our choices in those moments when we want the same thing at the same time as someone else, or what to do when somebody doesn’t play nicely, as well as discussing other conflict situations that occur in class. Students shared how conflicts can make them feel angry, sad or upset in those situations. They came up with the following strategies to use to express feelings, manage anger and resolve conflicts with friends:
When we feel angry or hurt:
When we have a conflict with a friend:
|