Provocation for the 2nd line of inquiry- ‘Senses’, under the Trans-disciplinary Theme ‘Who we are’, was done through a nature walk activity wherein students were taken for a tour of the school campus and were asked to write about the things which they could see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Prior knowledge and tuning into the structure of the eye was done by showing them a picture of the human eye and asking them to express their understanding through a visible thinking strategy -‘THINK-PUZZLE-EXPLORE’. Later, the students used iPads to research for answers to the questions generated during the think-puzzle-explore routine. The structure of the eye was demonstrated through an experiment in the class. As an extension of the experiment, different parts of a human eye were coloured and labelled in a diagram drawn on the floor. A recap was done through an educational video through which the concept became clearer to the students. Students were taken to a recycling unit where they were shown how waste newspaper and used cotton can be recycled into usable form, thereby making connections with their unit waste. Students were assessed for prior knowledge of articles through a group activity wherein they had to sort definite and indefinite articles using a graphic organiser. To strengthen their understanding, they chose few pictures from the newspapers and created sentences using appropriate articles. The concept was reinforced further through written practice. Students were given pieces of a puzzle to put together and tune into the discussion on bar graph. They identified different parts of the bar graph and their relevance through a puzzle and discussed and analyzed them in groups. Students also collected data from their class mates and created, labeled and plotted their own bar graphs. They enhanced their graphing skills through further written practice. Students used the ’Rocket Writing strategy’ to write the words that they think of when they see the symbol ‘+’ and created a mind map using these words. They were introduced to properties of addition using the ‘bus stop strategy’. Students also practiced 3 and 4 digit addition sums, with and without carry over in their process journals. Mental math strategy of adding 0, 10, 100 and 1000 to a number was shared with the students. In their Hindi classes, students learnt to make 'padd' (couplets) on the topic 'Safai' and wrote the same in their journals. The concept of paragraph writing was reinforced in Hindi through the “Hamburger” strategy. They also enjoyed the story 'Rakhosafaikadhyaan' and gained knowledge about the importance of self hygiene. In their Hindi Ab initio classes, the students practiced speaking, reading and writing the letters 'Cchha' and 'Va' and the vocabulary using the same. They also learnt the maatraa 'Aa' and practiced speaking and writing words that use the same. A reading and recognition activity for words using 'Aa' maatraa was done using colour coding, in the process revising their learning of colours. Word meanings practice was done and students then made sentences orally using those words. They were introduced to story creation through a group activity and are in the process of developing their story further.They also attempted spelling and listening assessments. In French, students learnt the names of colours by drawing, colouring and labeling a rainbow. They also watched a video of a song based on colours. They practiced greetings, days of the week and months through written work. Students revised Spanish greetings, number and days of the week. They were also introduced to the names of the months through a video. It helped them understand the correct pronunciation of the word. Students finished and reviewed their audio visual presentations on E-waste and made necessary corrections. They chose topics to create a comic strip and enjoyed working on “storyboardthat” to make the same. They also continued to work on their keyboard skills using typingclub.com . Students learnt about the elements of poster making and used them to create a poster on pollution/waste. In PE, students practiced dribbling around the cones and while changing directions. They also played short sided matches during the lessons. In their dance classes we have stressed on the basic elements of jazz like isolations and style. Basic feet positions are also implemented in class for better recall and knowledge. The choreography taught has all the elements of jazz taught in class. The kids are all able to implement the steps. Only the style needs to be incorporated more. 6 grade 3 students are taking part in the group modern dance competition, lancers international school. The style taught is modern.
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In conjunction with the final line of inquiry–‘Reflection on how human activities create waste’, students investigated the nature’s way of recycling. They watched a video on composting and enthusiastically participated in making a small compost bin in the class. Immediate connections with the environment were made through a visit to the Sewage Treatment Plant in the school where they were taken through the process of recycling waste water. A guest lecture by Ms. Julkawas organized to educate students on the kind and amount of waste generated by the textile industry and how we can help to minimise it by recycling, reusing and up-cycling. A hands-on-activity was conducted wherein the students enjoyed up-cycling old t-shirts to tote bags.The students reflected on the possibility of a zero waste society and revisited the concepts covered during the unit. To assess their understanding of the concepts done in class they attempted a Summative Assessment. Students completed their Photostory on E-waste and explored the tool ‘typing club’to enhance their keyboard skills. The art classes were integrated with the current unit on waste by creating an installation using waste materials. They also made a sketch of their installations.Students illustrated learner profiles through sketches and also learnt about the elements of a composition in an artwork.Students enhanced their creative and thinking skills by utilising waste found at home to make beautiful musical instruments and proudly played and presented them in class. They also learnt the song ‘Counting stars’. The concept of paragraph writing was introduced to the students through an activity wherein the students were divided into groups and asked to create a mind map comprising of different words, facts and ideas on the topic assigned to them.A hamburger graphic organizer was provided to each student to categorize the sentences into beginning, middle and end of a paragraph. This strategy of brainstorming keywords, writing the first draft, editing it and presenting the final draft was used for other topics as well. A Novel study was initiated through a read aloud and prediction session. Model reading was done by the facilitator and stress was given on proper intonation and punctuation. Students also predicted the theme of the story by looking at the cover page. Recap of common and proper nouns was also done through the story. In their Math classes the students tuned into the concept of rounding off numbers. They practiced rounding off numbers to the nearest tens and hundreds through activities and written work.They also attempted a Summative Assessment on all the concepts of number system covered in the class. Students learnt and recited the poem ‘Kaagaz’.They were introduced to ‘milte-julteshabd’ (rhyming words). They identified ‘sangyashabd’ (nouns) from the poem and wrote ‘visheshanshabd’ (adjective) for the same. Students enjoyed solving ‘paheliyaan’ (riddles) and repeating tongue twisters during Hindi saptaah (week). They also tried their hand at writing riddles of their own, through group work. Students revised numbers one to ten in French. They attempted simple addition sums to deepen their understanding of the concept. They collaborated in pairs to practice simple greetings and explored the difference between formal and informal ways of doing it. They also discussed the cultural influence on a language with an Inquiry question- ‘How do we address the elders in India? How isit different from that in France’? In their Spanish classes students wrote a play on greetings and practiced it through role play. They watched a video on the Spanish alphabet and also learnt “Days of the week” in Spanish. The students practised basic skills of basketball like dribbling, passing and shooting. They also played an inter class shooting relay match. The basics of jazz style of dancing like isolations, feet positions and style were introduced to the students through a proper jazz routine to give them a better understanding of the dance form. The routine also helps in strengthening and stretching of back, arms and legs. In conjunction with the 2nd line of inquiry ‘effects of waste on the environment’ students inquired about different types of pollution, their sources and effects on the environment. Students explored about global warming and greenhouse effect and their impact on the environment by watching videos, online research and presentation. They further enhanced their understanding on these global issues through a case study. They also attempted a formative assessment and displayed their understanding. In ICT, students recorded an audio for their photostory on e-waste. The students further enhanced their comprehension skills using the skimming and scanning technique. They were encouraged to first read a passage on ‘incineration’ (a waste disposal method), read the questions and underline the answers within the passage. They then wrote down the answers in their own words. For a listening activity, students listened to a speech made by a 14 year old girl at the United Nations Conference bringing attention to all the things that people are doing to harm the environment. Further they answered questions based on the speech. Students were also introduced to the concepts of collective nouns and syllables using videos and activities. They participated in group activities to come up with examples and wrote their understanding of the concepts in their own words. In ICT, students recorded an audio for their photo-story on e-waste. Students also deepened their understanding of place value through various activities and games using deck of cards. Concept of ‘double’ and ‘half’ was introduced with the help of a quiz. Skip counting was done through number line and practiced through written work. Students explored the concept of number comparison through a ‘number comparison game’. They also attempted a formative assessment on the place value concepts. In their French classes, students wrote days of the week in their notebooks and self assessed them for spellings. They practiced pronunciation of the same. They also did a peer assessment of numbers one to ten and worked in pairs to learn the counting.
In Spanish class, the students gained knowledge on letters of the alphabets and watched a song to get the correct pronunciation. They also did a role play on Spanish greetings. |
AuthorMs. Ruchi Johar Archives
September 2016
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