Unit of Inquiry
Students were engaged in an interactive activity where they learned how to study food labels to find information printed on food packets.
The unit concluded with a reflection by students paving the way for the introduction of the new unit on ‘homes’.
Trans disciplinary Theme: Where we are in place and time
The central idea evolved to state “Homes reflect personal identities and are influenced by local conditions”
The key concepts that will drive this unit have been identified as connection, causation and perspective with related concepts of material, climate and locality.
Students have begun to inquire into:
- Climate determines the structure of houses
- Factors that determine where people live
- Homes reflect personal identities
The unit started with a classroom discussion about the needs and wants in our daily lives. The discussion was supported by a T- chart activity demonstrating the needs and wants.
For prior knowledge assessment, students participated in a ‘Bus stop activity’, wherein pictures of different types of houses were placed in the classroom. Having made their observations, they paired themselves to discuss what they already knew from pictures. This activity helped in developing student understanding and sparked curiosity for the new unit.
With the help of ‘main idea wheel’ graphic organizer, students brainstormed and wrote their understanding of the central idea.
Further, students were familiarized with a ‘kutcha house’ and ‘pucca house’. They compared these types of homes on a Venn diagram.
Pictures of different types of houses were shown to the students and they discussed the type, structure and materials used in building of such houses.
Source:
Students then illustrated different types of houses in their journals and wrote a brief description about the same.
English
Students listened to the story ‘Dr. Zee’s apple factory’ and attempted a task sheet.
Video source:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEN4UTbovKM
Working in groups, students worked towards enriching their vocabulary by finding dictionary meanings of words from the spell bee list and were encouraged to make sentences in the journals.
Assessments were conducted for students to reflect their reading progress.
The concept of verbs was introduced with the help of a verb shaker activity. Students enthusiastically participated in this activity which involved each child enacting an action while others guessed the appropriate action word for it. They were further encouraged to frame sentences using those words.
Maths
Golden bead Montessori manipulative was used to revise the concept of doubling.
A variety of manipulatives and strategies were used to practice addition. The learners were actively engaged in building better understanding with practice in their process journals.
Addition with carry over was introduced, students worked with manipulatives like the Montessori short bead frame and golden beads to develop a better understanding of the concept.
Hindi
During their Hindi classes students watched a story of ‘fox and crow’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6vVpCm5p4 .
They arranged the given pictures in sequence and wrote the story in their own words. Through this activity they enhanced their listening and writing skills.
Students built on their reading skills by reading the story ‘Ekta mein bal’.
ICT
Students continued working on ScratchJr. They were assigned a task wherein they were to use all the blocks and make the sprites (characters) move, turn and hop repeatedly using those blocks. Students added different elements like background, title and different blocks of code.
They learned to save the project by giving it a unique name.
Students worked on an iPad app Bee-Bot to hone their coding skills.
Music
During Music sessions, students revised note and note values and played rhythm patterns (clapping).
They were introduced to the concept of voice articulators; these exercises would help the students in developing a clear diction and better voice throw while practicing vocals.
Students were assessed on their understanding of note, note value and the song “You’ve got a friend in me”.
Art
The students finished their Vincent Van Gogh sunflower painting project. They wrote their reflection on the outcome including the process of accomplishing the project.
Dance
Dance lessons were focused on development of front and back roll over, where students practiced different combinations of the same. They understood the difference between rhythm and tempo during a class discussion.
BLOG FOR SEL
Self-awareness was the social emotional skill that students had begun to learn. In the last few weeks, the medium of story telling has allowed students learn about how to react in a positive way despite being in an unfavorable situation. With the further help of SEL activities the students also learnt to notice and understand their thoughts and feelings and how thoughts and feelings can influence their behavior.
PE
Students worked on their motor skills with the help of obstacles which included rope skipping, jumping over the ladder and crossing hurdles.
They practiced yoga for better focus and decision making.
Library
Grade 2 children enthusiastically accomplished an activity based on word–search that consisted of the letters of words placed in a square grid.
The objective of this puzzle was to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The puzzle benefited children’s mind in such a way that they only had one goal – to complete the task, it also helped children in improving spellings.
