Unit of Inquiry

To foster scientific learning in the primary years, active, hands-on learning is very important to lay the right foundation.

Children understood the functioning of lungs by carrying out a simple experiment, under the guided supervision of the class teacher. They later recorded their findings with the help of a flow chart.

The book on ‘Human Body’ helped students find out information about the circulatory system. To understand the system further they performed a role play describing the flow of blood in our bodies. This activity helped them to develop their intrapersonal skills.

Students were tuned into the skeletal system with a book ‘The skeleton inside you’. Visual presentations helped in understanding the concept further. This was followed by a brain storming session that raised questions about the need for having bones, their numbers in the human body  and so on.

A guest speaker session was organised with a leading paediatrician who shared information about the various body systems and the ways in which we can take care of them. He spoke about the food pyramid and the benefits of eating a balanced diet. He shared ways to keep our body clean and the benefits of maintaining a correct posture during an activity.

The session was followed by students asking some relevant and meaningful questions about the mechanism involved in vision and if veinous blood is blue thereby making the session an informative and engaging one.

As a part of an assessment, students were engaged in sorting and placing  cut outs of the digestive and respiratory systems under appropriate headers.It was followed by writing the process of digestion in the journal.

Students discussed various ways in which we can aid the well being of the body systems.

Students were apprised about different professions and names of the professionals related to the medical field.

A take and talk helped students  make connections with their learning of the respiratory system as they spoke confidently.

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Unit presentation

The culmination of the ongoing unit on ‘Body Systems’ was marked with a Unit of Inquiry presentation. Students enthusiastically showcased their learning and understanding of various body systems much to parent delight.

They shared the importance of yoga and exercise, a balanced diet that leads to a healthy lifestyle. They talked in detail about different body systems while describing their functions, importance and interconnectedness.

Students engaged in role plays to share ideas about leading a healthy lifestyle while drawing on the perspective of various famous personalities who have influenced  people in leading a healthy lifestyle.

To mark an end to the presentation, students engaged in Zumba, a high energy workout dance form that promotes the importance of exercise for a healthy body and mind.

Post the presentation, students handed over a thoughtful gift,  an ecofriendly plant, to their parents thereby symbolizing their commitment to  health and well-being.

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English

Prior knowledge on articles was assessed using the letter box strategy. Students wrote their understanding about articles on a slip of paper and put it in a letter box, then coming together in groups, they assessed and summarized their understanding. They further discussed the rules and exceptions that apply to articles.

Students constructed meaningful sentences using appropriate articles.

They read a short story ‘Know your organs – through rhymes’ and attempted a Visible Thinking Routine – Colour Symbol Image for the same.

[KS1] https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/13045-know-your-body-through-rhymes

Knowledge of spellings was assessed with a spell bee.

A listening activity of a conversation between a doctor and a patient was followed by answering a few relevant questions.

Students were tuned into adjectives with an activity where they wrote compliments for their classmates. These describing words were then highlighted and discussed as adjectives. Furthermore, they wrote few lines describing themselves.

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Math

This fortnight students continued learning about the concept of volume. They were encouraged to collaborate and take initiatives during class activities which were focused on estimation, recording and comparing various quantities of liquid.

Going further with the unit on measurement, the concept of temperature was introduced. Students estimated and recorded the temperatures prevalent in Gurugram.  They engaged in a compare and contrast activity to record the temperature readings from other places to make connections at local and global level.

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Learner agency

Learner agency can be described as voice, choice and ownership which enables students to play a part in their self-development, initiative, responsibility and ownership.

Students were engaged in reflecting on the previous concepts covered in Math and English and posted their reflections under the appropriate headers like movers, shakers and challengers. Tasks were attempted depending on their understanding of the concepts.

Hindi

Language provides a vehicle for inquiry.

During their Hindi lessons students were read a story ‘Judge capsule kee adaalat’. They listened to and enjoyed the story . Further, they attempted a listen and answer activity which helped them to  make meaningful connections.

To enhance their writing skills, students wrote new words and constructed meaningful sentences using appropriate adjectives.

A read aloud session of the story, ‘Hawa aur Sooraj’ helped them to enhance their reading and comprehension skills.

Students displayed their social and self-management skills by working in groups for a quiz activity.

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ICT

Students were introduced to Virtual Tee app which is based on the Augmented Reality technology. They used an iPad app to view different body systems while using it. 

They were also introduced to the app Vittle, where they explored different tools like draw, add, select and record.

They practised typing to improve their typing skills through an online educational program. 

Students also reinforced the math concept of addition and subtraction with an iPad app. 

To enhance their coding skills, students actively participated in an event conducted by Apple – ‘Play date with byte @ coding playground’. They worked on the app  namedswift playground.

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Music

Music classes provide an environment that stimulates and challenges students.

Students were given the opportunity to identify and describe various musical elements such as rhythmic and melodic patterns. They learned about different types of articulators and their use while singing. They learned a few Christmas songs too.

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Physical Education

Students developed their basic motor skills with the help of different lead-up and recreational games, which included jumping, running, hopping. They are practicing their motor skills with the help of an obstacle course, mini cricket and mini football.They are practicing walking, balancing, speed on the skates during their skating lessons.

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Library

Students were shown, read and explained Carson Ellis’s award-winning picture book ‘Du Iz Tak?’ This book is based on Translanguaging and showcases conversation between about a group of bugs and how they discovered a new sprouting plant. They watched it grow and change through the seasons.

What made this book so unique was its imaginative and fictionalized language that the author has used to convey meaning of the dialogues. It was a great way to get children thinking, imagining and working on their interpretation and decoding skills. The illustrations were also very detailed, predictable and intriguing, which helped in taking the story further. There were lots of opportunities to embed thematic learning experiences like seasons, plants, insects in the book.

Students were given the task of preparing a book using translanguaging, and illustrations that drive the story. Students worked on their story and characters in the library  under teachers’ guidance. A checklist was co-constructed to enable students to keep important points in mind during the course of the task.

Unit of Inquiry

Taking their understanding further on the unit – ‘Homes’, students observed the interiors of different houses  and discussed the thought behind decorating their houses in a certain way and how all houses depicted  personal identities.

Students attended a guest speaker session by Ms. Deepa Rajesh a native of  Andhra Pradesh, Ms. Josephine Tung who hailed from Kalingpong and Ms. Shivranjini a resident of Rajasthan. They discussed the unique features of  houses found in their respective regions and how homes  are influenced by local conditions.

Later, in groups students brainstormed the similarities and differences between homes found in each state of India.

Students conducted a survey on how homes reflect personal identities by interviewing their parents and  drew inference from the collected data.

A take and talk activity helped students to showcase their communication skills by speaking about their choice of houses.

A summative assessment marked a reflection of their understanding.

The unit concluded with a reflection by students thus paving the way for the introduction of the new unit on ‘body systems’

Transdisciplinary theme- Who we are

Central idea- The functioning of our body systems contributes to our wellbeing.

Key concepts that will drive this unit have been identified as form, function and responsibility and related concepts of systems and growth.

Students have begun to inquire into:

• Our body systems
• Functions of our body systems
• Ways in which we can aid the wellbeing of our body systems

Students tuned into the unit by comparing a human body with a machine. They corelated  similarities and differences between the two on a graphic organizer.

Using the rocket writing strategy, students wrote their understanding of the transdisciplinary theme ‘who we are’.

A class discussion allowed the students to explore the importance of internal and external organs. They were given cut outs of internal and external body organs, which they sorted and placed into their respective boxes, for an activity.

https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/562721e2fd8a91a25506247d/watch

https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/56271ff89826491c578a714b/watch

There on, students were introduced to the digestive system with a discussion on how a group of organs work together to convert food into energy and nutrients. This was further explained using a visual presentation.

https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/5628988efd8a91a2550bbc92/watch

http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/media/services/thechildrensuniversityofmanchester/flash/digestive.swf

With the help of an experiment -‘fogging of the mirror’, students were introduced to the respiratory system.

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English

Using the four R reflection strategy (Remember, Revise, Reveal and React) students recorded their reflection on verbs.

Knowledge of spellings was assessed with a spell bee.

Students enthusiastically participated in an activity which involved them to write vowels on the cube and consonants on the flash cards. Prior to this, they were assessed on their understanding of the same using picture cards. They were then required to form a word using those vowels and consonants.

Students were briefed about short and long vowels. They wrote some examples in their process journals.

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Mathematics

For the unit  on measurement, the concept of weights was introduced. Students inquired and learnt how to read a weighing scale.

Collaboratively working in groups, they collected a few objects, measured their weight and recorded the same in their process journals.

Using their thinking skills, students estimated and compared the weight of  few objects and arranged them in a sequence from lightest to heaviest. Thereafter, students estimated the weight of those objects that was followed by measuring them on a weighing scale to record  the accurate weight.

A formative assessment was taken subsequently.

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Hindi

During Hindi classes, students were introduced to the grammar concept of verbs or ‘kriya’ with the help of an activity. They enhanced their speaking skills with ‘ bas ek pal’ activity.

Students recited a poem ‘meri ankhen dekhti hain’.

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ICT

Students built different types of homes in Minecraft. They selected various materials required to build a virtual home from the inventory. They also learned about the various controls used in Minecraft. 

Students were introduced to a new technology – Augmented Reality (AR). It is a combination of the two worlds real and virtual. Students shared their experiences with the AR applications which have been used by them previously.

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Music

During music lessons students learned about functioning and structure of voice box referring to their unit on body systems. Students also learned about the steps to take care of voice and  more facts about articulations that help to build  diction and improve the singing quality and pronunciation.

Integrating music lessons with the unit on body systems helped  students learn about the functioning and structure of voice box. They were sensitized about  ways to take care of their voice. 

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Physical education

Students developed their basic motor skills with the help of different lead up and recreational games, which included jumping, running, hopping etc.

They are practicing their  motor skills with the help of obstacles, mini football and mini cricket.

Students practiced walking, balancing and maintaining speed on the skates during their skating lessons.

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Library

Students were given general information on the difference between a fiction and a non- fiction book. They briefly understood that fiction referred to plot, settings, and characters created from imagination, while non-fiction referred to factual stories that focussed on actual events and people. A non-fiction book talked about the facts and information about the world around us and it could cover almost any topic, from wild animals to Vikings, from human body to biographies.

Art

Students learned how to use 3D shapes to draw a house. They also observed the line of symmetry in artworks and explored the usage of grids to draw symmetrical mirror images of the given figures.

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Dance

Dance lessons were focussed on development of back flexibility where students practiced different combination of the same.

Class discussions encouraged students to understand the difference between rhythm and tempo. They also got to know different stage positions used in choreography.

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SEL

The learning objective focussed on promotion of  self-confidence  to identify personal resources such as kindness, resilience and compassion.

Students were shown visual aids that led to a discussion on how they connected and related with  acts in their daily lives. Students then made crowns for themselves based on the act they displayed the most and wore it during the day. These crowns were named as kindness, compassion and resilience crowns.

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Unit of Inquiry

To further enhance their understanding of the current unit, students were taken for a material hunt walk around school where they identified various materials used for construction. Later, they brainstormed and made a mind map  and inquired into their uses.

Students watched a video on various materials used over the years to construct houses.

Students attended a guest speaker session withMiss Rekha Saluja that helped them to understand the importance of making homes sustainable in current times.

This was followed by a skype session with Delhi based architect Mr. Ashok Lall, who works extensively on building sustainable homes. Later, students recorded their reflection on the subject.

Students also attended a guest speaker session with Mr. Bansal, an architect, who discussed about materials used in construction and his contribution to minimize the damage to the environment.

Students conducted a survey on ‘choices to be made while selecting a house’, by interviewing their teachers and drawing inference from the collected data.

An interactive skype session with Ms. Anna Zubkovskaya who helped students  understand the types of houses found in Russia. They were further explained how the houses there are designed to help in dealing with extreme climatic conditions.

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English

As a part of integration with the ongoing unit, students watched an audio-visual story ‘If I built a house’ by Chris Nan Dusen. They used their listening skill development strategies to address question-based task.

They further read a poem- ‘A home’ by Nancy Vandenberg and were introduced to the concept of rhyming words.  Students then identified rhyming words occurring in the poem and created their own poems using those words. .

Unit Integration was done wherein the students attempted a task sheet based on picture comprehension.

Later, students engaged in novel study of ‘Getting Granny’s glasses’ written by Ruskin Bond. They summarized the chapters in their booklets.

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Math

Students were introduced to the concept of rounding off numbers wherein they made an open number line model on the floor and practiced  the same. To further enhance their understanding, they created their own number line on a graph sheet and marked numbers on it. Later, students played rounding bingo wherein they reflected on their learning. Furthermore, students developed estimation strategies for length and used mental benchmarks like non-standard units through an activity- measures around the room. Then they recorded the estimate they made and the actual measurement.

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Hindi

During their Hindi classes students learned a new concept sanyukt vyanjan. With the help of  a classroom activity, they found out ‘sanyukt vyanjan’ words from the given grid. They also revised poem ‘mere ghar’.

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Information Technology

Students continued to work on Minecraft during ICT lessons. They were assigned a task to build different types of homes. Students selected different materials from the inventory that could be used to make their house. They tried building a layout of their desired houses. 

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Music

During music sessions, students learned how to identify notes in lines and spaces (staff lines). They played and clapped instructed pattern of notes.

Students learned the song Octopus’s garden by Beatles.

Physical Education

Students developed their motor skills with the help of obstacles including rope skipping and practiced yoga asana for better flexibility and concentration.

During skating lessons they practiced start position and speed.

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Social emotional learning

Self-confidence is the sub skill under self-awareness that students have begun to learn during  Social Emotional Lessons this month. The focus was to enable  students  identify personal resources such as kindness, compassion and resilience. The students learned about the same through use of visual aids and engaging in a dictionary activity to understand the meanings of the three different behaviors.

They later  engaged in an open discussion in class and wrote reflections on their understanding about the three behaviors.

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Library

Magazines make great reading material for children. The primary library has a large collection of magazines like Magic Pot, Primary Plus and Champak to name a few. Children engaged in reading these magazines during library lessons. These magazines consist of short stories, graphic strips, poems, maze, quizzes and many exciting articles that challenge their reading and comprehension prowess. The library also afforded an opportunity to play board games as a means to promote language development amongst avid and not so avid readers.

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Unit of Inquiry

This fortnight, students continued to gain knowledge on the current unit – homes.  To enhance the learning curve, they inquired and researched about the different materials used for making various houses.

They explored the benefits of  materials like wood, bricks and cement in the construction of houses.

Students mapped different types of houses found in various parts of India.  

Taking their learning further, students inquired how directions help in locating places. A map marking activity enabled them to mark different kinds of homes found around the world.

A formative assessment on the 1^st line of inquiry was conducted.

Students attended a skype session with Ms. Aanchal, in Thailand and discussed about different kinds of houses found there. They summarized the learnings from the session by writing a reflection in their process journals.

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English

During their English lessons, students enhanced their reading skills wherein they read a poem ‘my house’ and identified the verbs.

Students then chose a verb from the poem to create an acrostic version for the same. This helped in enhancing their creative skills.

Students were assessed on their spellings with a spell bee.

A formative assessment on verbs was taken too.

A book study  ‘Getting Granny’s Glasses’ by Ruskin Bond helped the young learners to enhance their reading and comprehension skills. Furthermore, students enriched their vocabulary by understanding the meaning of difficult words.

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Maths

Students practiced word problem sums and applied their understanding by using RUCSAC strategy.

A formative assessment on addition was taken.

Prior knowledge on measurement was conducted with a  self-assessment wherein students wrote their understanding of measurement, the difference between standard and non- standard measurement, units and various tools used for measuring objects.

Students were then introduced to the concept of measurement. They measured the lengths of given line segments using a ruler. Thereafter, they drew line segments and parallel lines on graph sheets.

They were introduced to standard units for measuring length.

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Hindi

During their Hindi classes, students recited a poem ‘mera ghar’ and identified संयुक्त व्यंजन शब्द.   Students watched a video on different types of houses, for this helped them in learning new words and improving their vocabulary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnfjY1jn27I

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Information Technology

Students were introduced to Minecraft, a game on placing blocks and going on adventures. They learned to create a world by giving it a name and working in creative mode. They learned the required movements of going forward, left, right, backward, jump and fly. Students learned various techniques of placing and breaking the blocks and explored how to select different materials from the inventory. They enhanced their creativity, problem-solving, self-direction and collaboration skills. Students also discussed the use of computers in their daily lives. They learned about  places where computers can be used along with their purpose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvCWn5HnKdc

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Music

During music lessons, students learned how to identify notes represented on staff lines. They further learned about staff lines on the music sheet and tried to play note values on their favourite instruments as instructed.

Students practiced singing the first verse of the song “octopus’s garden” by the Beatles. 

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Art

Students were introduced to the concept of a house. This involved a preliminary discussion subsequently followed by a drawing exercise on 3D drawing. They were then asked to explore the colour of their homes including the things they liked in them.

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Dance

With the help of a class discussion, students understood the importance and influence of dance on people. Students were explained the difference between rhythm and tempo. They also learned the different stage positions used in choreography.

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Physical Education

Students developed their basic motor skills with the help of different lead-up and recreational games which included jumping, running and hopping.

During skating sessions, they practiced walking, balancing and speed on the skates.

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Library

Students listened to the award-winning story of the‘Owl Moon’ written by Jane Yolen. The story about a little boy and his father who one winter night went for owling made interesting reading. The trees stood still as statues and the world  seemed silent as a dream. When they both reached into the deep dark forest, father called whoo-whoo-whoo to invite mysterious night birds, but there was no answer.

The father and son duo walked silently for the father had said to the son ‘when you go owling you don’t need words, you don’t need anything but hope for sometimes there is an owl, but sometimes  none’. Eventually their patience paid off, and they caught sight of an owl.

The book proved to be a verbal and visual treasure, it displayed the learner profile attribute of being courageous as the little child went with his father for owling and he knew he had to be brave at this time of the night.

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Students learning agency – voice and choice

It is a way for students to take ownership of their own learning and display their individualized reflection on the previously done concepts. 

Students reflected on the previous concepts in Math and English and posted their reflections under the appropriate headers like movers, shakers and challengers. Tasks were attempted depending on their understanding of the concepts.

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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:

Types houses from Susana Sousa V

Students then illustrated different types of houses in their journals and wrote a brief description about the same.

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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.

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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. 

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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’.

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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.

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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”.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Unit of Inquiry

Students continued their learning journey to understand different methods of food preservation by inquiring about the process of ‘sugaring’. This was explained with the help of a power point presentation which described the steps involved in preparing sugared apples. Research aided them to  identify other food items which can also be preserved by using the technique of sugaring.

The book, ‘Milk from Cow to Carton’ by Gliki was read in  class. Students depicted the journey of milk from farm to table (pasteurization) in the form of a comic strip. They researched  about Louis Pasteur and the process of pasteurization on their iPads.Students also observed the process of making curd.

Fermentation was introduced with brainstorming questions like- What changes do you observe (in look, feel, taste, consistency, smell, etc.) over the previous day? Why do we ferment foods and what added benefits do we get due to the process? What other things are suited to fermentation? What gas is released in the process? Which French scientist studied fermentation in detail? How is it different from pasteurization?

Students also learned about the process of drying, when the form tutor showed them the stages involved in preparation of potato chips.

They  acquired knowledge about the process of freezing, where they observed the importance of freezing certain food items to improve their shelf life. To enhance  thinking and writing skills, students wrote aboutwhat is frozen, why it is frozen, where it is frozen and how it is frozen?

Students worked in groups and collected information as to why various foods are processed.

Further they collated their research findings by segregating food items that can be processed using different food preservation methods.

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Mathematics

With the help of place value counters, students were introduced to the concept of three-digit addition. Through class discussions, they were able to identify several possible scenarios where addition may be useful in real life. They acquired knowledge about the different terms used in addition.

Students were curious to learn about the commutative property of addition and recorded their understanding by solving a few sums in their journals.

Students were also familiarized with the concept of number line . A summative assessment was taken too. 

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English

Students enhanced their vocabulary by thinking of meaningful words using ‘ck’, ‘ack’ and ‘ick’ phonograms and showcased their writing skills by framing sentences using these words.

Students were keen to learn about the concept of skimming and scanning where the technique was introduced using a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1wPYHa5nUg .

As a part of unit integration, students read an article on food processing and  write a short paragraph to demonstrate their understanding.

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Hindi

During their Hindi classes, students were engaged in reading a story, ‘nanha paudha’. They enhanced their vocabulary by learning new words from the story and were able to form simple and meaningful sentences.

 On the occasion of Hindi diwas, students wrote slogans and made posters depicting the importance of healthy food and how to avoid food wastage. Subsequently, they visited other grades to spread awareness amongst their peers about related topics.

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Library

This year the summer assignment challenge aimed at developing  analytical and thinking skills. Students undertook an extensive and meaningful assignment and presented insightful reflections based on The De Bono’s hats thinking strategies for the stories they read.

Winners of the summer challenge celebrated their victory on September 3, 2019 by dressing up as favorite characters from their respective stories and went on a character parade to instill the love for reading across school.

Students enjoyed their celebratory ice cream and attention. The school takes pride in awarding winners with an interdisciplinary certificate of appreciation that applauds their efforts.

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PE

Students developed their basic motor skills with the help of different lead-up and recreational games which included jumping, running and hopping. They are now learning shake handgrip, shadow forehand and rallies against the wall with a mini tennis ball.

Students are also practicing walking, balancing and speeding on the skates during their skating lessons.

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Information Technology

Students  have worked on the programming app ScratchJr. Integration of ICT session with UOI was conducted whereby the students were assigned a task to have a dialogue conversation between two sprites that focused on benefits of processed and unprocessed food. They added all the required elements like background, title to the scenario and different blocks of code. 

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SEL-

The SEL sessions focused on self-awareness wherein the students learned about mindful self-perception and how they could relate their feelings and thoughts to behavior. During the first weeks’ activity they were given visual aids which gave them an insight into how they can hold and focus on their strong emotions like anger , how  they can identify varied emotions and learn to balance them. With the help of the SEL activities the students further learned about how  emotions can cloud their thoughts and how they can control it by practicing mindfulness.

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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 through a class discussion.

Students were made aware of the different stage positions used in choreography. 

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Music

During music sessions, students learned about different type of notes as per their note values (time that a note takes) and learned about beats. They could recognize a whole note, half note, quarter note and eighth note.

Students revised and sang the song “You’ve got a friend in me” by Randy Newman.

Song Link :    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcXURC_nNhc

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Art

The children were introduced to Vincent Van Gogh and his paintings’Sunflowers’, they were also shown the contrasting works by American artist Jackson Pollock . After being asked to analyse the difference the children were highlighted about the aspect of style and individuality in art. They were finally asked to copy a sunflower painting by Vincent Van Gogh being guided/assisted by me.

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Assembly

Students conducted the assembly on ‘World literacy day’ which is celebrated on 8th of September every year. They explained the meaning of the term literacy and shared some facts about UNESCO. It was followed by a short nukkad natak by some students which emphasized on why education is important. They culminated the assembly with a song.

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Unit of Inquiry

This fortnight, students further inquired into steps involved in the manufacturing of food. They discussed the various stages that define the journey for food to reach from the farmer to the consumer.After the discussion, students performed role play and illustrated their understanding in their journals. Through a sorting activity, students further comprehended the concept of processed and unprocessed food and recorded the same in their journals. 

Taking their learning further, students watched a video and depicted the journey of chocolate from farm to table. They mapped the cocoa bean producing countries  on the world map.

Formative Assessment (1st line of inquiry)

The form tutor read the ‘Autobiography of a tomato – from the farm to the table’ as a monologue. Further, students chose a food of their liking and spoke about its journey from the farm to the table and represented it through illustrations.

Students enhanced their listening and speaking skills by exchanging information on the pros and cons of processed and unprocessed foods. They summarized their learning by recording the same in their journals.

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English

During their English lessons, students learned procedural writing by brainstorming about a  recipe. They recorded the steps of the recipe based on the success criteria given in the graphic organizer.

Media Literacy-Unit Integration

Students saw a news clipping showing the ever increasing demand for organic food. After watching the video, they discussed about organic farming and its increasing popularity. In groups, students analyzed this using De Bono’s thinking hats.

https://www.dw.com/en/organic-food-catching-on-in-india/av-40828802

In a group activity game of Roll the Dice, students revisited punctuation (capitalization, period, question mark, comma and exclamation mark) and wrote the characteristics for the use of each. They made sentences using different punctuation marks in their journals.

A take and talk activity helped the students to speak on the process of farming, manufacturing and chocolate making. 

The students’ comprehension about nouns was assessed with a formative assessment. Students were also assessed on their spellings with a spellbee. 

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Maths

Students applied their knowledge of number bonds by using class manipulatives and practice sheets.

Students revisited the concept of odd and even numbers with manipulatives and extended it to their journals while writing examples and making  real-life connections. They practiced representing numbers on the abacus and  representing the same using place value blocks. They also practiced various number concepts like ascending/descending order, number comparisons etc through online games.

Students articulated their understanding of ordering numbers, how to recognise a number as odd or even and addition between odd and even numbers. They made various combinations of odd + odd, odd + even, even + even and concluded their understanding. Students practiced number names, place value, face value and expanded form for numerals.

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Hindi

During Hindi classes, students recited the poem ‘Nanha Beej’ and engaged in visual imagery by representing the journey of a seed to a plant. This activity helped them understand the process of how seeds grow into plants. They learned  new vocabulary words from the poem, identified different fruits and vegetables and wrote their names in Hindi. 

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Dance

Dance lessons were focused on correction of body posture during core workout. Correct posture and body positioning help in body balancing while performing any dance routines.

The concept of grooves and isolation was also introduced. This helped the  students to understand the sense of recurring rhythms through different types of music and movement of individual body parts, independent of the rest.

Music

During Music class, students learned about notes and note values and inquired how to count the beats without sound. They also learned how it is  applicable while singing and playing instruments. 

Students learned and sang the song  ‘You have got a friend in me’.

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ICT

Students were introduced to a visual programming language, known as ScratchJr. This app is the basics form of coding in which students can use different graphical elements, text, symbols and icons to code an object.

Students were made familiar with the interface of the app and further explored the different elements. They created code on the objects known as sprites. They learned to select the sprites from the library and edit to create new sprites by changing their colour and appearance using ‘Paint Editor’.

Students learned to add a background, give title to the scenario, save their project and how to use the different blocks of code.

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Assembly

The students shared information about India’s 73rd Independence Day, the meaning of freedom, ways to express it and why we need it. They also mapped Korea, Congo, Liechtenstein on the world map as they also celebrate their Independence Day on August 15. Flags of those independent countries were displayed on the world map and these were connected by thread with the countries who ruled over them.

Assembly concluded with the melodious patriotic singing of the song ‘VandeMataram’.

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Library

The birthday of one of the bestselling fiction authors of all times, ‘Enid Blyton’ was celebrated in the library. According to UNESCO, she is the most translated children’s author in the world has sold more than 600 million books.

The children were given a brief introduction about the author and the popular series written by her – Noddy, Famous Five, The secret seven, Amelia Jane, Malory Towers, and The faraway tree. Few children also borrowed books from her collection.

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Physical Education

Students developed their basic motor skills with the help of different lead up and recreational games which included jumping, running and hopping. They are now learning shake hand grip, shadow forehand for mini tennis and are  practicing walking, balancing, speed on the skates during their skating lessons.

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