Our "How the World Works" unit of inquiry in pictures

My class has recently finished their fifth PYP unit of inquiry, under the transdisciplinary theme of "How The World Works." Our central idea was "Differing climates around the world impact how we live."

Here are a few pics of some things around the classroom by the end of the unit. Have a look back a few posts to find some more of the resources we used.

Climate zones websites for children (QR codes)

Well we made it to the weekend... at last! 

My class is elbow-deep into our current unit of inquiry about how differing climates affect how we live. They are doing lots of research on their iPads about different climate zones. Here's a sheet with QR codes for suitable child-friendly websites related to world climate zones to help guide their research.

Click here or on the image to download from Google Drive for FREE!

Enjoy!

Project work: Making homework easier

I have found that a great thing to do for homework is to set a weekly research project. I try to keep them quite general so that the children can pick what they choose. It makes for much more interesting reading material when correcting their work. I lay each project out with 4 sections. The children are given the task sheet on Monday and then do one section per night. It also means that you only have to correct this work on Friday, rather than flicking through copybooks daily. I find that the children really engage with these projects too as it's all their own work and on a topic of their choice.


Click here to download the task sheet for studying a country of their choice. 
(Thanks to Phillip Martin @ www.phillipmartin.info for the free clipart)

Titanic Teaching Resources

As Sunday marks 100 years since the Titanic sank, next Monday is a perfect day for exploring all things Titanic-related in the classroom. Here's an idea of some of the Titanic-themed lessons that I'm planning:


History: KWL chart in project scrapbooks. Complete a 3 page project on the Titanic, aiming to answer the questions asked in the W column. Examine photographs and diary entries. Debate: Was the Titanic unsinkable? (last link from Anseo.net here)


Geography: Map the route of the Titanic. Explore icebergs. Examine the phrase "That's only the tip of the iceberg."


Science: Design paddle boats. I came across a nice construction lesson here.


Music: Listening and responding to "Nearer My God To Thee," a song that was reported to have been played on the ship as it sank. They will then compose a sound story to document the story of the Titanic --> setting off, the buzz on board, hitting the iceberg, sinking, the calm after all of the commotion.


Visual arts: Discussion on warm/cold colours. Paint a picture of the Titanic using mainly cold colours.


Drama: Define class - the differences between first, second and third class. Imagine that they are on the Titanic. One person is a third class passenger, the other is a first class passenger. They become friends but both sets of parents disapprove of the friendship. Hotseat the children and the parents. Generate potential solutions for this conflict.


In the children's individual computer time (in my classroom, all children have two short computer slots each week where they are assigned sites to check out weekly.)
Take a Virtual Dive to the Titanic: This section of the Discovery Channel site focuses on the technology used to explore the wreck of the Titanic. It's a very child-friendly, interactive way of exploring the Titanic. This would certainly appeal to the older classes in primary school.
(I found this on Scoilnet's Titanic page. There you'll find plenty of links for pupils and teachers alike.)
The Encyclopedia Titanica site is also useful for researching projects.


titanic lessons for kids, titanic classroom activities, titanic lesson ideas , titanic resources

Measuring wind speed - making anemometers

I made these anemometers with my class. They're surprisingly easy and cheap to do. I followed these instructions from the SERCC website. 


Here's how I displayed them with a sign saying "Check out our awesome anemometeres!" and details on how to use them. I also stuck up tables for 8 groups to fill in the wind speed on various days [date, rotations in 10 seconds, wind speed (mph), wind speed (kmph)]. Click here to download these signs and record sheets.

Schools in the past

My class have been studying the history of schools in Ireland recently. If you are near Dublin, it may be worth bringing your class to the Small Lives photographic exhibition at the National Library's Photographic Archive in Temple Bar. It's running until June 2012. If not, you can view photographs from it on their Flickr site.

The NLI have provided some lesson ideas based on photographs of a classroom in Waterford. Click here to download them. 


I also stumbled upon the wonderful AskAboutIreland.ie which is very child-friendly. I set the children the task of researching the history of schools in the country using this site. They loved using it. It's bright, packed with information, activities, illustrations and pictures. 


Upon further delving into the site, I found some great resources for SESE and Gaeilge. I particularly like the eBooks of Irish myths and legends. There's an audio option for differentiation too. One reservation I have about the site is that the standard of Gaeilge is quite high and that it may be more suited to scoileanna T1 and only senior classes in scoileanna T2. 

Free energy resources from SEAI

A friend recently pointed me in the direction of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland website. They have a tonne of fantastic resources - books, worksheets, posters and lesson plans available - for free. They cover terms such as renewable energy, recycling, acid rain, etc. You can download a lot of these as PDFs here. There are some fantastic ideas for geography and science (and the ethical curriculum if you're in an Educate Together school) lessons including experiment sheets. This is definitely one to check out!

Click here to view the primary schools' resources section.

Free Water Resources

Found a link to this fantastic website on (another wonderful website!) www.mash.ie for teaching about water conservation. It's an American site with a tonne of great lesson ideas and resources for all age levels from elementary to high school. It's definitely worth checking out as it can be linked in with many subjects.


Click here to go to the site!

New Zealand Station Teaching Pack

Here's a pack of 8 station teaching cards for learning about New Zealand. They're aimed at senior primary school level and would be best suited for Irish primary school teachers.


Enjoy!

Trócaire Tales of Disaster Resource Pack (FREE activity sheets)

I got this natural disasters resource pack from Trócaire (an Irish charity, for those of you who're not from this part of the world) for €6.This includes a book of the worksheets in the link below and an accompanying DVD with really cute puppet animations (see picture) depicting natural disasters such as flooding, landslides, volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes. 


If you would like to buy the DVD, just email/ring Trócaire and they'll sell you one for €6. The money's going to charity so it's a good cause as well as a good teaching resource!


The worksheets are available for free here: http://www.trocaire.org/sites/trocaire/files/pdfs/edu/age/talesofdisaster.pdf
It's really well laid out with ideas for extension activities that could be done for different subjects.

***

They have some free resources that would be useful for geography at http://www.trocaire.org/resources/primary-resources.

Rugby World Cup Resources (Free!)

The rugby world cup will take place in New Zealand from Sept 9th - Oct 23rd, 2011. There are some fantastic teaching resources available on the official RWC 2011 Site. 


Here's what's available on the site:

	Student Activity SheetsA teaching unit of 20 social sciences activity sheets for students to use to learn about their adopted team.
	Fun PackA collection of fun activities for students to complete including puzzles, crosswords, word finds, a quiz and more!
	Teacher ResourcesA resource pack containing background information about Rugby World Cup for teachers to use in their lesson planning.
	Ruggerbee Colour SheetsA series of colouring-in sheets featuring the Ruggerbees, each sporting the uniform and flag of their adopted country.
	RWC 2011 Match SchedulePrint out this poster featuring the Ruggerbees for your classroom wall. Students can fill in the scores as the Tournament progresses

The "Student Activity Sheets" are my favourite part of the pack as they contain simple graphic organisers for structuring information about a country. These are great for geography lessons. I love the idea of 'adopting a team.' It also comes with a really cute certificate to give to the children, saying that they have adopted XYZ team.


Of course, with the games being held in New Zealand, what better country to choose as a theme for other lessons. Here are some ideas of things to do:
Maths: Data handling using scores from the world cup matches; currency
P.E.: Tag rugby
P.E./Music: Haka (Dance; exploring chants, rhythm)
Music: New Zealand national anthem (NZ has two national anthems, one written by an Irish person)
Geography: Maori culture
Art: Maori tattoos (draw on each other with facepaint, washable markers - watch out for any skin allergies!), Maori jewelry, design their own poster for the world cup, design a flag for New Zealand based on what they have learned
Science/Nature: Kiwi birds (national bird)
Drama: Explore the attitudes of locals as the world cup comes to their country; use a Maori legend as a stimulus.
English: NZ legend (here!); write a magazine article about New Zealand, come up with an advert to entice people to go to NZ
Gaeilge: An Haka Gaelach (If you are teaching in Ireland and would like the lyrics to this, just post a comment below with your email address and I'll send it to you!)