1. What is our purpose?

4. How best might we learn?

7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?

2. What do we want to learn?

5. What resources need to be gathered?

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?

3. How might we know what we have learned?

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?

9. Teacher Notes

Class/grade:                     2                        Age group:   7-8 years

School:  Yokohama International School                  School code: 7047

Title:  An Inquiry into:  the ways in which we express ideas, feelings,  and values; the ways in which we extend and enjoy our creativity. 

Proposed duration: 6 weeks

1.  What is our purpose?

To inquire into the following:

HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES:  An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

• Central idea:

Stories can be created, told, and interpreted in different ways.

Summative assessment task(s):

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? 

Students will write, illustrate, and perform an original story (to be captured digitally)

• Write own original story
• Reconstruct a traditional tale by changing characters, events, setting, etc.
• Write a prequel or continuation to a traditional tale.

We will follow many of the guidelines on Jason Ohler’s Digital Storytelling Website. Students will combine Storytelling, Art and Technology.

NET’s Standards

1b: Create original works as a means of personal or group expression

2a: Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media

2b: Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats

2.  What do we want to learn?

What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?

• change
• perspective
  

Related Concepts:  Written Language - writing (Phase 2); problem, solution, character, voice, Oral Language; Listening and Speaking, Reading -

What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

• How stories and tales change over time
• How and why characters in stories and tales change
• How stories and tales can be told from various points of view

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

• What are the features of stories and how do they work?  
• What types of characters appear in stories?
• How and why do characters in stories change?
• How do stories change when different people tell them?
• Who’s story is it?

Provocations

• Ms. Kumamoto to connect PSE elements of characters, good and bad guys/ gentle people/jealous people/ etc. and talk about characters in stories and how different stories portray the character in different ways.  More provocations from reconstructed tales such as "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs."

3.  How might we know what we have learned?

This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?” (refer to box 4)

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?

• Deconstruct the central idea to see what the students know already. Focus on the words 'constructed', 'told' and 'interpreted’.
• Brainstorm what features do stories (narratives) have (setting, character description, problem, sequence of events, solution, interesting words, dialogue, etc.)?

• Students each produce a piece of narrative writing as a pre-assessment.
• Discussion about the following questions:

            What do you know about kings, queens, princes, and princesses, heroes, villains

            What are the features of a story?

What evidence will we look for?

• Are students able to discriminate between fables, fairy tales, and other stories?.

• When producing narrative writing, are students able to describe the setting and characters? Do their stories have character description, setting, a beginning, middle, end, conflict, and  resolution? Do they use adjectives or descriptive vocabulary in their narrative writing?

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry?

• Are students able to describe the features of traditional tales?
• Can students recognize characterization and can they compare traditional and non-traditional characters in stories? Can they identify how characters might go through a change during the story?
• Can students demonstrate how stories change when told from the perspective of other characters?

What evidence will we look for?  

• Students will demonstrate their ability to use vocabulary such as:  'beginning, middle, end', 'plot', 'characters', 'conflict/problem', 'solution/resolution', 'hero' and 'villain' and explain what it means.
• Students will recognize character description within a traditional tale and use character description when writing their traditional tale.
• Students will recognize and discuss how traditional tales are told from different perspectives when reading a variety of versions. They will demonstrate their understanding by telling stories from a different perspective such as first person point of view and write stories with differing perspectives.

4. How best might we learn?

What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions?

• Teacher reads a traditional tale (such as The Three Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood). Students then discuss the story in detail in order to identify the features of a traditional tale. These include a setting (location/mood/atmosphere), a problem, repeated actions or behaviors, a solution/resolution, good character(s) and bad character(s) and a happy ending/moral. There is usually special story language, such as 'Once upon a time' and 'they all lived happily ever after'.
• Explore different interpretations of specific traditional tales (ie. The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs). Compare and contrast to see how the interpretation of the story changes in first person narrative and hearing the characters inner thoughts.
• Students read, watch, or listen to a selection of traditional tales and explore, discuss and record their features.
• Brainstorm the roles that characters play in traditional stories. This could include heroes, villains, comical characters, family members (including step-mothers and step-sisters), royal characters and magical characters.
• Explore traditional and non-traditional roles that characters play, for instance princesses. Use the description of a fairytale princess in Quack Quack, Stick to my Back and non-traditional princess stories such as 'The Paper Bag Princess' and 'Princess Grace' to support this inquiry.
• Students explore how kamishibai is a way of telling stories here in Japan.  Kamishibai will then be one of the ways that students can use to tell their own story in the summative assessment task.
• Perspective-talk about and act out characters' internal or private thought.
• Draw a picture of a villain or hero. Explain what makes them a villain or hero from the first person point of view.
• Tell a story with each person giving just one word at a time.
• Tell a story. Listeners say, “New Choice”. Storyteller has to make a change/go a different direction.
• Language Arts - Narrative Writing - students will explore the features of narrative writing. They will plan and write their own narratives.
• IT - Hero/Villain Project-where students will design a hero or villain and write a description of it using carefully chosen adjectives. They will post their description online and a student from another class will attempt to draw their hero or villain using only the description. Then they will draw the other student's hero or villain. They will then look at the original picture to see how close they were to drawing it accurately.
• Library - Rita will keep a traditional tale section in the corner of the library and Rita will read traditional tales to each class during library time.
• PSE - Lessons will focus on the Learner Profiles and Attitudes that relate to this unit by reading and discussing the character traits in stories from a first person point of view.
• Art - Students will be looking at examples of picture books - i.e. artists illustrating a story they have written themselves. Beginning, middle and end. Artists must fit the illustrations to fit a format. Students will work in Art to create their illustrations once their story is published.
• Drama - Choose a story. List characters and traits. Then choose who you want to be and tell the story, (in first person) acting out the traits of the character you chose (voice, mannerism, description).
• Japanese Integration - Help students prepare to read Japanese stories for the Hoikuen nearby on February 6. Make a group (heterogeneous group). Choose a book-choose parts. Practice (copy pages for students to practice at home, school, community read, reading time, Japanese time, etc.)
• Guest Speaker-Katherine Clare-telling stories through music and voice-all grade 2 session
• Music -Using the stories that they write in their own class, students will create a melody to each of their stories.

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile?

PYP definitions of Trans Skills, Learner Profile & Attitudes

Transdisciplinary Skills Checklist GRADE 2

Thinking skills:

• Comprehension- Grasping meaning from material learned; communicating and interpreting learning.
• Dialectical thought - Thinking about two or more different points of view at the same time; understanding those points of view; being able to construct an argument for each point of view based on knowledge of the other(s); realizing that other people can also take one’s own point of view.

Communication Skills:

• Listening - Listening to directions; listening to others; listening to information.
• Speaking - Speaking clearly; giving oral reports to small and large groups; expressing ideas clearly and logically; stating opinions.
• Reading - Reading a variety of sources for information and pleasure; comprehending what has

been read; making inferences and drawing conclusions.

• Writing - Recording information and observations; taking notes and paraphrasing; writing summaries; writing reports; keeping a journal or record.
• Viewing - Interpreting and analysing visuals and multimedia; understanding the ways in which images and language interact to convey ideas, values and beliefs; making informed choices about personal viewing experiences.
• Presenting - Constructing visuals and multimedia for a range of purposes and audiences; communicating information and ideas through a variety of visual media; using appropriate technology for effective presentation and representation.

Self-management Skills:

• Organization- Planning and carrying out activities effectively.
• Time management- Using time effectively and appropriately.

Research Skills:

• Planning- Developing a course of action; writing an outline; devising ways of finding out necessary information.

Concepts-LP-Attitudes Checklist GRADE 2

Learner Profile

• Communicators- They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.
• Japanese-Knowledgeable- Students understand some patterns of traditional Japanese stories.

PYP Attitudes

• Creativity - Being creative and imaginative in their thinking and in their approach to problems and dilemmas.
• Enthusiasm - Enjoying learning and willingly putting the effort into the process.

 5.  What resources need to be gathered? (Include Librarian and ICT support)

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?

Great online story website “Strega Nona”

Shin Yamashita nichoume Hoikuen-to arrange the interactions between G2 students and students there

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?

Books that are of particular help to the inquiry: Robert Munch’s Paper Bag Princess, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (first person example), Princess Grace,the following anthologies: Sneezy Snatchers (contains Paper Bag Princess,  Quack, Quack (contains descriptions of traditional princes and princesses, Goodies and Baddies (contains “Would be burglar”  as a first person example.  

Access to MP3 recorder or IT facilitator to allow for audio recording as a choice for stories.

Video cameras to shoot booktalks.

iMovie software to edit the booktalks.

Access to books on CDs.

A range of traditional tales from the library and Grade 2 resource boxes.

Drama - Relax Kids (Fairytale Meditations)

1001 Story App for iPads

Traditional tales on DVD

Japanese- Kamishibai and Nihon mukashi banashi

LIBRARY

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?

Opportunities for storytelling through puppet shows

Kamishibai storytelling

Shinyamashita nicyoume hoikuen

Elementary School Play dress rehearsal-probably can’t happen due to change in order of units

Ballet at St. Maur-to attend when the event is scheduled

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme?

7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?

What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?

9. Teacher Notes and PYP Planning Guide

What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

PAST Planner notes: