4 February 2016

Kindy Unit of Inquiry Letter

Dear Parents,

This letter provides you with some information about our first unit of inquiry of the year. Kindy will be inquiring into this unit throughout the school year.

Unit of inquiry: Who we are

An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

Central idea:People have the responsibility of taking appropriate decisions to maintain health and well being.

Key concepts:Form, responsibility and causation

Lines of inquiry

  • How food affects our bodies
  • The importance of exercise
  • The way sleep keeps us healthy
  • The reasons we need good hygiene

Description of the unit:We will be finding out about healthy food and drink. We will learn about how food affects our body andthe importance of exercise, sleepand hygiene.

Transdisciplinary focus

English:

Listening and Speaking

  • Listening and responding to picture books, showing pleasure and demonstratingtheir understanding through gestures, expression and/or words.
  • Naming classmates, teachers and familiar classroom and playground objects.

Reading

  • Enjoying listening to stories
  • Joining in with chants, poems, songs, word games, clapping games, gaining familiarity with the sounds and the patterns of the language of instruction.

Viewing and Presenting

  • Using body language to communicate and to convey understanding, for example, pointing, gesturing, and facial expressions.

Mathematics:

  • We will be focusing on number and measurement during this unit.


The development of the following skills, PYP attitudes and attributes of the IB learner profile will be the focus of this unit:

Summative Assessment
Title: Healthy Habits
Role: Health care promoters
Audience: Woodford International School
Format: Posters
Task: Students will demonstrate their understanding of healthy habits by creating posters to educate the school community.

How You Can Help at Home and at School

Here are some ideas of things you can do to extend this unit of inquiry with your child and family:

  • Plan a way to exercise together as a family during the week or the weekend.
  • Buy a packet of cookies/biscuits from the grocery store. Find a cookie recipe andmake some together. Then compare the ingredient list on the packet to the recipe that you used. Which cookie might be a healthier choice? What makes it a healthier cookie?
  • Discuss the lunch that you and your child has had. Do they think it was a balanced lunch?
  • Count the number of colours in your evening meal. Generally the more colours that can be seen, the healthier the meal.
  • Go together to the grocery store and make a point of only buying healthy food. What did you buy and what got left in the store?
  • Work with your child in the kitchen. You might want to give them a chance to make suggestions about healthy meals and then help to prepare them.
  • Take for a walk as a family
  • Discuss the importance of sleep.
  • Talk about your bed time and your bedtimes routines
  • Stress the importance of good hygiene
  • Bring books into school for them to share with their class.
  • If any parents would like to come and talk to the Kindy classes about the responsibility of taking appropriate decisions to maintain health and well being, we would love to see you!

Have fun with this unit of inquiry!

The Kindy Teachers