Our First Unit for Fall 2020: It’s All in the Design

Hello Everyone,

Students have already begun thinking about our first unit! Here are some details about how a unit works.

  • We have five units during the year, followed by an independent project.
  • Units are trans-disciplinary and conceptual in nature, meaning all subjects are connected to one another through a key concept area. Concept areas are taken from universal themes, identified as key organizers of learning and life by researchers throughout the world.
  • Units have a title and a unit focus statement. We post the unit focus on the board so we can refer to it and think about how our activities are related to proving or elaborating upon the statement.
  • At the beginning of the unit, we go over the areas of inquiry and subjects that will be discussed so students understand how subjects will all be integrated and connected.
  • Questions are encouraged about the unit, and we post these on our Wonderings Board.
  • Unit work involves both learning activities and projects designed to show our knowledge. The unit is also ended with checking in questions to ensure everyone understood the content presented.
  • We use our journals and e-portfolios to record our thinking from the unit, so all of our thoughts can be found in one place.
  • The blue binder holds all subject handouts for this unit as well as notices for you. It stays in the backpack. We will clean it out at the end of each unit.

Here are details about our first unit of the year:

Title:  It’s All in the Design

Concept: STRUCTURE

Unit Focus Statement:

The structure of something is designed to serve the needs of the user.

Areas of Inquiry:

  • Where we find structure (buildings, organizations, hierarchies, nature, body systems, etc.)
  • Anatomy and function (looking at the eye, skeleton, animal skeletons and how they are designed to serve the animal along with other adaptations)
  • Using shape and form in art (elements and principles/sculpture)
  • Strong structure in architecture (geometry, shapes, measurement, etc.)
  • Structure in how we approach mathematics learning and communication of complicated number ideas
  • How science knowledge is related to structure and design choices (matter, chemistry, energy, forces)
  • Effective writing structure for communicating ideas (parts of speech, sentence structure, paragraphing, interesting words)
  • The structure that supports a community (government, community resources, class community and personal responsibility/awareness)
  • Where French is spoken in the world and the structure of a bilingual country like Canada

There will be more to come on the specifics of each subject area, as it arises in our work. Subject areas listed above are directly related to curricular content and competencies for this grade level.

I look forward to unpacking this exciting unit!