First Unit of 2023-24! — SYSTEMS

Hello Everyone!

Now posted on our classroom wall is our first unit about the concept of SYSTEMS!

As explained in the handout you received on the first day, I organize the year into longer units, which each focus on a CONCEPT. Our first one is SYSTEMS. Each time we begin a new unit, I will post here the unit focus statement and areas of inquiry, as well as the core and curricular competency areas of focus for us.

So, let’s get started!

Unit Focus Statement:

Our personal choices play a role in how the interconnected system of the human body works.

Concept Guiding the Unit:  SYSTEMS

Core Competency Focus Areas: Personal Awareness & Critical Thinking

Areas of Inquiry:

  • The nature of systems and how we participate in them
  • The systems of the body and how they work together
  • Diseases and how the body defends against them
  • Choices and personal awareness that contribute to our overall well being
  • How we gather, organize, and interpret data to make healthy choices
  • Indigenous and world perspectives on health
  • How art and mindfulness practices are related to mental and physical wellness
  • French vocabulary and basic expressions about the human body

Learning Activities Coming Up:

  • Discussions about Universal Systems found everywhere through activities such as Roller Coaster Making and Scrappy Circuits
  • Investigations about body systems through rotating learning stations
  • Research on a body system of choice and writing a letter to the Human Body Corporation about why your system is the most important to the body
  • Gathering measurement data about ourselves and graphing it
  • Math from the book Math on the Job:Keeping us Healthy, practicing math used by health practitioners
  • Math games around data and probability, as well as lessons on mean, mode, and median.
  • Discussions and labs related to DNA/Genetics (Strawberry DNA extraction), Brain Science, Immunity, and Blood Types (not with real blood!)
  • Art activities related to personal exploration and mindfulness such as zentangling, black ink group art, and hive art.
  • Research on a Disease of our choice and presenting using PPT
  • More updates to come as we get into the unit!

Kindly,

Ms. D