Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:

Age group: 5-6
School: Roberts Elementary
School code: 7207
transdisciplinary theme
Sharing the planet : An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to
share finite resources with other people and with other living things;
communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal
opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

Class/grade: Kindergarten
central idea
Title: This Land is Your Land
Teacher(s): Kindergarten
PYP planner
Date 3-19-13 revised
Proposed duration: 10 hours per week over 6 weeks
Humans and their choices have an impact on the planet.
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 draw a picture of a way humans positively and negatively impact the
Earth. Students will then write 2-3 sentences describing the impacts they have
depicted. A teacher-made rubric will be used to assess the students’ understanding
of the central idea.
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?
Causation, change, responsibility
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

positive and negative forms of human impact on the planet
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earth’s resources
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animal habitats
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reduce, reuse, recycle
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
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3.
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5.
6.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
How do humans help or hurt the Earth?
What are the things that humans and animals need to survive?
How do we share the planet?
What are Earth’s natural resources?
How do we use natural resources?
Why should we reduce, reuse, recycle?
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
4. How best might we learn?
This column should be used in conjunction with “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?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
*Pre-assessment – the students will sort images of human impacts into columns
titled positive or negative.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?

*Evidence –students will sort the images into the appropriate column and be
able to explain their reasoning.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
*Students will name ways and items to recycle.
*Students will share their decisions to positively impact the Earth during class share
time.
*Student’s actions will demonstrate their understanding of reducing.
*Students will orally list some endangered animals.
*Students will write their thoughts and feelings about human impacts in their journal.
Frontloading – Students will walk into a classroom filled with recyclable and nonrecyclable litter and share their thoughts. They will then identify and sort
recyclable items. (S, T, C, SM)

Students will picture walk looking at endangered versus extinct animals. (T,C)

The class will work together to create an “Endangered Species” book. This will
create a discussion on what humans can do to take care of and protect
animals.(R, C, S, SM)
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Teacher will show the video (What Happens to Garbage?) that demonstrates
what happens to garbage after it leaves our homes/schools. (SM, R, T)

Students will view the video of Magic School Bus – In the Rainforest. Students
will then discuss how all parts of life are interconnected. (SM, R, T)

At home, students will select an animal, where it is from, reasons for being
endangered and what he can do to help.(R, SM, T)

As a grade level, we will collect cans to recycle and use the funds to adopt an
endangered animal. (SM, S, C, T)
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Students will identify ways to help conserve natural resources. (R, T, C)

Trash Fashion Show- students create a Recycled/Reused garment or accessory
at home to be worn in a school wide fashion show. (S, C, SM, R, T)
Transdisiplinary Skills: *Noted on each activity below
Profiles: Inquirer, Caring, Thinker, Principled, Knowledgeable, Reflective
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Website: http://letsfindout.scholastic.com/game-archive http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/conservation/reducereuserecycle/preview.weml
http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/earthday/load.htm?f&n=main
A Seed is a Promise; Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See by Carle; She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head; Shel Silversteins’ “Sarah, Cynthia, Silver Stout”; If I Ran the
Rainforest; The Great Kapok Tree; The Lorax; Almost Gone; Will We Miss Them?; Using Nature’s Gifts; Too Much Trash; Why are Ice Caps Melting? Hodder Education PYP
Inquiry Box “Recycling Our World” resource books
Video – Where Does Garbage Go? ; Magic School Bus: In the Rainforest United Streaming video – “Forest Family for Forever”
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Ozone Theater presentation and visit the local recycling center
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’
understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the
planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included.
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
The kids love talking and learning about endangered species. They are fascinated
about this subject and want to know other ways to help the earth. A lot of action was
sparked from this planner. In the science lab, the students made compost and the
kids were really interested in how long it takes to turn into dirt. The Ozone Theatre
was really good. The kids loved it. They learned a lot about air pollution, especially
due to cars. They also love picking up trash around the school building. They
become so aware and very adamant about putting trash in the correct place. They
also really like the movie about where the trash goes. They have become so
conscious of how much trash we make and how to reuse or recycle. The students
participated in a trash fashion show where they reused trash to make clothing or
accessory items. The students loved looking at the 1st grade recycling robots.
Students also started asking questions about why the ice caps are melting?
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develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”
Causation: Created a report of an endangered animal Summative
assessment allows students to identify a positive and negative impact
humans have on the Earth
Responsibility: Created Trash Fashion item to show reusing materials
Donated to the can drive in order to adopt an endangered animal

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
Social: Present Trash Fashion to entire school body
Communication and Research: Endangered Animal Report allows
students to present information they have researched
Thinking: Summative Assessment
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a
more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea.
Self Management: Trash Fashion Show, students must walk respectfully
through hallways and control their bodies and behaviors.
We changed the focus of the assessment from problem and solution to positive and
negative impacts in order to make it more aligned to our lines of inquiry. Students
will draw a picture of a way humans positively and negatively impact the Earth.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
The students understood that recycling the cans helped keep our Earth clean and
that using the funds to adopt an animal helped make a positive impact on animal
population.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
By independently choosing to clean up litter on the school grounds, the
students demonstrated the following learner profiles and attitudes - Caring,
Independence, Principled, Knowledgeable, Reflective, Thinker, Inquirer
As students decide which animal should be adopted, they will demonstrate the
following profiles and attributes: Caring, Appreciation, Cooperation, Thinker,
Integrity, Empathy.
Reflecting on the inquiry
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
9. Teacher notes
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any
that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
Changes for next time:
Maybe next year we actually get to the Recycling plant. The Arboretum has grade
specific activities that would blend nicely with this unit. We didn’t sort trash this year,
but it would be a good activity to bring back. Trash tells a lot about people. We also
need to get the kids more involved at the school environment – maybe recycling
school paper. It would be neat to study the recycling habits of different parts of the
world. We need to team up with 1st grade and have a Robot parade or let them share
their robots.
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11.
Can plants become endangered?
What is smog?
Why would people want to wear animal skins?
Why not build all houses out of brick?
What would happen if we run out of clean water?
Why do people pollute their environment?
How does air pollution hurt your lungs?
Why do we need to save water?
Why do hunters kill mommy animals?
How do we stop people from killing endangered animals?
Why do people destroy habitats?
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to learn?” and
highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the
inquiries.
1.
How do humans help or hurt the Earth?
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to
reflect, to choose and to act.
Several families have started recycling at home due to student request. The students
have taken it on themselves to pick up trash outside and keep the area clean. The
students have also made an effort to use both sides of their paper in the art center.
Students have started turning water off during brushing their teeth.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007