When You Cannot SEE...

 As part of the third line of inquiry, the Grade 1s now started to explore the world of people who lost the function of their sense organ/s or who have sensory challenges. We began with empathizing with the blind (visually challenged). Through a simple game activity we did using blindfolds, the students experienced walking in the 'dark'. When we had a reflection, the learners explained how they managed to find their way despite not seeing. They said they used their other senses - touch and hearing. They mentioned that it was a difficult situation to be in. Then we introduced the young inventor, Louis Braille whose invention changed the world of the blind. Now the learners are keen to find where the Braille codes are located in the community. They might ask you to help them to take photos to evidence this. 😊

Writing Process

 In Grade 1 we started exploring writing. As part of the unit, Grade 1s will write a How-to text (procedural text). They will write about how to take care of a sense organ of their choice. This is in connection to the second line of inquiry, keeping our sensory organs healthy.

We talked about the different steps of writing a text: Prewriting, Writing/Drafting, Revising, Rewriting, Proofreading and Publishing.

We started with Prewriting. In this stage, Grade 1s unpack the different ways of researching: Asking people around, reading a book, watching videos and documentaries and conducting a poll or survey.

Once they have enough information, they can start with writing their first draft next week.

Show and Tell

 Every Wednesday, Grade 1s get the chance to bring some objects from home and share them to their classmates for Show and Tell. As time is not enough if we do the usual one by one sharing, we came up with a system of doing it. The class is divided into two groups - A and B. Students in group A will pose as presenters first and will have a designated table to share their objects. Students in group B will pose as visitors and they will hop from one table to another to listen to the presenters. After 15 minutes, the two groups will switch roles. The students are always excited to share and at the same time check on what their classmates have brought.

EXPERT TEAMS

 This week, we divided the class into four groups. Each group chose a sense organ to research about.

The main information they have to find out and share to the class are the following:

1. the parts of the sense organ and their function

2. how the brain and the sense organ work together

3. how to take care of this sense organ

How the skin works with brain

As a class, we explored SKIN (the main organ for the sense of touch) and found out that it is the biggest organ of the body and that it is composed of three layers: dermis, epidermis and hypodermis. 

We also looked at how the skin and brain work together. Through a simple activity of pass the message, we role-played how the message from the skin is sent to the brain.

Shapes are everywhere

 In Geometry, we explored basic 2-dimensional shapes and identified their properties which include the number of sides and corners.

Some new terms they learned about shapes are vertex/vertices, equal sides, opposite sides, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon and octagon.

As a class, we made a poster of examples of these shapes around us.

Scavenger Hunt

 In pairs, the Grade 1s worked together to find things from the list. The scavenger hunt explicitly made them search for objects using their five senses. It is a simple activity but nothing beats their enthusiasm when they are given missions like this one.

Exploring our senses

 In our first Unit of Inquiry, we are going to explore the big idea:

Our senses help us to learn about and interpret the world around us.

This big idea is divided into three big chunks:

- how we use our five senses

- how to take care of our senses

- how are our senses same and different

We will look into the concept of function as we research about the parts and functions of the different sense organs.

We will also explore the concept of responsibility as we suggest ways on how we can take care of our senses.

We will also look into how people who have sensory challenges are supported by the community. We hope to have a rich sharing of their perspectives about how these people be treated.

To begin with, the Grade 1s had activities in the class such as drawing the pet monster of their classmate without seeing the real picture of it. Unlocking the big words in the central idea. Exploring the different words to use to describe, and others.

The pictures below show the Grade 1s doing the drawing challenge.