Sharing the Planet in Grade 2

In our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry, Grade 2 learners have been inquiring into living things in different environments and how humans share those environments with living things.

We met with one of our parents, James Hogg, who is an Environmental Scientist and avid bird-watcher. He shared information about different habitats in Maputo and the birds we might encounter in each habitat. We also  learned about the importance of planting indigenous plants to support local wildlife.

We were also inspired by Jadav Payang, the man who planted a forest, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wanagari Maathai, who told the story of the Hummingbird taking action.  We decided to plant indigenous trees and reached out to Ms. Colleen who taught us about the Spekboom plant, a super plant amongst plants!  She kindly shared some cuttings with us that we were able to plant and will be caring for on campus.  

Furthermore, we have been reading poems and stories about different habitats, and the 2H  Hummingbirds decided to write their own to show appreciation for the Earth.

Photo by John O'Nolan on Unsplash

4L Have Strong Opinions About Our Planet

How do you address your audience in a persuasive way? 

Grade 4L spent the last 8 weeks diving into deep issues around the world in our Sharing the Planet unit:

Central Idea: Interactions within environments have consequences

Lines of Inquiry:

• The cause and effect relationships within the environment
• How interactions impact environmental balance and sustainability
• How advancement in technology changes and affects the world around us.

Changing people's thinking about how we treat the planet was 4L's purpose behind learning how to write a strong and persuasive opinion text. 

We learned how to persuade readers by using a strong and bold thesis, reasons to support that thesis, and finally, examples to help us elaborate about our reasons. 

Please take a few minutes to read our published pieces and learn how you can share our planet responsibly.

We Need to Stop Poaching by Maelle

Stop Water Pollution by Mufaro

We Need to Stop Poaching by Elliana

Is Air Pollution a Problem? by Monica

We Need to Use Less Plastic by Hannah (coming soon!)

Deforestation Needs to Stop by Maia

We Need to Stop Deforestation Now!! by Makai

Climate Change by Tomas

Feel free to leave a comment on this post and share your opinions about sharing the planet too.

Photo by Richard Gatley on Unsplash

Kindergarten's Urban Safaris!

 

During their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry, Kindergarten students are learning about the living things that share our environment:

Central Idea: When we look closely and wonder, we learn appreciation and respect for living things in our environment.

Lines of Inquiry:

• The features and behaviours of living things
• How features and behaviour connects to where they live (habitats)
• Respect and appreciation for living things

While the AISM campus was closed, they were challenged to go on an "urban safari" around their homes to see what living things they could find. Then, they were asked to document what they saw and record their ideas and thoughts about the features and behaviours of living things in their environments.

Here are two of those urban safaris!

Many thanks to Arielle, Pedro and their families for sharing these wonderful explorations and documentation with us.

Photo by: Rikki Chan on Unsplash