Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new Unit of Inquiry. In this unit our central idea

is: “Plants, as a natural resource, play a central role in human and animal life.”

For this unit the key concepts that are going to be emphasized are: function,
causation and responsibility.

The focus of this unit is on why and how plants are important to animals and
humans and the relationship between these three resources. Finally, students
will gain a better understanding of their responsibility towards sharing plant life
with animals.

Our students will inquire into:

 Plants as an essential resource for humans and animals

 The relationship between plants, animals and humans
 Valuing and protecting the environment

We will guide our student’s inquiry through such questions as:

 How and why are plants important?

 How are plants shared between humans and animals?
 What do we need to do to respect the needs of ourselves, plants and
animals?

What can you do at home to help your child with this unit?

As parents you can help your child by reading books relating to plants and how
they are used. Talk to your child about how one event in an environment can
change or affect other resources in that environment. In your own language
discuss some of the vocabulary in this unit. Maybe discuss with your child some of
the inquiry questions outlined above. Please discuss the central idea in your
mother tongue or home language.
Some key words that would be beneficial for your child to know for this unit are:

conservation, habitat, interdependence, value, respect, protect, resource,

relationship, essential resource, responsibility, sharing, purpose, role, behavior

How will your child be helped in the ESL programme for this unit?

In order to help your child with the challenging vocabulary and concepts of this
unit some of the following strategies will be used:
 Pre-reading some of the children’s literature and non-fiction texts in small
groups to introduce new ideas and vocabulary
 Role-playing to help with initial ideas and then to confirm understanding
further on in the unit of inquiry
 Group and pair work at various stages of the unit
 Much use of diagrams, flow charts and mindmaps to help with visualizing of
concepts and keeping information in an easily accessible format.

I thank you for all your support in this unit and value your involvement.

Kind Regards,
Ms. Ava