Pre Primary -SHARED INQUIRY PLANNER

Term 1 Week 7-10

YEAR LEVEL/GROUPS STAFF
Pre Primary Bianca O’Malley, Madeleine Dent, Tania Briggs

Learning Area Driver: SCIENCE

RELIGION LINKS:
Unit: A Happy Day (Lent / Easter)
Living and non-living,
Need of living things
God gave us life
Wondering at new life
Caring for God's Creation
Key Question:
INITIAL STUDENT INPUT (notes from initial conversation with students, discuss misconceptions)

What is Life?

UNDERSTANDING GOALS
 What do we hope students will understand by the end of this inquiry?
 What is important and relevant for these students?
 How might students demonstrate these understandings?
 What criteria might guide our assessment?

UNDERSTANDINGS POSSIBLE EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING

(Biological Science elaborations) (to be fine-tuned as the inquiry progresses)
What is living and non-living? What are the
needs of living things?
 Can identify the needs of humans such as  oral explanations / retell
warmth, food and water, using own experiences  Pictures
 recognises the needs of living things in a range of  Dioramas
situations such as pets at home, plants in the  Apply knowledge to different animals/ plants
garden or plants and animals in bushland  Can see issues with people/animal / plants needs
 compares the needs of plants and animals not being met
(elaborations)

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS (WA curriculum, EYLF)

SCSA
Biological sciences
Living things have basic needs, including food and water (ACSSU002)

Science as a Human Endeavour

Nature and development of science - Science involves exploring and observing the world using the senses (ACSHE013)

Science Inquiry Skills

Questioning and predicting - Respond to questions about familiar objects and events (ACSIS014)
Planning and conducting - Explore and make observations by using the senses (ACSIS011)
Processing and analysing data and information - Engage in discussions about observations and use methods such as drawing to
represent ideas (ACSIS233)
Communicating - Share observations and ideas (ACSIS012)
EYLF
Outcome 2:
Children are connected with and contribute to their world.
2.4 Children become socially responsible and show respect for their environment.

Outcome 4
Children are confident and involved learners.
4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, co-operation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence,
imagination and reflexivity.
4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesizing, researching and
investigating.
4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.
4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with people place, technology and natural and processed materials.

Outcome 5
Children are effective communicators.
5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.
5.2 Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts.
5.3 Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.
5.4 Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.
5.5 Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking.

LEARNING Dispositions (p. 102)(What do we want our students to be able to do / be?

As Thinkers As Communicators
 Show and share thinking in different
ways
 Think of and share a question
 Stay curious about what we are
learning
 Reflect on what we feel and what
we have learned
 Use visual organizers to show our
learning
 Look for similarities and differences
 Make connections between ideas
 Think about and plan what we are
going to do
 Talk about what we are thinking and
share this with others
 Use our creative thinking to come
up with new ideas and solve
problems
 Challenge ourselves to take our
thinking further
As Researchers As Self-Managers
 Use our body, face as well as words
to communicate effectively
 Retell what someone has told us
 Ask questions
 Share our thinking and feelings
 Speak to others to help them
understand
 Use objects/props to help us
communicate
 Understand the diffence between a
question and a statement
 Communicate with people
respectfully
 Use the right voice and language for
different situations
 Listen carefully to what we are
hearing and show others we are
listening
 Listen without interrupting
 Ask questions to help us understand
 Share our ideas in different ways
 Talk about / show what we already
know
 Decide what we want to find out
 Use our senses to find out
something
 Ask questions
 Come up with ideas about HOW to
find answers to our questions
 Use the internet to get information
 Ask and adult/expert questions to
find out information
 Use non-fiction books to find info
 Use photos/pictures to get info
 Use stories or picture books to add
to our thinking about different
questions/ ideas
 Use film clips/DVDs to get new info
 Observe things carefully to find out
new info
 Share how our thinking has changed
 Record our learning in words and
pictures
 Find and contact people who can
help us find out
  Use words to solve problems
 Think and talk about our feelings
 Come up with ideas for our own
learning
 Think and talk about how we feel
about our learning
 Make connections about what we
know and our new learning
 Stay focused on a task
 Express our learning
 Use mistakes to help us learn
 Ask questions to help us with our
learning
 Get things done in time
 Set up and pack up for ourselves
 Think and plan before we start a
task
 Learn how to make a plan and
follow it through
 Work things out for ourselves before
we ask others
 Persist with our learning when it is
challenging
 Take responsibility for our things
 Listen to other people's feedback
As Collaborators
 Think and talk about our feelings
with others
 Help each other in different ways
 Take turns
 Share our ideas with others
 Talk about how we can learn/play
together
 Look after and share materials with
others
 Listen respectfully to others
 Show others we are listening to
them
 Use our manners when we are
working and playing with others
 Respect the rights, feelings and
efforts of others
 Do our fair share of work In a group
 Learn and play with different people
 Do different jobs when we are in a
group
 Share ideas about what our group
could do
 Tell others about what our group is
doing/done

Science Skills (SCSA elaborations):

Science as Human Endeavour
 recognising that observation is an important part of exploring and investigating the things and places around us
 sharing observations with others and communicating their experiences
 exploring and observing using hearing, smell, touch, seeing and taste

Science Enquiry Skills

 Considering questions relating to the home and school and objects used in everyday life
 using sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell so that students can gather information about the world around them
 taking part in informal and guided discussions relating to students’ observations
 using drawings to represent observations and ideas and discussing their representations with others
 working in groups to describe what students have done and what they have found out
 communicating ideas through role play and drawing
TUNING IN (BASELINE DATA/ Getting started)
 How can we assess students’ prior knowledge and experience in relation to this context?
 How will we record this information for later assessment?
 What can we do to provoke interest / enthusiasm / curiosity / motivation?
 How can we assist students to make ‘conceptual connections’ and see relationships to and links with their own lives?

- Key questions/ Wonder questions - Alive? Living?

- Brainstorm what is living and non living? (Whole class mat session)
- What makes something living - provide criteria (breathes, eats, grow, moves, reproduces etc)
- Eye Spy (look around the room for living things and non living things)
- Living and non living sort (small group with EA) using magazines, t chart,
- Living and non living hunt around the school (Draw what you see, clip boards etc)
- What do living things need? animals need air, water, food, and shelter (protection from predators and the
environment); plants need air, water, nutrients, and light.
****** Introduction of Caterpillars; *****
promote discussion, review living and non-living and criteria and what they need

Create special Investigation space ( books, posters, diagrams, etc)

Wonder questions RE
I wonder how many different insects there are in the whole world?
I wonder how God made them so tiny/ scary/cute?
I wonder if insects have feelings?
I wonder if there were insects in Jesus’ garden where he lived?
I wonder if insects are scared of people?
I wonder how trees can lose their leaves and grow new ones? -
I wonder how chickens can fit into tiny eggs? -
I wonder if everything starts small and grows bigger?
I wonder what I was like when I was first born?
I wonder what God, who creates new life, is like?
I wonder why God creates so many different kinds of new life?
I wonder how God thinks of all the things to create?

Focus Questions in RE
What are some of the signs of new life? -
How do we feel inside when we discover these signs of new life?

REVIEWING TUNING IN DATA

What did the tuning in task reveal to us about students’ interests and needs?
 SHARED INQUIRY
Finding Out – investigating / gathering Notes /Reflections/
(What do we want to find out) Possibilities/ Future
- butterfly life cycle ( you tube video) directions
- Vocab wall ( life cycle, caterpillar, chrysalis, egg etc)
- Butterfly Diary ( Daily sentence, pictures, photos etc)
- Butterfly Area ( where chn can observe, investigate, collect data, oral language,
- Information Texts (big books and topic books)
-Literacy Links ( features of information texts, vocab
-labelled diagrams (Modelled then individual)
- Text: The very Hungry Caterpillar
- Hungry Caterpillar Necklace leaf punching activity

RELIGION see Program

The children could then create a caterpillar or a butterfly using ‘New Life’. These
could be displayed around a ‘cocoon’ with an appropriate title, such as: ‘New Life is
All Around Us’.

Life cycle (Pasta representations on a stick)

- Oral re-tell of butterfly life cycle ( oral language assessment ) ***

Sorting Out – analyzing / explaining / sharing

Outdoor Play / Integrated Block Mon& Fri
- Easter Grass/Cross Cups (A1 Wondering at new life RELIGION)
Applying new knowledge about living creatures ->to growing plants (what do they
need?)
- Sorting Living and non-living in our outdoor environment (integrated outdoor time
activity)
- Living and Non-Living class book (Tania package)
- Search and colour activity- Parent helper (Tania's package)

Assessment/ Rich Tasks:

1. Project booklet
(Draw life cycle, picture of monarch butterfly, what they need ***assessment/ see
judging standards)
GOING FURTHER – PATHWAYS AND POSSIBILITIES
(INDEPENDENT INQUIRY)
 How can we cater for individual and small group pathways as they emerge during the
unit?
 How will we facilitate students’ personal inquiries?
 How can we encourage students to make choices about what they will learn?

Assessment /Rich Task:

Apply new knowledge
-chn choose a new animal to tell us about what they need….
or
- Pet rock activity ( make home, food, water, shelter etc). Incorporate design and Tech
Or
Pet/ Animal Talks ( what do they need?) Bring in a pet or show a photo on the IWB
and tell everyone about it and what a living thing needs. (Assessment : science, oral
language,)

RELIGION: Create a ‘Litterbug’ from recycled materials. (Caring for God's Creation)

Link to RE: New Life

- Easter week activities Easter glasses ( bunny and eggs_
-Easter paper chains
Easter playdough cutters
Easter cooking
Easter hat/ headband
Easter basket and egg hunt
Shaving Cream egg Paintings

REFLECTION AND ACTION Post Programming/ Links to

 How can we empower students to act on what they have learned? How can we assist Other learning areas/
students to pull it all together and reflect on their learning? Outcomes/
 What structures can we put in place to encourage ongoing reflection?
 What local / global actions might connect with this inquiry

- revisit living and non-living concept regularly

- encourage children to observe/wonder/investigate living things in our natural
environment
- Possible sustainability changes in our area to encourage more flora and fauna (
specific flower gardens, bird houses etc to meet the needs of creation around us.
Investigate negative actions in our area ( cutting down trees, bushland, polluting
waterways etc) -> write to government regarding our concerns

RESOURCES
Useful websites / links / clips; books; people; organisations; materials – add to this throughout the inquiry

Amazing Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUeM8MbaIk

ving Things and Nonliving Things | Living | Nonliving | Kid's Science ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEz7RPvQCAI
 WEEK Activity
7 Key questions/ Wonder questions - Alive? Living?
- Brainstorm what is living and non living? (Whole class mat session)
Tuning In - What makes something living - provide criteria (breathes, eats, grow, moves, reproduces etc)
- Eye Spy (look around the room for living things and non living things)
- Living and non living sort (small group with EA) using magazines, t chart,
- Living and non living hunt around the school (Draw what you see, clip boards etc)
- What do living things need? animals need air, water, food, and shelter (protection from
predators and the environment); plants need air, water, nutrients, and light.

****** Introduction of Caterpillars; *****

promote discussion, review living and non-living and criteria and what they need

Create special Investigation space ( books, posters, diagrams, etc)

RELIGION see Program

The children could then create a caterpillar or a butterfly using ‘New Life’. These could be
displayed around a ‘cocoon’ with an appropriate title, such as: ‘New Life is All Around Us’.
Wonder questions RE

Outdoor Play / Integrated Block Mon& Fri

- Easter Grass/Cross Cups (A1 Wondering at new life RELIGION)

Friday- exploration and direction of individuals and class

8 What do we want to find out)
- butterfly life cycle ( you tube video)
Finding Out & - Vocab wall ( life cycle, caterpillar, chrysalis, egg etc)
Sorting Out - Butterfly Diary ( Daily sentence, pictures, photos etc)
- Butterfly Area ( where chn can observe, investigate, collect data, oral language,
- Information Texts (big books and topic books)
-Literacy Links ( features of information texts, vocab
-labelled diagrams (Modelled then individual)
- Text: The very Hungry Caterpillar
- Hungry Caterpillar Necklace leaf punching activity

RELIGION see Program

The children could then create a caterpillar or a butterfly using ‘New Life’. These could be
displayed around a ‘cocoon’ with an appropriate title, such as: ‘New Life is All Around Us’.

Outdoor Play / Integrated Block Mon& Fri

- Religion activities resource 1 ( potato print caterpillars or cotton ball caterpillars)
-Sorting Living and non-living in our outdoor environment (integrated outdoor time activity)

Applying new knowledge about living creatures ->to growing plants (what do they need?)
- - Living and Non-Living class book (Tania package)
- Search and colour activity- Parent helper (Tania's package)
-Create a labelled diagram of butterfly (whole class -> the n individual task
Caterpillar ->Chrysalis activity, ->butterfly wings
 Assessment/ Rich Tasks:
1. Project booklet
(Draw life cycle, picture of monarch butterfly, what they need ***science and oral lang
assessment/ see judging standards)

2. Life cycle (Pasta representations on a stick)

- Oral re-tell of butterfly life cycle ( oral language assessment ) *** (indoor /outdoor)

Friday- exploration and direction of individuals an class

9 (INDEPENDENT INQUIRY)
 How can we cater for individual and small group pathways as they emerge during the unit?
Going Further/  How will we facilitate students’ personal inquiries?
Reflection and  How can we encourage students to make choices about what they will learn?
Action
Assessment /Rich Task:
Apply new knowledge
-chn choose a new animal to tell us about what they need….
or
- Pet rock activity ( make home, food, water, shelter etc). Incorporate design and Tech
Or
Pet/ Animal Talks ( what do they need?) Bring in a pet or show a photo on the IWB and tell
everyone about it and what a living thing needs. (Assessment : science, oral language,)

RELIGION: Create a ‘Litterbug’ from recycled materials. (Caring for God's Creation)

Link to RE: New Life

- Easter week activities Easter glasses ( bunny and eggs_
-Easter paper chains
Easter playdough cutters
Easter cooking
Easter hat/ headband
Easter basket and egg hunt
Shaving Cream egg Paintings

Friday- exploration and direction of individuals an class

10  How can we empower students to act on what they have learned? How can we assist students
to pull it all together and reflect on their learning?
Lent& Easter  What structures can we put in place to encourage ongoing reflection?
 What local / global actions might connect with this inquiry

- revisit living and non-living concept regularly

- encourage children to observe/wonder/investigate living things in our natural environment
- Possible sustainability changes in our area to encourage more flora and fauna ( specific flower
gardens, bird houses etc to meet the needs of creation around us. Investigate negative actions
in our area ( cutting down trees, bushland, polluting waterways etc) -> write to government
regarding our concerns