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LEADERSHIP, LEARNING, &  PErsonal Growth

Grade 3 Integration: Body Systems

8/17/2012

5 Comments

 
Picture
As a single subject teacher, working collaboratively with classroom teachers and helping to lend support to their units of inquiry can be a very rewarding experience. Not only does it provide the foundation for authentic learning, but also allows students to know and understand the value of learning from a cross-curricular perspective. 

I am fortunate to be able to experience this collaboration with an excellent grade 3 teaching team consisting of Marina Gijzen (you can see Marina’s teacher blog here http://marinagijzen.com), John Rinker, new to NIS this year having just come from Yangon International School in Burma (you can see John’s teacher blog here http://johnrinker.edublogs.org/) and Georgina Perry, also new to NIS this year. 
 

NIS has made specific changes to how teams collaborate by setting up weekly meetings in which the single subject teachers can sit in on planning sessions. This past Thursday was our first meeting of the year and we were able to discuss and plan how PE would be integrated into their Body Systems unit. Often times the central idea for a unit of inquiry is unwrapped by the classroom teachers first, but in this case, I was going to be able to have a first go at it with the grade 3 classes. 

There was some healthy discussion as to whether or not unwrapping the unit’s central idea first in PE was the best thing to do, but it was decided that doing so would make for an enriching learning experience for the kids. Added to this was the fact that the students brought the knowledge from our discussion in PE back into the classroom and were prepared to deepen their understanding of the central idea through continued discussion with their class teachers. 

I posted the central idea ‘We need to care for our body systems to be healthy
’ on a piece of large chart paper and John’s class was first to begin the unwrapping. Any ideas that John’s class came up with were written using GREEN marker. The central idea stayed posted and when Georgina’s class came to the gym they added to the discussion with their own ideas which were written in RED. Marina’s class was last to have a look at the central idea, but, in my opinion, benefitted the most, as there was a lot of information already at their disposal to prompt an in- depth discussion about body systems. Through this discussion, they were able to also add some of their ideas to the unwrapping (written in BLUE). The grade 3 Body Systems unit of inquiry is off to a great start at Nanjing International School. 


Below are some pictures that show how the unwrapping of the central idea progressed.

5 Comments
John Rinker link
8/17/2012 06:17:17 pm

Andy,
Simply awesome! I'm extremely to be part of this process, and I am really proud of what the kids were able to teach me about keeping our body systems healthy after they returned from your class. The photos and illustrations are dynamite! Well done sir!

Cheers, John

Reply
John Rinker
8/17/2012 08:57:55 pm

Um...'extremely excited'! (Where's the edit button?!)

Reply
Perry Tkachuk
8/18/2012 02:20:24 am

This is AWESOME! Do you know how much more engaged I woulld've been if that happened to me in third grade? A lot! To be able to take something I had introduced to me in PE back into the classroom for further investigation would've been tremendous, and I'm sure it is for your students. And I'll simply say, "collaboration...WOW...collaboration..." (Like I'm looking at a big turkey leg while stranded on a desert island - John knows what I mean). Well done, and congratulations to you and your students.

Reply
Gareth
5/11/2013 07:25:03 pm

Hey Andy,

How did you continue to integrate within the unit - did you focus discussions around the body and staying healthy whilst completing different physical tasks and if so how did this feed into the inquiry process.

I'm looking for ways to take our current integration which is at thematic and make it more genuine and reflective of the inquiry cycle.

Reply
Wyatt link
1/15/2014 10:42:27 pm

Your blog is deeply attracted many readers. Make them feel very satisfied!this to our life to have the help very much.You are really great writer!

Reply



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Helping Kids to Achieve Their Best
  • Welcome
  • The Aligned Leader Blog
  • Consulting and Coaching Opportunities
  • My TED X Talk
  • My Leadership Blog
  • Run Your Life Podcast Series
  • How PYP PE with Andy Has Helped Others
  • Good Teaching is L.I.F.E
  • The Sportfolio
  • Example Assessment Tasks
  • PYP Attitude Posters (printable)
  • Publications