Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose? Class/grade: Kindergarten Age group:5-6

1a) To inquire into the following: School: BNI School code: 369
● transdisciplinary theme Title: Stories
An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, Teacher(s): Ayesha Aman, Hijab, Basit, Zile
nature, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our
creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic. Ayesha, Salman
Date: January 6th, 2020 Proposed duration: 9

● central idea Weeks

Stories can engage their audience and communicate meaning

1b) Summative assessment task(s):  What do we want to learn?

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Goal: Students should be able to demonstrate their understanding on how Focus Key Concepts: Form, Change, Perspective
effective stories are made and shared to an audience.
Related Concepts: communication, characterization, expression
Role: Author or playwrights
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea
Audience: Preschool teachers and children  How stories are created and shared
Scenario/situation: Students will choose the best way they can create and  Stories convey messages and morals
present a short story to different groups of people. Children with common choice  Feelings and emotions that stories evoke
of role will be grouped together. Authors will write and draw their own story What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
books. Playwright will create a short story that can be presented through a role  What are the parts of a story? (FORM)
play with some of his/her classmates as the actors.  What is the message of the story? (CHANGE)
Product: Story book or play  What are the different kinds of stories? (FORM)
 What are the different genre of stories? (FORM)
 What are the different ways stories are presented? (FORM, CHANGE)
 How do stories make you feel? (PERSPECTIVE)
 How do stories make your audience feel? (PERSPECTIVE)

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

Planning the inquiry

3. How might we know what we have learned? How best might we learn?

This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?” What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to
encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?
questions?
What evidence will we look for? Prior Knowledge:
We’ll use provocations to know the prior knowledge of our students(What do they know about stories?)
Pre-Unit Assessment: We’ll paste posters of common stories and will ask question regarding characters and moral of that story
We’ll show them short clips to know their prior knowledge (What do they know) (Fiction and non fiction)
Will also use questioning technique to check their level of understanding
● “How it makes me feel” What do you know about stories?
○ Each day will represent an emotion (i.e. Monday = Happy). The Do you know any story?
Can you name few stories?
different emotions are happy, sad, mad, excited, and scared. There Tuning in:
will be 5 possible stations where each student will be able to ● How it makes me feel
○ Various stories
express these different emotions. The stations will be acting, ○ Students read various stories set up in different stations. These stories convey certain emotions (happy,
painting, instrumental, dance, and song sad, mad, excited, scared, etc.)
● “Comic Strips” ■ Students will be provided choices to demonstrate what they feel through acting, dancing, painting,
instruments
○ Students will be given comic strips that convey a message and a ● Comic Strips
story. there will be no words in the comic strips, therefore, the ● Students will be presented with comic strips. Through looking at these comic strips they will come up with
a story that shows their own interpretation of the comic strips. Through this activity students will show what they
students will create their own story and message by looking at the know about characters, setting, plot, emotions, and message of a story
comic strips What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines development of the attributes of the learner profile?
of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
A. Transdisciplinary Skills
● The children’s stories, comments, actions, questions, and conversations
Thinking Skills
with their classmates and teachers during the activity will be recorded
● Analysis: Students learn how to analyze elements in a story that will help them in creating their own.
through photos, anecdotes, and checklists. ● Application: Students apply what they have learned by creating their own stories.
● The students should be able to enumerate, retell, and describe details about ● Comprehension: Students show their understanding of the story by answering questions posed to
them.
stories and emotions through their work in “How it makes me feel” Social Skills:
4. ● respecting others: Students show respect by listening to teacher and one another as stories are read.
Line of Inquiry What will be assessed? How will evidence be collected?
● adopting a variety of group roles: Students assume a variety of roles as they work in groups in creating
shared stories
What stories convey messages Stories convey messages. tudents will have different books and Communication Skills:
and morals ● Students identify message/s story tellers in class. They will be ● listening: Students have many opportunities to develop their listening skills while a story is being read and
of a story asked different questions about the while sharing ideas with in a group
● Students respond and message they understood from the ● speaking: Students learn to share their ideas in coming up with a group story.
interpret stories based on its story. They will create their own story. ● reading: Students get to read various books all throughout the unit.
message
● writing: Students have many opportunities to write their own stories.
● Presenting: Students present what they have written to the class.
Self-Management Skills:
● fine motor skills: Students develop their fine motor skills through writing.
● Organization: Students learn to organize their thoughts in coming up with a story.
4. How best might we learn?
Finding out:
 Storyboard (Three Little Pigs)
 Role-play finger-puppets (Three Little Pigs)
 Can a story be told without talking? The Kid Tug of War
Sorting out:
 Stories have messages discussion
 Moral of Little Red Hen
 Tortoise and Hare Moral
 The Three Wishes moral
Going Further:
 Stories invoke different feelings
 Names of stories and what they make us feel

Making conclusions:

 Draw a timeline of your life in a story form(autobiography)

How stories are created and Stories can be created and shared in Students will be exposed to different
shared different ways. resource speakers, engagements, and
● Students explore the different field trips to see the different ways
ways stories are created and stories are made and presented.
shared - writing books, story
telling, drama, song, dance,
puppets
● Students make their own
story books and do a role play
to present a story
● Students tell a story to the
teachers, classmates,
parents, and to other children
as audience.

Feelings and emotions that Stories evoke feelings and emotions. Students will read different books and
stories evoke ● Students respond or react to their reactions to the stories will be
stories presented. noted. Did it make them feel happy,
● Students identify different sad, excited, scared, bored, or mad?
emotions and feelings that a Students can put corresponding icons
story can bring out. on each story reviewed in class

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
People and Places
● Repertory Children’s Theater: Alice in Wonderland
● Adarna Publishing House (Illustrating story books)
● Guest Storytellers
● Guest illustrator
Literature
● Red Riding Hood retold & illustrated by James Marshall Goldilocks and the Three Bears retold & illustrated by James Marshall
● The Three Little Pigs retold & illustrated by James Marshall The Three Little Pigs illustrated by Rene Cloke
● Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book The Flying Prince adapted by Brian Conway
● The Princess and the Potty by Wendy Cheyette Lewison The Prince and the Potty by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
● The King of Spring by Nick & Claire Page The Secret Fairy Garden by Allia Nolan
● Jack and the Beanstalk (re-telling) King Midas and the Golden Touch edited by Bob Williams
● The Three Wishes edited by Bob Williams The Kiss that Missed by David Melling
● Ratatouille By Victoria Saxon Wee Witches’ Halloween by Jerry Smath
● The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne Don’t Read this Book by Jill Lewis & Deborah Allwright
● Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child I Show Respect by David Parker
● I Can Cooperate by David Parker I Like Books by Anthony Browne
● So Sick! by Little Steps Books Larry Learns to Listen by Karen Poth
● Fats, oils, and sweets by Robin Nelson Please and Thank You by Richard Scarry
● God Always loves me by Denise Vezey Throwing Tantrums by Joy Berry
● Teasing by Joy Berry Let’s Share by Jillian Harker
● Excuse Me! by Moira Butterfield A Silly Story by Mercer Mayer
Audio-Visual
● The Three Little Pigs
Links for Teachers
● Once Upon A Time at Teaching Heart
● Fairy tales and classic stories
● Fairy Tales Theme
Others
● Costumes and Props
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
● The art station will have materials to create characters and settings depending on the story being read that week
● Books and different resources will be available inside the room to cater to students’ needs
● Costumes and props will be available in the acting area

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

Reflecting on the inquiry

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? 7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?

Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’ What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in ● develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included. learn?”
Students explored different ways a story can be presented by looking through books, short ● Form - Students learned the different elements of a story - title, characters, setting, and
movie clips and watching a play. Students also looked into the events in a story to be able to events, through storytelling, watching videos and plays, putting the elements on a chart,
and making their own story in the end.
understand that there is a beginning, middle, and end. To show their understanding, they
● Connection - Students got to see that each story has a message, and a certain emotion
used story trains to show the events of stories they have read in class. To address what and feeling that it conveys or brings to the audience.
stories convey, students also charted the message of each story they read and watched ● Perspective - Through the various stories presented in class, the children found out that
through movie clips and the ‘Alice in Wonderland’’ play. In order for students to show their each story has a message, emotion or feeling that may be the same or may be different
understanding of feelings and emotions that stories evoke and how stories are created and from other stories. Even the audience, they may see a story differently from the way others
shared, they acted in their own version of the ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Through this see it. The way the stories are presented can be in different ways as well - book, puppets,
engagement, they created their own costumes, props, and tried to convey the feelings and audio, movies, and plays.
emotions of the characters they were acting.

● demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary

How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a skills?
more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea.
There should be an improvement when it comes to finding out about how stories are made. Thinking Skills: ● analysis - Students looked at the elements of each stories read, and were placed in a chart. ●
Students had difficulty expressing this line of inquiry. We should provide more engagements application and comprehension - Students put together all elements of a story when they made their story trains, their
own books, and a play. Social Skills: ● respecting others - Each student made a unique story through a book or a
that will expose students to different stages on how stories are created. Perhaps, using
play that they got to share to the class. As audience, the students are taught to show respect by listening and not
graphic organizers when it comes to comparing authors, writers, and artists laughing at their classmates’ stories. ● adopting a variety of group roles - Through the different engagements, students
experienced being authors, illustrators, storytellers, playwright, actors, as well as audience. Communication Skills: ●
listening - One station that we put-up for this unit is the audio station or the listening station. The children also had
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea guest storytellers that made them use their attentive ears. ● speaking - Children got to share the character mobiles,
and the transdisciplinary theme? the book or the play that they made to the teacher and to the class. ● reading - One station in this unit was the reading
station or the library station. Independent-reading was encouraged, but there was also guided-reading and storytelling.
● writing - Children got to write events in the story through their story train and their own story booklets. ● presenting -
Throughout all the engagements students were able to express themselves in different ways. Children presented their stories through the books and the plays they made. Self-Management Skills: ● fine motor
They wrote stories, acted and created plays to explore the different ways people express skills - The children were able to do writing activities in the storybooks they made, and painting and cutting activities in
the costume and props-making for the play. ● organization - The children organized the elements in the story,
ideas and the feelings that accompany those ideas. Students also practiced coming up with especially the events, before they can come up with their own story. Research Skills: ● formulating questions - The
their own ideas in creating stories. When it came to practicing their creativity, students tried children got a chance to interview storytellers, illustrators and the librarian, in the various field trips that we had in
class. ● recording data - The children put into drawing and writing their experiences in the field trips. ● presenting
different art mediums and imagination in their engagements.
research findings - The children made stories of their experiences and re-enacted Alice in Wonderland as evidence of
7 what they learned from the field trips.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

 Reflecting on the inquiry

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning? 9. Teacher notes

Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and Strengths - The unit was really interesting for both the students and the teachers. The
highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning. children loved fairytales so it was easy to hook them into identifying the elements, the
Questions were still teacher initiated, however, students were active in responding to message, and the emotions and feelings in the stories. Watching a play outside school
also added to their interest in the unit. Seeing the stage, the costume, the props and the
the questions presented to them
acting of the people were fun to them so it was easy to try it out in class. The children were
really involved in making the costume, props and stage which made the role playing more
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to learn?” and enjoyable. Aside from creativity, we were able to hit a lot of skills as well in terms of
highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the communicating, writing, and presenting. There were in-school and out of school trips that
supported this unit well.
inquiries.
Challenge - Teaching the way stories are created [either through publishing a book or
Students inquired about different kinds of stories by exploring stories that are not real and stories
that could be real. creating a play] was a challenge as we did not get resources that will show this perspective
Students also inquired on the different ways stories are presented by looking at books, movies and in creating stories.
plays. Recommendations - Next time this unit is taught, the teacher should be plan ahead when it
Students were able to find out about the different parts of a story and the message of a story by comes to looking for resource speakers.
learning about how to make and write books. After which, they created their own using what they
found out.

What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?

Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability
to reflect, to choose and to act.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

Attachment A

Finding Out Teachers & Students Questions Sorting Out

● Data collection ● Teacher and student questions that help drive the inquiry ● Gauging, organizing or representing new
● Experiences to assist students to gather new information ● Focus questions to for inquiry information
about the topic ● Activities to assist students to process and work
● Experiences and texts that add to the knowledge base. with the information and ideas they have gathered
Emphasis on gathering first-hand data in a range of ways about the topic (including exploring values)
(usually shared experiences) ● Organizing, analyzing and communicating the
information gathered using a range of vehicles (e.g
through Maths, Arts, English, Drama, Music or IT)

LOI 1: How to construct an effective story ● What are the parts of a story? (Form) Students will read different books and put in a
● Read different fairy tales and make connections ● What are the different kinds of stories? (Form) chart its different elements. They will also be
by looking at the different parts of a story ● What are the different genre of stories? (Form) grouped into stations that will allow them to
● Read, watch and listen to different stories and ● What are the different ways stories are presented? explore the different books. They will also go on
discuss how the story is effective depending on trips to a library and a publishing house.
how it was written
● Create their own story books

LOI2: What stories can convey ● What is the message of the story? (Connection) Students will be asked as a class, and individually
● Story teller for the day ● What are the different ways stories are presented? on what is the message of the story and/or the
● Create own story books (Form, Perspective) characters. Messages of main stories in class will
● How do stories make you feel? (Connection, be posted on a paper and placed beside the
Perspective) chart.
LOI3: How stories are created and shared ● How do stories make your audience feel? Messages can also be expressed in a form of a
● Story teller for the day (Connection, Perspective) drawing.
● Create own story books
Students will be grouped into stations that will
● What are the different ways stories are presented?
allow them to explore the ways a story is told -
● What are the parts of a story?
LOI4: Feelings and emotions that stories evoke book, puppet, audio, and video. They will also
● How do stories make you feel? (Connection,
● Character Mobile watch a theater play outside school for them to
Perspective)
● Story Setting Review see a different way a story is told. They will get a
● How do stories make your audience feel?
○ Students look at different settings and chance to act out in the classroom too.
(Connection, Perspective)
share how those settings make them
feel. What emotions does it create for Students will reflect on the stories they read, see
them? ● How do stories make you feel? (Connection, or hear. A book review on the feelings and
● Book Review Perspective) emotions will be done by placing happy, scared,
● How do stories make your audience feel? or sad faces on a chart.
 (Connection, Perspective)

Going Further
● Activities to challenge and extend
● Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated.

● Visit other levels and watch how they present stories, talk about stories, reflect on stories.
● Visit the library and librarian.

Drawing conclusions
Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated. Students draw conclusions of what they have learnt. This is an
important time to evaluate the success of the unit and the needs and achievements of individuals. This is where students put it all together.

● Students were successful in sharing their stories and understanding the unit. However, improvement for students in putting the whole unit together, is to explain
how they can improve their story or play.

Reflecting and Taking Action

To reflect on what has been learnt and process of learning. It is important that students be given opportunities to act upon what they have learnt. Actions are things that students can themselves and from which they
can see results.

● Students are encouraged to make their own short stories at home or in school during their free play time, reminding them of the elements of the story. These stories
can be made in paper, or even using their electronic gadgets.