Action by Grade 3

 ‘In the PYP it is believed that not only is it possible for students to identify appropriate action, but also that teachers have a responsibility to enable them to choose their action carefully, to facilitate this action, and to encourage them to reflect on the action they undertake.’

~ Making the PYP happen (2009) p. 26.

We are all aware of the rally organised by the farmers of Maharashtra on March on 12^th March 2018, where they marched for more than 180 km over 6 days, with blistered feet, from Nashik to Mumbai  to share their grievances with the government. We discussed this event in class and took some time to reflect on the event using the Blooms Taxonomy.

Our thoughts on the Farmer's March

The dire state of the farmers impacted the students so deeply that they unanimously said, ‘We should help them!' and that was the starting point for a student initiated action. As their teachers our role was to carefully guide and support them through their discussions on why and how they could help the farmers.

It was important for us to let the students know that it was a noble idea. However, they needed to make the idea turn into true action. As there was not much that the children could do in connection with the farmers' demands they thought of how they could help them in the smallest possible way. The children's thoughts and ideas warmed our hearts. 

In small groups they discussed and finally decided to hold an auction of the story books that they were working on and donate the money they would collect to the farmers. 

Budding Authors at Work

We are Ready!

The students invited their parents to  buy the books they wrote through an auction. They read the blurbs of the books and the parent auctioned the books they would want to buy. To keep it fair and open the students read random blurbs, so that the parents would not know who the original author of the book is.

A mini peep into the auction 

Post the auction the origjnal authors sat and read the book to the buyer.

Sharing our journey with our PYP friends and teachers

The money collected was donated to an NGO- Apulkee which works for the welfare of the farmers all over Maharashtra. Its main purpose is to help the farmers in every possible way so that they can reap the benefits by gaining Advanced Knowledge of Farming & receive best price for their farm produce.

Who We Are

Tuning in : Who We Are

Day 1

Group 1: Students were given a body outline and were asked to draw and mark all the body parts they knew.

Group 2: They were given another body outline along with organ cut outs and were asked to stick them where they think they are found and label them

Group 3: The students were given a skeletal structure made from a paper plate. They were asked to create a human skeleton from it.

Day 2

The students were made to run around the ground and were then asked to think back on what were the different parts that helped them complete this action. Post that the students engaged in a thinking routine using the Chalk Talk method. They looked at pictures of different action and thought about which parts make the action possible.

Day 3

The students looked at a coffee maker, the guts of a computer, a cycle and an electrical circuit.

They were encouraged to find ways to compare the human body to these objects. They explored and noted down the similarities and differences between the human body and a group of non- subject related artifacts ( Circuit, Computer parts,Coffee machine,cycle)

As a concluding activity we came up with what is a "system"

Day 4

Students watched a video and identified the different systems that make up the human body. This extended into a discussion into internal and external organs.

Day 5

The students watched an advertisement as a provocation to the 3rd line of inquiry. The students were asked to think of how this video was related to the different body systems.

Finding Out

The students set out to work on their research project on the Human body systems.

Researching about the systems

Working on 2D/ 3D model of the system

Presenting about the systems

Working on the animation/working model

Going Further

Interdependence of the body systemsAfter researching body systems we made a display on which we showed each of them and, as a result of class discussion, added many strips showing cooperation between systems.