Topic outline

  • General

    Central Idea

    Interactions with others contribute to shaping relationships

    Lines of Inquiry

    We are inquiring into:

    • Qualities of a good friend (FORM)
    • How we collaborate and cooperate with others (FUNCTION)
    • How our actions impact others (CAUSATION) 
    • Topic 2

      9th September 2019

      As part of our Who We Are unit we have been thinking about our friends. Forming friendships with other children is an essential and extremely valuable part of early childhood. Established peer relationships help children to develop socially, emotionally, linguistically and cognitively and foster a sense of self confidence, safety, connectedness and belonging.

       

      In order to identify the children’s understanding and perceptions of friendships, the K2s will be thinking about the following questions ‘What is a friend? What makes a good friend? How can you be a good friend?’ 

       

      Through discussions and social stories as well as learning engagements such as making friendship bracelets or drawing a friend, the children will continue to deepen their understanding of friends and develop their philosophies around friendship.

       

      Social Stories that will support your child with this unit: 

       

      Classroom Expectations

      Howard B Wigglebottom learns to Listen - Howard Binkow

      Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker - Christianne C. Jones

      Interrupting Chicken - David Ezra Stein

      Rex wrecks it! - Ben Clanton

      This is our House - Michael Rosen

      No David - David Shannon

      David gets in Trouble - David Shannon

      It’s Mine! - Leo Lionni

       

      Friendship Stories

      Friends - Eric Carle

      Stick and Stone - Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld 

      My Friend is Sad - Mo Willems 

      The Rainbow Fish - Marcus Pfister

      The Things I love about Friends - Tracey Moroney

      How do Dinosaurs stay Friends - Jane Yolen

      Lost and Found - Oliver Jeffers

       

      Feelings Stories

      The Way I feel - Janan Cain

      How are you feeling - Saxton Freymann & Joost Elffers

      Marvin gets Mad - Joseph Theobald

      In my Heart - Jo Witek

      The Cloud - Hannah Cuming

       

      Other Stories related to this Unit

      The Selfish Crocodile - Faustin Charles and Michael Terry 

      Sharing a Shell - Julia Donaldson

      The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson

      How Full is your Bucket? - Tom Rath

      Have you filled your bucket today? - Carol McCloud & David Messing

      Only One You - Linda Kranz

      Guess how much I love you - Sam McBratney & Anita Jeram

      Pig the Pug - Aaron Blabey

      Pig the Fibber - Aaron Blabey

      Pig the Winner - Aaron Blabey

      Please Mr Panda - Steve Antony

      I’ll wait Mr Panda - Steve Antony

      Can I Play Too? - Mo Willems

       

      Maths

       

      The K2 classes have enjoyed exploring and engaging in the different learning spaces of their new classrooms. Some classes started to reflect on their experiences at school and demonstrated their ability to identify their favourite areas to learn and play. From this, the children have created a mathematical pictogram to identify the most and least popular areas of their classroom.

      We compared our findings and discussed the following questions: 

      Which areas were more or less popular than others?

      Which area was the most or least favourite area in the classroom?

      Which is the area that not many children like to play in?

       

      Through this activity the children learned about data handling in a practical way. They were also encouraged to use mathematical language (e.g. more, less, same, least, most) when counting, comparing and discussing the outcomes.

       

      • Topic 3

        26th August 2019 

        What is this unit about?

        The ‘Who We Are’ unit is an ongoing unit of inquiry in which children will learn about themselves and others through their experiences. Children will be building and sustaining positive relationships within the school and developing their understanding of what makes a good friend. During this unit the children will be encouraged to cooperate and collaborate with their peers which involves sharing, taking turns and working together. They will inquire into how their actions impact others by exploring the connection between our emotions and actions.

        We began the ‘Who We Are’ unit by encouraging the children to consider how we can build a positive classroom community. The children are achieving this by discussing their roles and responsibilities at school and by developing an essential classroom agreement. We discussed the importance of following these rules and expectations and recognised that this will contribute to building a positive class environment.

        Friends enjoying seeing each other again and getting to know their new classroom environment and resources