I'm sorry that I didn't post last night but Miss D and I had to clarify some points about our new unit before we put up the information for you.
So here is what you need to know!
Key concepts: RESPONSIBILITY, FORM and PERSPECTIVE!
These are really important in terms of:
FORM - What different kinds of special needs are there? What are their symptoms? How would we know if someone had a particular special need?
PERSPECTIVE - What would it be like to have this kind of special need? How would my life be different?
RESPONSIBILITY - What responsibility do different communities have towards people with special needs? What responsibilities do we have? What responsibilities does our school community have?
Central idea:
A community has the responsibility to meet the needs of its citizens.
Lines of Inquiry:
1. Different kinds of special needs (form)
2. Living with special needs (perspective)
3. How communities can support people with special needs (responsibility)
Summative Assessment:
During the course of this unit of inquiry, the children will choose a special need that they would like to 'specialise' in. They should then research this special need at home, with their parents, in preparation for the summative assessment.
The summative assessment will be an oral presentation on the special need that they have become an expert in. They should discuss our 3 lines of inquiry:
Title of the special need
What symptoms does this special need have?
How is daily life different for someone with this special need?
What strategies can be put in place to help this person lead an easier life?
We will be supporting and guiding the children through this process in class too and next week Mrs C, from the library, will be teaching us how to research effectively so you might want to hold on with your research until then!
Attitudes:
RESPECT and APPRECIATION
Although this is not ENTIRELY related to this unit, the teachers and adults around our school are finding that the children in Year 4 really need to concentrate on being more respectful towards other children, adults and staff as well as their own things and school property. Also, as the majority of the children in our school come from priveleged backgrounds they sometimes find it hard to show appreciation for small things that other people do for them or for the things that we have in school. We would be very grateful if you, as parents, could help us teach and model these 2 very important attitudes to our children.
Learner Profile:
During this unit we are looking for children to be OPEN-MINDED about different kinds of special needs and people who might look physically different from us. We are also looking for good COMMUNICATORS and communication skills within the summative assessment, which will be the oral presentation!
Hope you got all that!
Any questions or comments about the unit of inquiry please feel free to email me!
Bye for now,
Miss Lamb!