1. What is our purpose?
Class/grade: IV Age group: 8 to 10 years
To inquire into the following
Transdisciplinary theme - How we organize ourselves? (An inquiry into
the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities;
the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making;
economic activities and their impact on humankind and the
environment.)
Central idea Cities are organized to meet the needs of the inhabitants.
Summative assessment task(s):
What are the possible ways of assessing students understanding of the 2. What do we want to learn?
central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we
look for?
The students first have a group discussion on the interdependence of cities and communities?
villages. They then plan out a role play as the summative assessment which reflects
their understanding of the central idea
The role play is assessed by the teacher with the help of rubrics. The
criteria of the rubrics are first discussed with the children.
The students write their observations of group discussion as the peer
assessment.
School: Hillside Academy School code: 300536
PYP planner
Teacher(s): Anita Almeida, Mrs.Sarita, Mr. Koteshwar Rao .
Mr. Ram Mohan, Mr. Krishna, Mr. Robin, Ms. Rashi, Mr.Sanjeev
Date : Sep 20th to Nov 4th Over no of weeks -6
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective,
responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
a) Form-
b) Function- c) ConnectionWhat is the difference between a city and village
Related concepts- communities, consequences
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
How do people live
The different systems that make a city work.
Challenges that cities face
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
What are the features of a city and a village?
How does a city work in different countries around the world work?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a city?
3. How might we know what we have learned? 4. How best might we learn?

What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills? What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students
What evidence will we look for? to encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the
driving questions?
Prior Knowledge The teacher screens and talks about the movie Swades for the
students .The children reflect and come upon the word cities and villages and then Reflections about the film Swades starts a brainstorming session on the features
individually write what they understand the similarities and differences between a city of a city and a village. The K-W-L chart also helps in bringing out the prior
knowledge. The children in groups write down the definitions of city and village and
and a village (from the movie). They brainstorm and discuss about what a city and a then the teacher provides them the actual meaning of a city and a village. A mind
village is. And show their understanding through a pie graph. The K-W- L chart also map by the children brings out the different features of a city and a village.. The
reflects their preknowledge. children then make presentations based on their research on Hyderabad city. They
make journals and Power point presentation.The group discussion by the class
brings out the understanding of the interdependence between the city and a village.
On the basis of this activity, it could be seen that they had -Thinking, Self Management The role play by the children on this interdependence clearly points out their
and Research skills . understanding of the central idea.

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? the development of the attributes of the learner profile?

Student learning in the context of lines of inquiry:
a) What is a city? What is a village? What are the features of a city and a
village? What are the similarities and differences between a city and a village?
Rubrics for assessing the Venn diagram are used. A worksheet is also used to
assess the common features in a city and a village.
b) What is local self government? What is the local self government in a
city and a village? How does the local self government around the
world works?
Rubrics are used to assess the group presentation on the advantages and
disadvantages of a city and a village. A quiz on Hyderabad city was also
conducted.
1) The children conduct group discussions which improves their social and self
management skills.
2) In ITC lab, they surf the net to research how the local self government
around the world works and about Hyderabad city which improves their research
and thinking skills.
3) The children plan out role play which improves their communication and
research skills.
4) The presentation on how the government around the world functions
improves their research, social and self management skills.
5) They make charts for their presentation on Hyderabad city which improves
their social and thinking skills.

c) What is the reciprocal relationship existing between a city and a village? Through these activities we develop in the children the learner profiles of a thinker,
Rubrics and anecdotal records are used to assess the class discussion on the open minded, reflective, communicator.

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?

Internet sites like www. Nations encyclopedia. Com / government.html , www. nationsencyclopedia. Com/ Europe/ Italy-local-government.html, www.
Unescap.org/huset/igstudy//new-countrypaper/ Bangladesh/ Bangladesh. Pdf;

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?

1) With the help the children understand how the Venn diagram is used to represents similarities and differences between cities and villages.

2) CDs and pictures on cities and villages .


6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
After having seen the film Swades the students reflected that- the film is basically
highlighting the differences between a city and a village. So brainstorming on the
word cities and villages started where the children made mind maps to depict the
features of the city and a village. The children in groups discussed the meanings of a
city and a village and these were displayed and discussed later.
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
Concept development:
1) Form: The children brainstormed on the meaning of city and a village. Also
they researched on the meaning of local self government.
2) Function: The students researched on the cities in different countries around
the world. They then made presentations on Hyderabad city.

The Teacher discussed with the children how Venn Diagram is used to point out the
similarities and differences between cities and villages. Thus Maths could be used as
a transdisciplinary medium.
The children carried out research for finding out the meaning of government and
then these are displayed on the board. Then they view CDs to understand the
government in the city and a village. A quiz is also conducted which instills lot of
enthusiasm in the children.
The children then conduct research about the advantages of a city and villages in
countries around the world. They refer to books in the library and also surf the net to
find out about the government and a city life. They then make different charts to
present their information which they present in front of the whole class. They even
did drawings about how they city will look in future.
3) Connection: The students conducted a classroom group discussion of the
interdependence between cities and villages. They made anecdotal records of
the childrens participation in the group discussion. They also conducted role
plays to bring out this interdependence.
The student showed research skills and got many pictures and information
from the internet;
While making charts for their presentations on cities around the world they could
improve their self management and communication skills.
In conducting role plays, the children worked on their communication skills,
thinking skills and social skills.

The criteria for rubrics for assessing group discussion are discussed in the class.
The students also developed attitudes like appreciation, enthusiasm,
The whole class conducts a group discussion on the interdependence of the cities
integrity, appreciation, confidence and curiosity.
and the villages. The teacher maintains anecdotal records of the group discussion.

The students divide themselves into two groups and then plan out role play to bring
out this interdependence. One of the groups takes the role of villagers dependent on
city and the other takes up the role of city people dependent on the villagers. Criteria
for role play rubrics are discussed and finally the students present it in front of the
entire grade.

How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a
more accurate picture of each students understanding of the central idea.

I could have asked the children to do a creative writing of what would have
happened if there were only cities or villages. This would help in integrating English
as transdisciplinary with POI. .
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the
transdisciplinary theme?
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
9. Teacher notes
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight
any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
Overall a very good inquiry where I was successful in instilling the
1) How villages and cities are depending on each other?
desired attitudes and skills. Inquiry points were clear. The children could
2) Why now days villages are getting modern? well connect to Central Idea particularly through the group discussion
3) Why facilities are not available in the villages? and the role play.

4) Why local self government is needed? I was very satisfied seeing the whole class participating in group
discussions.
5) What is the difference between a city and village?

6) Why caste system and child marriage is still prevalent in the villages?
But I would have been more satisfied if the children could have visited
All teachers questions were answered. the Municipal Corporation and interviewed the mayor. They could have
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning? visited a village also and interviewed the Panchayat members.

We had a reflection sheet sent home to understand from the parents if any student
initiated action arose from this learning. Some of the parents reported:

1) The students planed out trips to some of the villages so that they could
understand better the dynamics of the functioning of the village.

2) Consciously realizing the interdependence of the city people and the

villagers, they developed a better understanding and positive attitude
towards the villagers. They tried to help them by giving tuitions to the
children of the housemaids they had employed from the village.