Where We Are in Place and Time

Dear KG2 Parents,

This term, we will inquire into, and learn about homes and culture in the context of our fourth Unit of Inquiry.
Transdisciplinary Theme Where We Are in Place and Time
Central Idea: Homes reflect cultural influences and local
conditions.

You will be able to support your

child at home with the following
key unit vocabulary.

Through continual involvement of the students in this unit, they will

learn about the following Key Concepts:

Consider using your Mother

Tongue as a means of developing
understanding.

Form - What is it like?

Home

Street

Connection - How is it connected to other things?

House

Road

Bedroom

Avenue

Bathroom

Culture

Living room

Locality

Building

Needs

Tower

Values

Estate

village

Flat

House

Apartment

Mountain

house boat

Sea

Bungalow

River

Country

Beach

Land

Inland

Garden

Town

Low-rise

Village

High-rise

City

Perspective - What are the points of view?

Related concepts: Culture, needs, locality, ownership
We will guide the inquiry and ensure the students grasp the concept
of the following lines of inquiry:

What constitutes a home (form)

How homes reflect family values (connection)

How home reflect local culture (connection)

Factors that determine where people live (perspective)

Teacher questions:
What does a home look like?
What family values are represented in my home?
How do homes differ around the world?
Why do people move home?
Transdisciplinary Skills Focus:

Address

Social Skills:
Resolving conflicts - Listening carefully to others; compromising; reacting reasonably to the situation; accepting responsibility appropriately; being fair.
Thinking skills:
Dialectical thought - Thinking about two or more different points of view at the same time; understanding
those points of view; being able to construct an argument for each point of view based on knowledge of the
other(s); realizing that other people can also take ones own point of view.
Communications skills:
Reading - Reading a variety of sources for information and pleasure; comprehending what has been read;
making inferences and drawing conclusions.
Viewing - Interpreting and analyzing visuals and multimedia; understanding the ways in which images and
language interact to convey ideas, values and beliefs; making informed choices about personal viewing viewing experiences.
Self-management:
Safety - Engaging in personal behavior that avoids placing oneself or others in danger or at risk.

Spatial awareness - Displaying a sensitivity to the position of objects in relation to oneself or each other.
Research skills:
Formulating questions - Identifying something one wants or needs to know and asking compelling and relevant
questions that can be researched.
Recording data - Describing and recording observations by drawing, note taking, making charts, tallying, writing
statements.
Learner Profile Focus:
Knowledgeable: They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so
doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.
Principled: They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect
for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and
the consequences that accompany them.
Thinker: They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and
approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.
Attitudes Focus: The students will work towards developing the attitudes of appreciation, empathy and
tolerance.
Appreciation: Appreciating the wonder and beauty of the world and its people.
Empathy: Imagining themselves in anothers situation in order to understand his or her reasoning and emotions, so as to be open-minded and reflective about the perspectives of others.
Tolerance: Being sensitive about differences and diversity in the world and being responsive to the
needs of others.
Summative assessment:
Students will create a model of a house and describe how they were able to turn the house into a home. The students must show something from their and their peers cultures through the model.

In addition to our Unit of Inquiry we also have content standards in language and math which we will be focusing
on. We have listed them below, both so you can stay informed and to enable you to encourage learning at home.
Language
Reading: Literature/informational text

ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Retell familiar stories, including key details.
identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).
name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a
story an illustration depicts).
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Reading: Foundational skills

Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.
Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonantvowel-consonant, or CVC) words
Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.
Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or
many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.
Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my,is, are, do, does).
Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.
Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
Writing
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the
topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or
book (e.g., My favorite book is...).
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they
name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events,
tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and
express opinions about them).
recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Language
Print many upper- and lowercase letters.
Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.
Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes).
Understand and use question words (interrogatives (e.g., who, what, when, where, why, how).
Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with).
Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.
Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.
Recognize and name end punctuation.
Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).
Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.
Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning
the verb to duck).
Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to
the meaning of an unknown word.
Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites
(antonyms).
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).
Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut,
prance) by acting out the meanings.

Speaking and Listening

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics
and texts under discussion).
Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking
and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
Math
Count to 100 by ones and by tens
Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1)
Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is
the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.
Count to answer how many? questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a
circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration, given a number from 1 to 20, count out that many
objects.
Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking
from.
Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, eg using objects or drawings, and
record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (eg. 5 = 2 + 3).
Fluently add and subtract within 5.
Compose and decompose numbers from 11-19 into ten ones and some further ones, eg. By using objects or
drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by drawing or equation, such as 18 = 10 + 8.
Identify and describe 2d and 3d shapes, and distinguish between the two.
Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components, for example sticks and clay balls, and drawing
shapes.
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Attend to precision.
Social Studies Skills:
Use and analyse evidence from a variety of historical, geographical and societal sources.
Orientate in relation to place and time.
The student will be able to:
Express his or her understanding of what a home is.
Research and compare homes in different cultures.
Identify factors that influence where people live and what their homes are like.
Present the type of home that reflects who he or she is.

How you can help your child at home:

Please talk to your child about your culture, background and migrations your family has made. Point out how your
culture has influenced your home, not just aesthetically but with regards to habits, routines and traditions.
Places to visit include Mushrif Park, Global village and the Dubai Museum.
Please continue to access RAZKids for reading and our weekly newsletter for updates on what we are learning in
class.
This Unit we will be focusing on solving social conflicts and thinking about others points of view. This is something
that can be modelled and encouraged at home also.
We look forward to your co-operation and support for your child through this unit. Please let us know if you have
any questions regarding this unit.
Thank you,
The KG2 Team

GIS Specialist Newsletter

Unit 2 KG2
Art
Learning Objectives: In Unit 4 - The students will be able to:

Create a model of a house and describe how they were able to turn house into a home

Show something from their cultures the house/home model

Activities/Projects/Connections:

3 Dimensional House model

2 dimensional floor plan

Connection to Where we are in place and time UOI: Form - What do different homes look like?
Music
Learning Objectives: In Unit 4- The students will be able to:

Perform rhythmic patterns that include sound and silence

Follow musical directions by combining body movements and instruments

Demonstrate and recognize various tempi (Largo, Andante, Allegro)

Demonstrate changes in dynamics vocally, instrumentally or with movement.

Activities/Projects/Connections:

Composer study Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Playing cooperative music games focusing on musical response

Connection to Where We Are in Place and Time UOI: Connection- how geography affects instrumental materials

Sharing and learning multicultural songs and games

P.E.
Learning Objectives: In Unit 4- The students will be able to:

Continue to develop their athletics skills through games and athletic activities such as relay races, hurdles,
sprinting and football

Further demonstrate their swimming skills and water safety knowledge

Understand and display the concept of cooperative play and teamwork.

Establish a basic understanding of the different boundaries within a variety of games

Explain and demonstrate safe behavior in all activities

Activities/Projects/Connections:

Partner activities to further develop cooperation in small groups

Team games such as cooperative tag, teambuilding activities to further understanding boundaries in more
complex games

Individual pursuits related to swimming

Self and peer assessment to evaluate performance and effort in PE