Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:

Class/grade:
1st grade
School: Roberts Elem.
School code: 7207
transdisciplinary theme
How the World Works: An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the
interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human
societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the
impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the
environment.
Title: Cycle of Life
PYP planner
Teacher(s): 1st grade
Date: 1-28-2013 revised
Proposed duration: 10

Age group: 6-7
hours per week over 9 weeks
central idea
There are naturally occurring cycles all around us.
2. What do we want to learn?
Summative assessment task(s):
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
Form, function, change
Students will compare and contrast a teacher selected cycle with a student selected
cycle using a Venn Diagram. Students will draw a diagram, label, and write 3-4
sentences explaining the stages for each cycle. Students will then list the similarities
and differences between the 2 cycles.
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
 Cycles of living things
 Cycles of non-living things
 Similarities and differences of natural cycles
A teacher-made rubric will be used to assess using the following elements:
Identifying cycles,
Stages of cycles,
Details in diagram,
Labels in diagram,
Quality and detail in explanations,
Quality and detail of comparisons,
Quality and detail of contrasts,
Bonus – application level (choosing a cycle that hasn’t been studied in class)
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What kinds of cycles are there?
How does a cycle progress from one stage to the next?
What are the similarities and differences of the cycles?
What is the difference between a cycle and a pattern?
How does a cycle end?
What responsibilities do we have in protecting natural cycles?
What is the difference between a cycle and a system?
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
4. How best might we learn?
This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?”
What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to
encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving
questions?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
Pre-assessment – Write everything you know about cycles.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Formative assessments:

Sequence pictures reflecting animal life cycles.
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Complete Venn diagram comparing two cycles.
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Create flip books for any life cycle (egg to butterfly, honeybees, frogs).

Students will create a poster about a cycle in small group (and/or w/ book
buddies). Students will identify, sequence, and describe the stages of the cycle.
The stages should be depicted and labelled in order with pictures. Students will
include a glossary, wonderings, interesting facts, and a diagram. A rubric will be
used to evaluate the project and student oral presentation.
Post-assessment – students add to their prewriting about everything they know
about cycles
*Frontloading - View videos Life Cycle of the Honey Bee, Chicken’s Aren’t the Only Ones, Magic School Bus
- Goes to Seed and have students compare and contrast the information.
*Create a class list of the different types of cycles (Know, care, wonder chart). Add to the list as the unit
progresses. While reading books, discuss our responsibility of protecting natural cycles.
*Have students research using the Independent Investigation Method (IIM) for the cycles of frogs, butterflies,
and plants. Students will read leveled readers and view videos from United Streaming to record notefacts.
*Have students observe items in class and the Science Lab (milkweed, mealworms, earthworms, seeds, etc.)
and generate questions.
*Plant seeds in garden. Harvest and eat results. Regularly observe seeds and flowers, while recording
observations.
*Plant milkweed in the garden for the monarch caterpillars. Replant the plants for next year.
*Record daily observations of metamorphosis of butterfly in student journal.
*Nature walk to look for evidence of cycles that are occurring in the world.
*Observe the cycles of the earth, sun, and moon (day and night).
*Students create timeline (cycle) of their day and then discuss time and daily schedules.
*Spanish – Add Spanish vocabulary to work done in the classroom for frog and butterfly cycle.
*Science - Students observe cycles for plants, chickens, mealworms.
*Create Venn Diagrams comparing the cycles, especially living vs. nonliving (ie. Plant vs. chicken).
*While reading cycle books with the class, model ways to find information and interesting facts (notefacts).
*Using Readers and Writers Workshop focus on non-fiction reading and writing.
*With older reading buddies, practice finding information.
*Use Pair It books to teach the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
*Homelink – Students and parents complete calendars identifying major cultural holidays.
*Using Elbert’s Bad Word or Jamaica’s Find, discuss the action cycle and then have students create a
personal action cycle. (Ruby Bridges or newspaper articles could also be used)
*Computer – Illustrate (click and drag) and label the life cycle of the frog or butterfly using Kidspiration.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Skills -Social – Class discussion, group projects; Research – Students read about living and non-living
cycles.
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
National Geographic books and tapes, Caterpillars; Life cycle posters, Videos - Chickens Aren’t The Only One; Four Seasons ; Life Cycle of the HoneyBee; Magic School Bus - Goes to Seed, Time for
Kids – Cycle Pack; Donna Schaffer insect books; From Seed to Plant; Waiting for Wings; Stopwatch Series; Egg (DK); Scholastic Cycle Pack; Claire Llewellyn insect series; Heinemann First Library;
Picture Science series; Seasons; Ant Cities; How Things Grow; Born to Be a Butterfly; Firelflies; Busy, Buzzy Bees; The Life of a Butterfly; From Egg to Robin; From Tadpole to Frog; From Caterpillar to
Moth; Diary of a Sunflower; The Tiny Seed; Small Cloud; The Reasons for Seasons; Arnold’s Apple Tree; The Moon Book; Plant Seeds; How Do Apples Grow? Frogs and Toads; Pumpkins; Why Does
Lightning Strike? Wet All Over; How A Seed Grows; Monarch Butterflies; Elbert’s Bad Word; Jamaica’s Find, Leveled Readers -The Amazing Ant; The Brand New Butterfly; Growing a Plant,Chart Kit –
Life Cycle of Frog, Life Cycle of Butterfly
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Field trip - Houston Museum of Natural Science
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’
understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the
planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included.
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
The group projects were wonderful. Everything was done at school and the kids
really stretched their learning. They are now finding glossaries everywhere. This year
we added the cycle in flip form to the poster. The kids were able to describe the
stages both visually and in written form. The “Butts Up” table activities were a great
way to see how much the kids already knew about cycles. Leveled readers are
wonderful and we have a good variety. But we can also get more. The kids adore the
non-fiction books. We even included a unit on Nonfiction reading and writing. The
caterpillars again were a motivator for this planner. Adding United Streaming to this
planner was a nice addition. They had several clips about nonliving cycles we could
watch.

develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?

develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
Understanding of Concepts
Form: Create a class list of the different types of cycles; Field Trip
Function: Calendar, day and night, earth, sun, moon
Change: Planting seeds; Observation of butterfly’s life cycle;
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a
more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea.
The summative assessment worked well. In the Venn Diagram the kids wrote about
2 different cycles and then had to compare them. We were more successful this
year on comparing cycles. The kids who used the cycles that they studied
individually did a better quality on their assessment. We created the rubric and are
going to refine it for next year
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
Using book buddies was a good resource for helping the kids with the project, if they
weren’t ready to research and write on their own. It was a positive experience for
everyone. The opening inquiry in the science lab, including milkweed, mealworms,
seeds, and hand lens was a good questioning activity. We should start every planner
in the lab.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Transdisciplinary Skills
Research: IIM
Profiles and Attitudes
Inquirers: Essential questions to guide research of cycles.
Knowledgeable: Students research using IIM different animal and plant cycles using
books and videos.
Cooperation: Students reflected on how they worked with-in their group during the
cycle projects using a checklist and narrative.
Curiosity: Students created essential questions during IIM to guide wondering.
Reflecting on the inquiry
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any
that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to learn?” and
highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the
inquiries.
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to
reflect, to choose and to act.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
9. Teacher notes