Program of Inquiry

Pre-K

Central idea: Our senses help us to survive, learn about ourselves, each other and the world around us.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Five senses - what are they? - exploring the five senses
• Senses can tell us about similarities and differences
• We use our senses to explore the world around us.

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Perspective
• Reflection

Central Idea:  Each child participates as a member of a family, which is similar to and different from other families.
PE connection

Lines of Inquiry:

• Meaning of family
• Types and characteristics of families
• Families meet basic needs

Key Concepts:

• Function
• Connection
• Perspective

Art

Central Idea:  People use different ways to communicate ideas and express feelings

Lines of Inquiry:

• Artists communicate emotions, beliefs and narratives through art.
• Art is a form of self expression
• Art is a form of communication for social justice

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Perspective
• Reflection

Kindergarten

Central Idea: Through learning and play our words and actions reflect who we are.
Health Connection

Lines of Inquiry:

• Making and keeping friends
• Caring, sharing and learning with my friends
• Understanding the feelings of others
• Essential Agreements-good friend jar

Key Concepts:

• Responsibility
• Perspective
• Reflection         

Central Idea: Communities are enriched by their members and the different perspectives they bring.
PE Connection

Lines of Inquiry:

• What a community is
• People within a community
• The personal stories/roles of community members

Key Concepts:

• Function
• Connection
• Perspective
• Responsibility        

Library

Central Idea: People use different ways to communicate ideas and express feelings

Lines of Inquiry:

• Techniques for sharing our feelings and needs in the virtual world.
• Creating a positive digital footprint
• Methods for sharing our passions with the world
• Sharing learning in an authentic way

Key Concepts:   

• Form
• Function
• Responsibility            

Grade 1

Central Idea: Homes reflect personal identity and culture and may change over time.

Lines of Inquiry:

• In various parts of the world homes are different because the purpose is different.
• The culture of various societies are reflected within homes.
• There are differences and similarities between peoples of various cultures.

Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Connection
• Perspective
• Function

Central Idea: Public areas strengthen communities and provide people with an opportunity to connect.

Lines of Inquiry:

• All communities have places where its members can go to be with others.
• People may meet and develop new relationships at public places.
• People with similar interests go to similar places.
• Public spaces meet the needs of members within their community.
• Humans are social beings and generally desire to be with others (or animals).

Key Concepts:

• Change
• Connection
• Responsibility

Music

Central Idea: People use different ways to communicate ideas and express feelings 

Lines of inquiry:

• Music, dance, theater are a form of communication.
• Rhythm and beat convey/ lend to particular feelings
• Music as a form of self expression
• Various instruments convey tone in different ways.
• How music makes me feel
• Music transcends ethic and cultural boundaries.
• Music represents culture.

Key Concepts: 

• Perspective
• Function
• Form

Grade 2

Central Idea: History connects the past, present and future events of humans.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Ways our school and town have changed and stayed the same over time.
• Events that shaped our school and community.
• Ways to collect information about the past.
• Differences between basic needs and wants of people in a school or a community.
• Reasons why people in a community earn, spend, and save.

Key Concepts:

• Connection          
• Function

Central Idea: Our boundaries are  interpreted with personal perspectives.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Ways we use addresses.
• Ways to use maps, globes and their features.
• Ways to create maps to represent spaces and display information.

Key Concepts:

• Perspective    
• Reflection

PE / Health

Central Idea: People use different ways to communicate ideas and express feelings.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Impacts communication has on relationships.
• Healthy ways to express feelings (Pre-K-3).
• Ways communication effects solving problems (2-5).
• Differences in online and in-person communication (5-6).

Key Concepts:

• Responsibility
• Connection / Causation
• Perspective

Grade 3

Central Idea: How a person thinks and feels about themselves shapes them as a learner.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Factors that influence self-identity.
• How a growth mindset develops a learner.
• Our responsibility toward others.

Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Perspective

Central Idea: Cultural and environmental influences impact Vermont’s people .

Lines of Inquiry:

• Cultural influences on the interaction of people  with their environment.
• Cultural influences on the adaptations people make to their environment.
• Environmental influences on the migration of people, goods and ideas.
• Catastrophic environmental and technological events that affect  human settlements and migration. 

Key Concepts:

• Connection
• Causation
• Change

Spanish

Central Idea: People use different ways to communicate ideas and feelings

 Lines of Inquiry:

• Cultures and traditions expressed through celebrations

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Function
• Perspective

Grade 4

We the people of Vermont

Central Idea: Human relationships are shaped by personal beliefs and cultural histories.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Part of who we are includes knowing who and where we come from.
• Natural resources define communities.
• Societal decision making impacts economy and environment.
• Cultures change over time.

Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Change
• Perspective

Biography: The writing of life

Central Idea: Leaders are influenced by their personal experiences and beliefs.

Lines of Inquiry:

• People have made a positive difference in the world.
• Individuals can inspire us to make a positive difference in the world.
• Why and how people implement change.

Key Concepts:

• Connection
• Perspective
• Reflection

Grade 5

Central Idea: People can learn from and be inspired by others.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Understanding and appreciation of the biography/autobiography genre.
• Self-expression of personal ideas and feelings through writing.
• Learning history through biographies and autobiographies.
• Understanding how Learner Profile words apply to a chosen biographical person.

 Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Perspective
• Responsibility

Central Idea: Countries expand their influence throughout the world through colonization.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Structure and function of colonies.
• Colonial decision-making - Who benefits from the decisions?
• Economic impact.

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Function
• Change

Grade 6

Central Idea:  Children all deserve the same basic rights.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Wants vs. needs, rights, responsibility.
• Technological, societal developments leading to child labor.
• Individuals, groups. Institutions working to meet individual needs and promote common good.

Key Concepts:

• Function
• Connection
• Change

Central Idea: Migration/Immigration is a response to circumstances and challenges.

Lines of Inquiry:

• The reasons why people immigrate to the United States from all over the world.
• Contributions and dilemmas of immigrants.
•  Effects of migration on communities, cultures and individuals.

Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Change
• Perspective

Pre-K

Central Idea: Plants and animals grow and change over time and we have a responsibility to take care of them.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Plants and animals are living things.
• Plants and animals grow and change over time.
• Plants and animals have needs to help them grow and survive.

Key Concepts:

• Causation
• Change

Kindergarten

Central Idea: Weather impacts our daily lives.
Art Connection

Lines of Inquiry:

• Tracking the weather
• Clouds and weather
• Weather influences our decisions.

Key Concepts:

• Change
• Form
• Causation

Central Idea: Living things depend on each other.

Lines of Inquiry:

• The structure and behaviors of living things.
• What living things need.
• Plants and animals can change the environment.
• Respect for living things.

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Change
• Responsibility

Grade 1

Central Idea: Systems need to be in place to maintain organization in communities.
Health Connection - Fire Safety Rules, practices and procedures.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Rules and laws are a form of universal organization.
• Organizations provides predictability and structure.
• Systems vary in cultures and within cultures.
• Local institutions promote the common good (police, fire, schools).

Key Concepts:

• Perspective
• Form
• Function
• Responsibility

Central Idea: People can establish practices in order to sustain and maintain Earth's resources.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Natural resources are limited.
• We must care for our planet through reducing, recycling, and reusing.
• Increase awareness of local vs. non local resources.
• Our personal choices help or hurt the environment.
• We only have one Earth and without it humans will no longer exist.

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Change
• Responsibility

Central Idea: People make practical applications with light and it is a universal world symbol.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Light is useful and has importance within our lives.
• Understand the properties of light.
• Knowing how things work enables us to use those things to our benefit.
• LIght is a universal symbol and is used within many cultural events, holidays, and traditions.

Key Concepts:

• Function
• Causation
• Reflection
• Form

Grade 2

Central Idea: Responsible members of a group have interdependent roles.
Health Connection - Feelings, diversity, respectful relationships.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Roles and responsibilities of group members.
• How individuals and groups are interdependent.
• Ways people solve problems.

Key Concepts:

• Responsibility    
• Function

Central Idea: Erosion affects the shape of the Earth.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water.
• Geologic changes to the Earth.
• Ways to slow or prevent erosion.

Key Concepts:

• Change    
• Responsibility

Central Idea: The interdependent relationships in ecosystems stem from the diversity of life and the natural forces within them.

Lines of Inquiry:

• What plants need to grow.
• Functions of animals in seed dispersal or pollination.
• Diversity of plant and animal life in different habitats.

Key Concepts:

• Causation      
• Connection

Grade 3

Central Idea: We use patterns to predict  changing conditions.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Recording weather patterns across different times and areas.
• Analyzing weather data to make weather predictions.
• Changing climate conditions over time.
• Natural hazards caused by natural processes.
• How humans reduce impacts of natural hazards.

Key Concepts:

• Connection    
• Change
• Form

Central Idea: The development and survival of organisms is connected to changes in the environment.
Health Connection - Animal life cycles.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Organisms share common elements of unique and diverse life cycles.
• Organisms have traits that are influenced by their species and their environment.
• Some animals form groups to survive.
• The conditions of a habitat can determine how well an organism survives.

Key Concepts:  

• Change    
• Responsibility

Central Idea: Forces and interactions cause changes to climate and weather.
PE Connection

Lines of Inquiry:

• Forces that change the motion of an object.
• Climates in different regions of the world.
• How humans can reduce the impacts of weather-related dangers.

Key Concepts:  

• Causation      
• Change
• Responsibility

Grade 4

Central Idea: Within a group, people share the responsibility to fulfill a common goal.

Lines of Inquiry:

• People must work together to achieve a goal or vision.
• Group decisions impact the economy and environment.
• In groups, there are different types and levels of governance.

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Function
• Responsibility

Earth Rocks!

Geologic changes affect living societies.

Central Idea: Human survival is connected to understanding the continual changing nature of Earth.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Rock formations reveal the earth is changing.
• Geologic changes are a result of weathering, erosion, and plate tectonics.
• Natural disasters occur when earth’s structure changes.
• Geologic changes and human societies are interrelated.

Key Concepts:

• Connection
• Change
• Causation

Central Idea: Energy exists in many forms that can be harnessed for efficiency and sustainability.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Energy Forms
• Transformation of Energy
• Conservation of Energy

Key Concepts:

• Function
• Connection
• Form

Grade 5

Central Idea: Revolutions change the world.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Types of revolutions
• Inventions that made revolutions possible.
• Change caused by revolutions.

Key Concepts:

• Change
• Connection
• Causation

Central Idea: Agriculture enables the world’s survival.

Lines of Inquiry:

• The development of agriculture.
• The impact of man, technology and nature on agriculture.
• Feeding the world- sustainability.

 Key Concepts:

• Function
• Causation
• Responsibility

Central Idea: Objects in the solar system have predictable, regular patterns of  motion impacting life on Earth.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Gravitational forces on Earth
• Differences in brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to relative distance from Earth.
• Patterns of daily change in length and direction of shadows, day and night, seasons.

Key Concepts:

• Connections
• Function
• Causation

Grade 6

Central Idea: Humans have developed systems to create organization and government.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Purpose and function of government.
• The role of citizens
• Types of governments

Key Concepts:

• Form
• Function
• Change

Exhibition Unit

Central Idea: To be developed by students.

Lines of Inquiry:  To be developed by students.

Key Concepts:

• Responsibility
• Reflection
• Form

Central Idea: The transfer of matter and energy can be tracked as it flows through natural and man made systems.  

Lines of Inquiry:

• Properties of matter and structure of matter (form).
• The nature of chemical change.
• The flow of matter and energy in natural and manmade systems (function).

Key Concepts:

• Form (states of matter, forms of energy)
• Function (cycles of matter and energy transfer in the ecosystem)
• Perspective (roles of consumers and conservers)
• Change (chemical change, volume, mass)