CURRENT UNIT: Unit 4

UNIT TITLE:

Visual Culture

KEY CONCEPT:

Change

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Interpretation, Visual Culture

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Globalization and Sustainability

STATEMENT OF INQUIRY:

Visual Culture has the potential

for global interpretation and can

be a vehicle for change.

Students created some very complex, and adventurous

sculptures based on their own chosen idea. To begin their

learning process they worked really hard to learn the basic skills

and techniques, and then used this knowledge to create their

very sculpture pieces.

During Unit 4, the students will be looking at Photography Art.

Here the students will be learning about the different themes of

photography and how they are created.

We will be inquiring into the skills and techniques that Artist’s

use to create specific photographs for a specific purpose. In

class we will be looking at creating our own photography

projects that will be in many different forms.

This will give the students the opportunity to explore different

types of genre, before they move on to create their own

photography project as their summative assessment.

Visual Art Ms. Shelly Unwin

CURRENT UNIT:

Unit 4

UNIT TITLE:

Music and sound effects in games

KEY CONCEPT:

Development

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Collaboration & Function

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Personal and cultural expression

STATEMENT OF INQUIRY:

Music is the universal language, and has the ability to evoke emotions in people irrespective of their native language

Their games are now almost complete, and

in Unit 4 they will be designing and creating

the music and sound effects for their games.

Mr Ken Brady

The Year 7 Design and Technology class has been

investigating the process of creating interactive digital

content (aka computer games) through the writing of

computer code. Their inquiry has been based around

discovering how the key concepts of variables, data

types, loops and conditional statements can interact

together to create an array of complex algorithms. After

looking at the basics of computational thinking, they

investigated the role and purpose of pseudo code.

Based on what they had learned in their inquiry,

students embarked upon creating the code for their

own specific game, their “Pong” variant.

The Year 7 Design and Technology class has been

investigating the process of creating interactive

digital content (aka computer games) through the

writing of computer code. Their inquiry has been

based around discovering how the key concepts of

variables, data types, loops and conditional

statements can interact together to create an

array of complex algorithms. After looking at the

basics of computational thinking, they investigated

the role and purpose of pseudo code. Based on

what they had learned in their inquiry, students

embarked upon creating the code for their own

specific game, their “Pong” variant.

In the Library with MYP….

MYP 1 students have been busy creating an informative PowerPoint on ‘How to Research’. They have been working

in pairs to create their PowerPoints and will be finished in a few weeks. Once students are finished, they will be

required to practice presenting their information before presenting it to the year 5 students who are just starting to

learn about research. This has been a great task for the students as it will help them to consolidate their own

knowledge of the research process.

We had lots of fun during Book Week, especially dressing up as a book character as well as completing a treasure

hunt in the library.

This Photo by Unknown Author is

CURRENT UNIT: Unit 4

UNIT TITLE:

World Biomes and

Ecosytems

KEY CONCEPT:

Communities

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Consequences,

Energy, Environment,

Interaction

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Identities and

relationships

STATEMENT OF

INQUIRY:

Biomes, Ecosystems

and Habitats are

ways to divide and

categorise the

Earth’s surface

Science: Ecology

With Mr. Phill

In unit 3, year 7 observed similarities and differences

in waves, performed frequency calculations and

worked in groups and as a class to decipher the

components of waves. They even observed the

Princess wave!

In Unit 4, year 7 students will look at the differences

between biomes and ecosystems and study the factors

that determine the names of biomes. Using

appropriate factors, students will determine the

Flora and Fauna of their selected biome and study

the relationships that exist between the abiotic and

biotic components of an ecosystem within their

selected biomes.

In this unit, students will be asked to use their skills

from art and other classes to illustrate their

knowledge of the selected biomes and ecosystems in a

diorama! Save a medium to large size box to build in

and display in the hallway for all to see!

Dear Parent/Guardian

UNIT 4 Title

Invasion Games Indoor & Outdoor Games

CENTRAL IDEA

Successfully attacking and defending space depends on having a coordinated plan, knowing your role in each

area and working together as a team.

In MYP we have finished invasion games. Invasion games consisted of Netball, Basketball, Hockey and

Handball. It was an opportunity for students to play in an effective way and execute some tactics and make

decision in the context of the game. They formed teams which were able to develop team tactics and make

effective decisions in order to create scoring opportunities and restrict their opponents from scoring at the

same time. This enabled them to apply rules, strategies during the game and communicate with each other

how they shape or influence a game. It was an excellent opportunity for students to reinforce rules of the

game using knowledge of basic principles of attack and defense and explore the variety of ways to pass the

ball to a partner effectively.

CURRENT UNIT:

Solfeggio

UNIT TITLE:

Note Reading

KEY CONCEPT:

Form

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Interpretation

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Fairness and development

STATEMENT OF INQUIRY:

Symbols and conventions

used to convey meaning to

audiences are influenced

by time and space

During the Unit, students

will be learning on how to

properly syllabicate the

notes on the staff using the

proper duration of note’s

values.

Ensemble Performance during the school assembly

Theory exercises in Music learning sessions

Unit 4 : Statistics & Probability

Statement of Inquiry: Collecting data is the basis for creating and evaluating

hypotheses

Key Concept: Change

Related Concepts: Generalization

Global Context & Sustainability: Globalization & Sustainability:

Our third unit of inquiry into Algebraic Expressions was a major success as all students achieved

major learning milestones and stand poised for onward progression and growth. I was genuinely

impressed by the level of learning and understanding together with the high level of enthusiasm

shown by students throughout this unit. Students should now be able to progress toforming and

solving equations as they progress in their mathematical journey.

Our latest unit of inquiry is focused on Statistics increasingly a very important branch of

Mathematics and one which some authorities argue is so important as to warrant being a stand

alone discipline. We have started gently by looking at Central Measures of Tendency such as

calculating Mean and Mode and then we will look at when we might use these measures, consider

different types of data and conclude with a data collection project. To underpine our work in this

area we have started learning how to use spreadsheet software, specifically Microsoft Excel, and

we will hopefully progress to learn how to exploit its rich graphical interface which supports the

display of statistical information.

Busy times in Mathematics!

CURRENT UNIT:

UNIT TITLE:

Mapping the world

KEY CONCEPT:

Time, place and space

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Perspective; scale

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Orientation in time and space

STATEMENT OF INQUIRY:

Maps help us look into time, place

and space, and show how the

world is constantly changing, but

they can be affected by different

perspectives.

Our next unit is ….

OUR NEXT UNIT:

In unit 4 we will be

studying ecosystems and we

will be doing an ecosystems

field trip too!

For our third Individuals & Societies unit we focused on

geography, more specifically, maps; a very practical unit that

caught the imagination of all our year 7 students.

We examined the history and changes to map making,

students mapped out their own communities and we explored

different types of maps including topographic maps and

Ordnance Survey maps. We learned how to use a six figure

reference and map legends.

We even had the opportunity to collaborate with Mr Ken who

led the students through an exploration of mapping in the 21st

century, including GPS and satellite mapping.

All our year 7 students performed extremely well!

CURRENT UNIT:

UNIT TITLE:

Folk tale and fairy tales

KEY CONCEPT:

Culture

RELATED CONCEPTS:

Audience; conventions

GLOBAL CONCEPT:

Personal & cultural expression

STATEMENT OF INQUIRY:

Folk and fairy tales continue to

influence our construct of reality

in our younger years, but are not

as relevant as they once were.

Our next unit is ….

Our next unit is …

Making a fractured fairy tale

movie

Our English Unit 3 focused on creative writing;

students learned how to develop ‘fractured fairy tales’;

taking two well-known tales and merging them to

create a completely new story.

I have been amazed at the creativity of the students in

this task; the application of knowledge and attention

to detail from all has made me a very proud English

teacher.

Oh, and let’s not forget The Creakers – a story that

year 7 loved so much they wrote to the author! We

are still awaiting a reply.

Chinese Language Acquisition(Phrase 1&2)

Ms. Alexa Su

Last two weeks, students

have been busy with

completing their summative

assessment. Students did

well in their spoken

language test. They also

created fantastic Chinese

brush painting for their

favorite poems.

In unit 4, we will explore

another Chinese literary

genre—Story. Students

will be looking at how to

define Story, the story

arc. What makes a good

story?

We will also inquire into

the beginning, the

middle, the end, and how

they are created.