ISB Unit of Inquiry Planning Overview
Preschool 2
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: From Seed to Supper
Central Idea:
Plants provide us with a variety of food
Transdisciplinary Skills
Skills:
Communication: The children will learn the
parts of plants, such as roots, leaves, bulbs,
seeds, fruits flowers, buds; they will listen to
stories and learn songs about gardening and
spring plants.
Research: The children will gather information
about the fruits and vegetables eaten at home;
they will buy a variety of vegetables and fruits
and explore their characteristics; they will
observe and record the growth of seeds; they
will test the hypothesis that plants need water,
sun and soil to grow.
Thinking: The children will count and
categorize seeds; match fruits and vegetables
to the various parts of plants; graph information
on fruits and vegetables; sequence the life cycle
of edible plants.
Self-Management: The children will cut up fruit
and vegetables to eat; draw and paint pictures
of edible plants and their parts; properly plant
seeds; pretend to be plants.
Social: The children will take part in group
discussions, taking turns and respecting others’
opinions.
Inquiry Into:
• The way we use plants for food
• How plants grow
Integrated Activities
(the following are examples of possible activities)
• Discussing the life cycle of plants and
describing the parts of plants and their
functions (e.g. roots bring water, leaves make
chlorophyll); acting out the life cycle of a plant.
• Keeping a week-long journal of which
vegetables and fruits their families are eating;
looking in fiction and non-fiction books for
information on plants.
• Making seed mosaics; preparing graphs using
the laptops during IT; cut and paste pictures of
the life cycle of a plant in its proper sequence;
grow seeds in plastic to watch the emergence
of roots and the stems; repot the seedlings in
soil and care for them.
• Preparing and sharing a fruit salad or
vegetable platter of raw vegetables for snack;
organizing and caring for a small garden plot
of vegetables and flowers.
• Taking part in group discussions about the
information gathered from home; role-playing,
in the housekeeping corner, the preparation of
fruits and vegetables.
 ISB Unit of Inquiry Planning Overview
Preschool 2

Assessment (ongoing) Learner Profile: Special attention will be given to

Some of the ways we will keep track of how becoming:
well the children are understanding the Unit
of Inquiry include: • Inquirers: e.g., observing and recording the
growth of seeds
• Observing and noting what they say • Thinkers: e.g., hypothesizing about what plants
and do; need to grow and carrying out experiments
• Collecting their drawings; • Carers: e.g., talking about how we care for and
help plants to grow.
• Photographing their activities;
• Documenting their willingness to
collect information from their
families and share that information
with their peers in class;
• Comparing what they said they
knew prior to the unit with what they
know after they have explored the
unit.

Links to Specialists Classes

In Music the children will play instruments to the music of a Vietnamese rice planting song.
In PE the children will imitate the life cycle of plants using their bodies to show the various
phases.
In German, the children will discuss the key ideas about growing plants and learn some of the
German vocabulary related to plants, fruits and vegetables.

Notes to Parents:
Some of the activities in some classrooms will include:

• Field trips to various related places such as an open-air market, local supermarket,
garden or farm;
• Preparing and tasting fresh vegetables and fruits;
• Planting seeds and recording the phases of growth;
• Cultivating a small vegetable garden in the outdoor playground.

Parents can help by discussing the variety of fruits and vegetables eaten at home and helping
children complete booklets brought home to gather information.