What can we see from our school?

This is the entrance to our school.

It is on a quiet road on the edge of a small city.
Our school has a fence all the way around it marking the boundary.

This morning we went out with our clip-boards to see what we could see (a little like the bear who climbed over the mountain, perhaps) from the boundaries of our school.

We asked ourselves - Near our school are there.....
· places where people live?
· places where people shop?
· places where people work?
· places where people 'play'?

This is what we found:
Next to the soccer field at one side of our school, there is a place where people can relax, have a cup of coffee or a meal.

It is part of the tennis club (a place where people 'play'), where there are outdoor courts as well as indoor courts.....plus somewhere to park your car.

A little further round, in the grounds of the United Nations (UN) we spotted this beautiful house (only we are not quite sure yet whether it is a place where people live or a place where people work) behind which, we spotted Lake Geneva (a place we know people 'play').

On a bit more and still we are looking into the grounds of the UN (a place where people work). We saw a greenhouse, which made us think that people at the UN like to keep their gardens looking nice. Round a bit more and on the side of the school opposite where we started, we spotted one of the gate-houses of the UN (which has impressive electronic security). And in the distance we spotted a crane at work, which made us realise that something is changing in our local area.

On some more and now we are at the front of the school. Here we can see a field (with no cows in sight) and beyond, the offices of the ILO, the OMS (or WHO) and, as indicated by their famous flag, the US mission, all of which are places where people work.


So to summarise; we have places where people work and places where people 'play' near our school. We may have places where people live but, so far at least, we have seen no places where people shop.....But of course we are only just beginning our exploration of Our Local Area. Who knows what we might discover when we leave the school grounds?

What we already know; and what we can do to find out more.

An important thing to do when you start a new Unit of Inquiry is find out what you already know. So the other day we spent some time thinking about how well we each already know Our Local Area. We decided that some of us might not know Our Local Area very well at all; perhaps because we have only just moved to this school. And some of us might know Our Local Area really well; perhaps because we were born near here. And of course there will be lots of people in between.
After we had thought about it, we put ourselves onto a CONTINUUM.







We realised that the people near the 'I am just beginning to know Our Local Area' marker would probably have lots of useful questions they could ask. The people near the 'I know Our Local Area really well' marker may still have some useful questions, but they might also be able to answer some of other people's questions. We might be able to learn from each other.



We also made a record of the things we already know that are in Our Local Area; some of us drew pictures; some of us wrote; some of us did both!

Here are some of the things we already know are in Our Local Area:

• There is a park called Chateau de Penthes
• There is the UN
• There are tennis courts
• There is another school
• There is the ILO
• There is the OMS
• There is a pond
• There are lots of trees

But of course that is not everything; and of course, one of the things we want to do is try and find out more. So today we wondered what we could do to find out 'What is in Our Local Area'.

Chris said we could try to remember; after all, we all come into Our Local Area each day!
Fiona said we could go for a walk and see how far we get in each direction. That would give us a good idea of exactly how big Our Local Area is!
Tanmay suggested that we could take some paper with us and make a note of what we see in Our Local Area.
Joe suggested doing some internet research; he said we could try and find satellite photographs of Our Local Area.
Max said we could look at maps of Our Local Area.
Joe suggested we might even be able to draw our own maps as we walked around in Our Local Area.

I think we should try and do all of these things to find out 'What is in Our Local Area'. We should:

• try to remember
• look really carefully
• go for a walk
• make a note of what we see
• find satellite photographs
• look at maps
• draw our own maps

What other things could we do to find out 'What is in Our Local Area'?

A New Term and a New Unit - and we start by defining some words

OUR LOCAL AREA - what does that mean to you?

Michelle got us started when she told us that our means something that belongs to us. Joe suggested that our could mean all of us in our class; our classroom community. We liked this idea!

Per's hand shot up in the air when we wondered about the word area. "An area is a space," he told us. Max said that you can play soccer in an area.

Because we weren't exactly sure about our third word, Giulia suggested we use a dictionary to find out what local means. This is what we found out: something that is local is near where you live; we decided that meant somewhere that you could easily walk to. Azri added that a local school is a school near where you live; one that you could easily walk to.

So we decided that 'OUR LOCAL AREA' means the space around our classroom; somewhere we could easily walk to from our school.

As so often happens during our discussions, we went off at a slight tangent and got to wondering about places near our homes that we could easily walk to. Does anyone have anything local? we asked. Tanmay, Evie, Maya, Danah and Michelle can all easily walk to a park from their homes and Isabella can walk to a playground. Justin has a basketball court within walking distance of his house. Giulia can walk to a post office but not to any shops. Fiona has a bakery near her house but she has to go by car to get to the other shops. Both Swati and Naoya have shops near their homes. Per has a local Co-op near his house and so does Joe. Joe can also walk to a Migros, like Dangi. Chris has a local Manor (as well as 2 parks, a school - which is not the one he goes to - and a garage) and Patricia can walk to a shopping mall.

So plenty of food for thought! For example, what kind of area do you live in if you have shops, parks, garages, playgrounds and schools locally? And how are those areas different from areas where you might only have a bakery or a post office, and need to use the car or the bus to get to shops, parks, garages, playgrounds and schools?

But most importantly for now, what things do we have in 'OUR LOCAL AREA', the space around our school?

Let's see how we can find out.....