Making the PYP happen!

What time is it? We hear this question often so telling time is a very important concept in the early childhood years. The Grade 1s have been busy this week learning how to tell the time. They learnt that the long hand means minutes, the short hand means hours and the running hand means seconds.Learning all about telling time and elapsed time exercises a child’s ability to skip count by fives. Given that a clock has numbers from one to twelve and has five marks in between, the Grade 1s have learnt  that when you count minutes you count from “five-ten-fifteen-twenty” until you get to sixty. They understand that when you count hours, you count from one to twelve. This is a difficult but important important skill which that Grade 1s are developing.

Our Grade 2 students have created a little art exhibition with their own creations. They researched different abstract painting authors, and through experiencing their very personal way to express their art, the students found the interconnectedness within the three learner profiles linked to this Unit of Inquiry. Like the artists Picasso, Seurat, Pollock, Klimt and Miró, our students demonstrated that they can also be OPEN-MINDED (they can understand and develop different perspectives), THINKER (they can come up with new ideas and express them through their creativity) and REFLECTIVE (they have been able to learn from their own mistakes but mostly, they have been able to build their opinion from their own learning and personal experiences). As part of their summative assessment, they had to create both art creations using 2D shapes for a collage and 3D shapes for a cubist art project.

The Grade 3s have also produced some beautiful artwork. They were introduced to the Canadian artist Sandra Silberzweig and her colourful works of art.  She is a contemporary painter of Visionary Outsider Art and has been painting all her life.  She uses her talents to create tribal-like colourful abstract portraits. Her influences come from many sources. Picasso's art influenced her work most of all. She calls herself The Goddess of Colour!  The Grade 3s watched a video on Cassie Stephens Blogspot to guide the students in producing their own works of art.

Grade 4 did an exercise on “Is it rude, is it mean, is it bullying？”

They went through different definitions and examples to better understand the question above. The students then read out different scenarios and grouped themselves according to what they thought it was.At the end they discussed the answer to each scenario, further explanation of any difficult words and concepts as well what they would do in such situations.

In the Unit of Inquiry “Who We Are” the Grade 5s have been learning all about their bodies and how the different systems work together. This week they discovered about how their hearts work and why it is such an important muscle in their bodies. They learnt about blood and the four parts of blood and their role in the body. They even made their own blood usingCheerios, marshmallows, clay and food colouring! We went into the laboratory and learnt all about a microscope and how to use it correctly. They also looked at various items like human hair, onion skin, leaves and even a mouth of a mosquito! We ended the lesson with taking Mrs Hobson’s blood and looking at it through the microscope – we wonder what they discovered!

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Following on from our PYP Poetry Day held last week, Grade 5 Mandarin A students continuedtheir study of poetry in various fun competitions once again appreciating the charm and feeling the beauty of Chinese poetry. This fun Chinese poem competition was divided into four sections – a Kahoot online competition, matching poems with pictures, Treasure Hunt games and finally Poetry Creation. These competitions not only encouraged the students to master the basic contents of ancient poetry, artistic conception, and basic literary literacy, but also pay attention to teamwork, time management, and communication skills - an application of IB ATL skills in the classroom.