PYP Newsletter Aug-Oct 2022 Edition

What an amazing start we have had to this academic year! One of the most unique features of our school is the smiling faces I see when walking around the campus. It is clear to everyone, including children, parents, the maintenance team, TAs, admin staff and teachers that Green Valley is a happy environment for all of us!

The first half of Term 1 has already provided many opportunities for inquiry, where our children have learned in meaningful and engaging ways. From our everyday PYP inquiry focused lessons, which offer personalised challenge and support to each learner, to our enriching activities programme and our offsite visits, Green Valley is an exciting and adventurous place for our children to learn and grow holistically.

It has been a pleasure to see how curious our PYP learners have been during their first units of inquiry of this academic year. They have been incredibly busy asking questions, investigating problems and finding their own solutions. There is a real buzz of excitement towards learning, both inside and outside classrooms.

My role as PYP Coordinator is a rewarding one, where I have the privilege to share these light bulb moments with the children and the learning community! It also fills me with great pride that our learners are once again able to share their PYP learning journeys with parents and the learning community, allowing us to really celebrate and offer insight into the brilliant progress they are making within units of inquiry.

With renewed energy from the October holidays, I look forward to seeing our learners in action, continuing to be brilliant, lifelong learners in all aspects of their development during the next half term.

How and why is the IB curriculum different?

What makes the IB different to traditional teaching methods? At a recent parental workshop that used interactive activities, similar to that of IB PYP teaching styles, parents discussed the skills and attributes that they wanted their children to have once they left GV. Skills such as communication, critical thinking, self management, problem solving and qualities such as resilience, inquiring, caring and being knowledgeable about the world are the very missions of our IB PYP curriculum. They are the core ingredients which help us to grow successful, well rounded, lifelong learners.

The PYP offers an inquiry based curriculum focusing on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in school and in the world beyond. As opposed to traditional teaching methods, subjects are not taught in a stand alone way but instead connected together. This allows PYP learners to form deeper connections and understanding, with a focus upon lifelong learning skills, to better prepare our children for skills and attributes needed for the 21st century.

Compared to traditional teaching methods where learning is owned by the teacher alone, PYP teachers are highly skilled to nurture their learners to deepen their understanding through ongoing assessment. This develops self regulated learners, who are motivated to act on feedback. Shifting the ownership of learning from teachers to students, our children are very much at the heart of our curriculum. Our children are empowered to have voice, choice and ownership and are active participants in their learning.

Unlike other more traditional schools, we are not restricted in our curriculum development. Instead, the PYP allows our school to have a strong international focus, and the flexibility to create a curriculum that is contextually relevant to our learning community. The PYP quite rightly provides our learners a curriculum that is engaging, relevant, challenging and current in a world that is rapidly changing, where they are valued as active agents of change to improve their school, local community or global community.

Central idea

From mini beast hunts to dancing the jungle boogie and developing fine and gross motor skills in various art techniques, this unit of inquiry about animals has been loved by all children in Nursery!

Throughout this unit of inquiry, the children have learnt about the different animals; where they live, what they look like, the sounds they make and how they move. Through stories, singing, dancing and exploring role play areas, the children’s curiosity was truly sparked at the beginning of their journey as a lifelong learner.

As well as transitioning into school life successfully, the children have developed their communication skills, exploring new vocabulary to not only name new animals but to describe their appearance too. Doing this through different art techniques has allowed the children to not only express themselves in creative ways but has further developed their fine motor skills, through activities such as threading, painting, marking and weaving.

Even the smallest of learners can be caring, and through exploring their natural green spaces on campus, our children have learnt that they need to be kind to animals (big and small) and look after the plants that grow around them.

We share the planet with many different animals.

Central idea

People learning about themselves helps them to understand and connect with others.

The Kindergarten class have enjoyed learning about their unit, Who We Are (All About Me). The children have been developing their communication skills through circle time games where they have shared who is in their family, what their favourite things are and what they like to do.

The children have enjoyed reflecting on how their families can be different to others and how likes and dislikes vary from person to person. The Kindergarten children were fantastic risk takers when trying a variety of new foods which they may not have tried before. The children also demonstrated their open mindedness when creating self portraits and listening to stories that celebrate how all types of hair, eye colour and skin colour are beautiful.

Currently, the Kindergarten children are working hard to make an ‘All About Me’ book, which they will proudly take home to share with their family and friends to celebrate their identities.

Central idea

Jobs within a community involve different roles and responsibilities.

The Reception children have thoroughly enjoyed their first unit of inquiry, exploring the different types of jobs we have within our community. The children tuned into the unit of inquiry, using their thinking skills to think about the different jobs we need in their learning environment for it to be an organised and fun place to learn. The children demonstrated great leadership skills, taking responsibility for one of these classroom roles, for example: water bottle monitors, plant watering monitors, hat monitors and locker monitors.

To find out more about the different jobs we have in our learning community, the children conducted their own school tour and interviewed members of staff to inquire about their roles and responsibilities. From this, the children then chose a job role they would like to undertake on a work experience morning to deepen their understanding to find out more! From librarians to nurses, the children did a great job and received stickers for their efforts that they traded in for extra play!

To develop the children’s research skills, we have been reading books about jobs and the children have particularly enjoyed acting the different job roles in our role play areas. To make conclusions at the end of our unit of inquiry, the children have reflected on the jobs they would like to do when they are older and what their dream jobs would be.

Central idea

Year 1 started this academic year with a flurry in PYP, with their very first Unit of Inquiry looking at how communities are made, built and sustained. They have worked hard to explore, create and investigate the communities we live in and just how special the Green Valley community is to them.

The children have developed a range of new skills, becoming avid communicators, and adored having the chance to learn new aspects about their school and the very special role a Year 1 child plays within it.

To begin with, they delved deep into what it means to be part of the Green Valley community, looking at how they can be responsible members not only in their class, but also in their school community. Alongside this, they created a class charter and made agreements on how they can work peacefully together so they can be happy and successful.

The children used their agency to create geographical maps with a key to help navigate our way around school, adding in all the most important aspects such as our classroom, the school and not forgetting the canteen! They particularly loved going around the school checking their accuracy and adding even more buildings to their ever growing maps. From here, they then looked at how they could look after their school and help promote eco awareness and care.

The Unit of Inquiry came to an exciting culmination, where all the amazing information and findings were put together to create their own community using salt dough. The children thought carefully about what was required in a successful community and worked hard to collaboratively create buildings to represent each aspect required.

Human made systems are created to meet the needs of a community.

Central idea

Year 2 have been busy learning about significant people in history. This unit tuned in with a ‘hook’ where children dressed up as a famous person they knew. We then used this to look at the personal histories of significant people such as Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks.

When considering these significant people, we looked at how they have led to change in the world and the children were inspired to lead their own change. Following a social experiment where only girls had to tidy up, the children chose to campaign for equal rights for all genders.

The children have become more knowledgeable about how history is recorded, taking part in an archaeological dig, using books and conducting internet searches to research primary and secondary sources of information. Our field trip to a waxworks museum added a deeper level of inquiry and enabled the children to develop their research skills in a different way, comparing the differences between famous and significant people.

Using careful observation skills and their creativity, the children enjoyed creating replica artwork from significant artists and used a culmination of their research skills to write informative biographies of significant people in history. In Forest School, the children fired clay pots in the same way that some historical artefacts are preserved.

This has been a very enjoyable and informative unit of inquiry for the children, who have enjoyed being mini historians and excellent researchers!

Evidence from the past can be used to understand the present day.

Central idea

Looking after ourselves is extremely important if we want to grow into healthy and balanced people, both inside and outside of school. Tuning into this unit of inquiry, the children reflected upon what being healthy means to them and things that they can do to keep healthy.

Building upon their prior knowledge, the children deepened their understanding into the importance of nutrition and what makes a balanced diet. Applying this knowledge, the children put their culinary skills to the test to make healthy snacks. They were great risk takers when trying new foods! From this, the children reflected upon their diet and how they could make some slight alterations to include healthier, more adventurous food choices.

Developing their research skills in an innovative way, the children used augmented reality (AR) and made poop to explore how the organs in the digestive system function in a fun, hands on way!

To inquire further and experience the impact of physical activity on their bodies, the children went on an offsite visit to Jump Z, where they investigated the impact of exercise on their heart rate. The children connected their knowledge with their findings, making accurate conclusions whilst also having a lot of fun!

We have all reflected on our lifestyles and how we can become (even more) healthier and self managed in the choices we make.

Lifestyle choices can affect human health and well being.

Central idea

As a ‘hook’ to tune into their first unit of inquiry, the Year 4 class went on a scavenger hunt outside. Using a map with coordinates, they investigated clues such as a compass, maps and pictures of different forms of travel. The children used their thinking skills to connect the clues and predicted that their unit would be inquiring into explorers!

The children were curious to discover more and researched into the lives and expeditions of the infamous Marco Polo and Ernest Shackleton to dig deeper into their lines of inquiry and discover what their motivations were for exploring, where they went and their achievements.

The children worked in groups to research an explorer of their choosing to present during their learning journey. Developing their social skills and creativity, the children worked collaboratively, planning how to present their knowledge and information using techniques such as stop motion projects, script writing and apps such as Bookcreator.

To conclude our unit of inquiry, we decided to celebrate all that we have learned by having an ‘Explorer Day’. This involved interviewing a real life explorer, Robert Anderson, to inquire into his expeditions to Mount Everest. The children particularly enjoyed interacting with his climbing gear, which he showed us how to use. Developing our survival skills, the children enjoyed learning in the Forest School area with Mr Ben to learn how to collect water in the wild, light a fire, tie different knots, use a compass for navigation and build shelters.

Much fun was had by all or our mini explorers and it was a great culmination of Year 4s learning during this adventurous unit of inquiry!

Through exploration, people discover and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Central idea

Year 5 tuned into their unit of inquiry by using a digital app called ‘What 3 Words’. This app allowed the Year 5 children to find, share and navigate to precise locations around the school grounds during a scavenger hunt, where they raced to crack the code to their unit’s Central Idea.

As the children began ‘Finding Out’, the children showcased their creative skills in photography, exploring composition, filters, angles and frames to change the mood and perspective of a picture. They also explored coding with repeating algorithms to create art and we discussed ‘who is the artist?’ when art is made by artificial intelligence (AI).

The children used their critical thinking to consider how we and others use technology responsibly, becoming more knowledgeable about keeping themselves and others safe online. They also learned about the difference between private and personal information, our responsibilities as internet users and the importance of being responsible for our own digital footprint. Using art, the children highlighted the risks and social pressures that technology can have on society and young people today.

To deepen their inquiry, the children questioned the ethics of technology growth in sports as they learned about bionics and V.A.R. They explored the impacts of artificial intelligence and machine learning on society and the environment. The children then went on to complete a certificate on ‘AI coding for the Oceans’, learning about the significance of data bias in machine learning, who is responsible for it, and the negative impact it could have on society.

Drawing conclusions about their learning, Year 5 used agency to identify areas of school life that could benefit from the growth of technology. Using their knowledge of machine learning, function and materials, they designed AI robots that would assist in recycling, making healthy eating choices, medical assistance and water recycling on the football pitches at Green Valley. They used the app ‘Book Creator’ to create a digital newspaper, which they broadcasted and presented alongside their AI robots at ‘TECHCon’, the Year 5 Technology Conference Learning Journey.

Technology changes and challenges the way we express ourselves.

Central idea

People's outward appearance can have an impact on other people’s perceptions, beliefs and values.

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ and ‘don’t judge others until you walk a mile in their shoes’ are some of the powerful reflections offered by the Year 6 learners during their first unit of inquiry. To deepen their understanding of their central idea, the children first inquired into the assumptions people make of other people, based solely on appearance, and how this can lead to inequality and prejudice.

From this, the children felt passionate to take action by advocating and increasing awareness in our Learning Community about the prejudice that some people may experience by simply being who they are.

Based around Martin Luther King’s iconic speech, the children wrote and presented an inspirational speech, which included themes such as: LGBT+ rights, religion and how we should aim for equality for all. Year 6 demonstrated that they are fantastic risk takers when presenting to an audience.

It was wonderful to see the development of the children, who became more open minded and caring towards the themes discussed throughout the unit. We’re proud of the Year 6 learners, who are compassionate individuals who respect and celebrate differences.

The Year 1 learners have transferred their self management skills and their learning of roles and responsibilities in their unit of inquiry to successfully work together during PE lessons. Exploring different contact points and the art of balancing in gymnastics involves skill and technique. When these are combined to then perform with a partner, this requires concentration, communication and collaboration. These are the very qualities that Year 1 demonstrated when performing their balances. They also learnt to build trust, enabling them to be confident risk takers!

This term the school community celebrated Wai Kru Day or Teacher Appreciation Day. This is an important celebration in Thai culture, where students show respect and gratitude to their teachers at the beginning of the academic year. The PYP actively develops students who are principled and caring and in their Thai lessons, the children have demonstrated just that in the hand crafted offerings they have created using flowers and their appreciation messages presented to teachers.

To deepen their inquiry into the beliefs and values of different cultures, Year 6 have learnt about the Mid Autumn festival, a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. During this time the moon is at its brightest and fullest. The Year 6 Mandarin students have created paper lanterns, in line with Chinese tradition and culture, to celebrate and hope for prosperity and good fortune. Promoting open mindedness is an important element of our PYP curriculum to foster international minded students.

Year 3 have made musical connections with their current PYP unit of inquiry on health and wellbeing. Applying their knowledge about how bones and muscles interact with each other, the children have played on xylophones and have explored singing and dancing in a call and response arrangement. The children applied their self management skills and social skills to create this musical class endeavour. Scan the QR code to see our mini musicians in action!

Nursery

Reception

Central idea

IB learner profile Approaches to Learning

Thinker

Open

Reflective

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