"What do you notice?" is a common question you will hear in our classrooms. The Primary Years Programme is a constructivist approach. This means that teachers carefully craft learning engagements that will enable students to construct knowledge for themselves. Our teachers approach learning by asking themselves, "What do I want my students to know?" and "How can I get them to discover it for themselves?" The teacher often shows videos, text, images, science demonstrations and asks the students "What do you notice?" These noticings launch the class into inquiring more about the concept. Below is an example of this: In the fourth grade unit of inquiry on migration, we might show students the following graphic and ask the, "What do you notice?" The teacher may help ask guiding questions such as...
As students ask questions, the teacher guides them in finding answer through further learning engagements and research. The process of constructing knowledge continues! These six posters represent the 6 units of inquiry your child will experience at each grade during his/her years at Findley. (This year, since we are new to the process, some grade levels will only be teaching 5 units.) This space looks unfinished because it is! As your child's classroom uncovers each "central idea" during the year, they will post it under the classroom PoI (programme of inquiry). Teachers don't tell students the programme of inquiry at the beginning of the year, because they want students to discover the central ideas for themselves through inquiry-based activities. Below you can see a draft of our current programme of inquiry. You will see that some boxes are blank. This is very common for a school in this part of the process of becoming a PYP school. PLEASE NOTE: Even if a unit says "needs to be planned" or is blank, there has been some planning put in place, but isn't firm enough to put onto the programme of inquiry. You can enlarge the document and zoom in to see a specific grade level. A big part of the Primary Years Programme is having students take part in establishing the community agreements. If students help make up classroom agreements, they have greater ownership of the classroom. This empowers them to solve problems, self-direct learning, and take action.
This process begins the first week and conintues throughout September. It looks different at each grade level, but usually starts with the teacher asking, "How do we want our classroom to feel? How should we behave so that everyone is successful?" Below are the products of discussions from classes developing agreements together. Please note that this is an older post that was moved to the PYP in Action blog when the site was restructured in June 2015. The questions and answers are still relevant, so they were reposted.
In the winter of the 2014-15 school year, Findley hosted a parent information night about the Primary Years Programme. We collected questions at the end. The answers are below: Q: How do you evaluate and tweak the process to have continuous improvement of the process? A: There are several answers to this question:
Q: Is Stoller an MYP (Middle Years Programme) school? A: Not at this time Q: How many Beaverton elementary schools are participating in PYP? A: There are 2 official PYP schools. There are 2 first year candidacy schools, Findley is one of them. There are 2 Exploratory schools (this was Findley last year). There are 4 schools that are considering moving into exploratory for next year. Q: Is there a list of standards by grade level compiled online? You can access standards for each grade on the Oregon Department of Education website. Just check the boxes that apply to the grade level and subject areas. It will generate a PDF document. http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/ Q: When do you plan to start 5th grade exhibition? A: Exhibition is an incredible experience! In their final year at a PYP school, students get to work in teams to plan their own unit. They do research, go on field visits, and take action to make the world a better place! Since is our first year diving into PYP, our students and staff won't be ready this year. However, next year we will do a version of the Exhibition. It is an experience that will grow and deepen as the years progress and we go deeper into understanding the PYP philosophy. Q: What help do you need from parents to implement PYP? A: There is a lot you can do to support teachers. This will change over the years. I will start with just a few.
Around the school, each grade level is either starting, in the middle of, or ending a unit of inquiry. Below are written the theme they are studying and the central idea. The central idea is the "big idea" under which all learning in the unit falls. On the days your child has extra specials, teachers from that grade level collaborate to write units of inquiry around the central idea chosen for each theme.
Kindergarten: Theme: Sharing the Planet Central Idea: Living things must have their needs met in order to survive. First Grade Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time Central Idea: People face challenges and have a choice in how to respond. Second Grade Theme: How We Organize Ourselves Central Idea: Financial choices impact the role we play as producers and consumers in our world. Third Grade Theme: How the World Works Central Idea: Through their understanding of forces and motion, people can innovate to solve problems. Fourth Grade Theme: How the World Works Central Idea: Living things react to changes on the earth’s surface. Fifth Grade Theme: How We Organize Ourselves Central Idea: Government systems can change the lives of its citizens. This month students are focusing on being balanced. We watched this video at an assembly last week. You can encourage your child at home by encouraging them to make varied choices in what they play, eat, watch, and read! It was a busy fall for the teachers at Findley! They worked diligently planning their first PYP unit of inquiry. Each grade level is currently teaching their first PYP unit of the year. (With the exception of kindergarten. They are beginning after winter break.) Below is a list of each grade level's central idea and some pictures that highlight some of the learning they have done. A central idea is the "big idea" of the unit. All of the learning experiences fit under the central idea. It may look different from class to class, depending on the interest and excitement in each group. First Grade |
AuthorThis blog is written by Amber McLandrich, the school's PYP Coordinator. Archives
September 2018
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