Central Idea: How to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Waste.

The Nursery learners have continued the Unit of Inquiry, Sharing the Planet and have been learning about how to reduce, reuse and recycle waste. We have read a range of fantastic books to support children’s understanding of how we care for our environment by recycling. One of our favourite books was, ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ by Julia Donaldson. The giant was very clever and came up with some creative ways to reuse his clothes to help the animals. The giraffe used the giants' tie for a scarf and the goat used his shirt for a sail on a boat. The learners have started to hear rhyming words and have identified them in many books we have read.

We also read a great book called, ‘Look out for Litter’ and were inspired by Trina the Pirate who collects litter from the beach to save the planet. The learners stepped into 'story world' and pretended to be pirates, exploring the campus in search for recycling bins. They have also spent time sorting and organising recycled packaging from their homes for our junk modelling area. The learners are so excited to make a difference to our planet!

Central Idea: Exploring water can help us experience our world.

The kindergarten learners are enjoying exploring our latest Unit of Inquiry on Water. Each class has gone looking for and found sources of water, both at school and at home. We have all talked about the water cycle, read books and watched video clips to understand what occurs at each stage of this process. The different classes have found different areas of high interest from this point. KG are interested in underground water, where it comes from, how it is taken out of the ground and who uses it. They are also fascinated by water spouts or tornados that occur over water. KW is conducting an experiment on evaporation, they have set up an experiment with 3 different stations to monitor, they have one with water and salt, one with water and sand and just plain water. They are monitoring to see if there is a difference in how the different stations evaporate . KB is interested in how water is brought into our homes, they have asked how the water gets into the pipes to then come out of the taps in our houses. See below some of our water play and experiments that we have undertaken in class.

Central Idea: Celebrations are a form of expression

We have had a wonderful week exploring Birthdays in Year 1. Learners have written personal recounts on their most memorable birthday, as well as completed description and inference activities based on familiar birthday 'scenes'. It has been wonderful to see the learners making connections between different celebrations and naming features such as family, friends, decorations and tasty food! The learners have also proudly shared celebrations that are meaningful to them such as Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. They have taken their inquiry further by sorting and organising various celebration pictures, and deciding as a team how to categorise these. Through this activity, they are developing their communication and collaborative skills and some have even reflected on how well they have worked with their peers. They have remained open minded when learning about new celebrations and continue to come up with some fantastic questions to further their understanding. We look forward to finding out more in the coming weeks!

Central Idea: People use stories to express themselves

This week sees the end of our UOI inquiring into how 'People use stories to express themselves'. We have explored how cultures and values are reflected in stories and the different ways stories can be told. It was wonderful to see the learners putting their new knowledge into action when they were tasked with writing their own stories. Taking inspiration from the Tinga Tinga Tales, the learners wrote a shared whole class story and an independent story about how an animal acquired one of its distinctive features and learned a lesson along the way. The learners presented their own stories to a small group of their peers using plays, puppet shows, clay modelling and even sand art! We are looking forward to seeing our class stories brought to life as a part of a drama collaboration with Evolve Theatre Group in a couple of weeks. This is an exciting opportunity for the learners to find out about how scripts are developed and to ask the actors questions about characters, costumes and props.

Central Idea: Forces Change the Natural Environment

Developing the ATL (Approaches to Learning) Skills is an important component of the IB curriculum, and this week Year 3 had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in research, communication and self-management during our How the World Works Mini-exhibition. Every learner inquired into a landform, earth process or natural phenomena of their choice and completed research using the Key Concepts of Form (what does it look like), Causation ( how is it made or how does it affect the earth), and Change (what changes have been made because of it). They each created a model and then these ‘Earth Experts’ used their presentation skills to explain their new understandings to the other Year 3 classes as well as to our special guests, Mr. Beach, Mr. Rimmer and Ms. Fiona. It was wonderful to see their presentation skills in action and watch them speak so knowledgeably and confidently about their learning. Well done Year 3 learners!

Central Idea: Economic activity relies on the production, exchange and consumption of goods and services.

During our first two weeks of our 'How we organise ourselves' Unit of Inquiry, Year 4 have been discussing the difference between 'needs' and 'wants' as well as how 'supply' and 'demand' affects the prices of items. This has sparked off some interesting discussions about access to resources and equality around services such as health care, affordable housing and clean water. Learners are taking part in trading games help them experience how competition within the marketplace can impact the price of an item. Learner are exploring how advertising can affect the demand of a product. In our Language Arts lessons we are learning ways to create an effective 'persuasive voice' when communicating in the both verbal and written forms. It is great to see our learners striving to expand their 'tool box' of AtL skills (Approaches to Learning) as the term progresses.

Central Idea: Exploration Expands Human Understanding

Global Exploration is an action that humans have taken for thousands of years. Over the next five weeks Year 5 learners will apply their research and thinking skills to become experts about Space Exploration. Each class has been posing questions and inquiring into areas of exploration connected to Space. These include: Star Gazing and Constellations, Race to the Moon, Life on the International Space Station and Colonising Mars. They will share their understandings by performing in a Year group production. Through Language Arts integration learners have increased their understanding of how a script is designed and written. In groups they are now using their new understandings to write their scripts. Thinking skills are developed as learners support each other to make decisions and generate new ideas. We know great scripts take time and will continue to reflect and improve these over the weeks to come. Learners are very excited to start performing and practicing their parts. More details about how families can view our production will be shared soon.

Central Idea: Individuals Grow By Challenging Their Personal Limits

Our exhibition is now in full swing. Arts, crafts, sewing, fitness, writing mindful and burnt cookies are all part of the inquiries our learners have chosen to explore for our exhibition. There have been many opportunities to reflect on what we have done well, and perhaps not so well. All experiences are an opportunity to learn and better ourselves. There have been lots of emails being sent to other teachers to get their opinions and advice, as well as opportunities to share what we we have explored to our support groups. It is sure to be a whirlwind few weeks as we try to improve our own personal best.