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IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills

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It Takes Skills!

The word is well and truly out. The newest hub bub in the IB world is the Approaches to Learning Skills. Formerly known by the International Baccalaureate Organisation as the Transdisciplinary Skills, these are, simply put, a set of skills that we use when we are involved in learning. They come grouped into five sets: Thinking, Social, Self Management, Research and Communication. They naturally have growth mindset occurring within them, since they cover many different behaviours, self control as well as thinking and communication strategies.

As part of your IB PYP classroom, it is usual to see the skills listed somewhere within the room, as posters ( more posters can be found in my store here and also here) and as part of our daily learning objectives. We often refer to those throughout our week and I also like to list them on my daily Learning Objectives boards, tied in with the subject and goals for that day.

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My Favourite Read Alouds for IB PYP Units

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I’ve been reflecting lately on the books I’ve used as read alouds throughout our various units of inquiry, that have both reinforced the inquiry as well as integrated many reading skills and strategies. I’ve compiled a list that may help you also, when planning your units of inquiry and aligning them with the elements of the PYP as well as your reading standards. Over the years, I have taught mainly from 3rd grade ( Primary 3/4) up to 6th grade ( Primary 7) and so you’ll find these books to fit the upper elementary age range more.

There is another blog post relating specifically to books that I love when reinforcing the traits of the Learner Profile. You can link to that post here. But this list is more for read alouds that will tie to many of the essential elements of the PYP, as well as slot in nicely to particular Transdisciplinary Themes.

I have created this list for your convenience. You can click on the picture and the title of...

Developing the IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills with Drama

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Drama! It brings out the risk taker in many and inspires Oscar-worthy acting in others. It really is one of my favourite activities in the classroom that incorporates so many skills, which is why I wanted to share some ideas with you regarding using drama with your class. Perfect for any IB PYP theme, especially How We Express Ourselves, it can be incorporated into all subject areas quite seamlessly, not to mention a fabulous way to enhance an Exhibition presentation.

The IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills are grouped into five areas of skills that we use in our daily journey of learning – Thinking, Communication, Social, Self Management and Research. I have found that when I throw some drama into the mix of my plans, things really start to spice up when it comes to those skills.

How The Skills Link With Drama

If you think about what is required within drama, particularly with some form of script, you’ll find that all of the Approaches to...

Engaging Learners with Authentic Inquiry

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Engagement. You know the scene; the entire class is actively involved in their learning. There’s a quiet buzz going on all around. Children are chatting to each other, conversations are focused discussing ideas, plans, strategies. There is movement around the room, with tools and equipment being independently gathered, heads are together, collaboration is seen all around. You know that you’ve nailed it when the busyness of learning is their business!

But…..and there’s definitely a but, how do we keep this going across the curriculum? Is it too idealistic? Time consuming? Can we cover all standards this way? Can we really trust the kids to run with this? How do we, as the teacher, fit it in?

This post isn’t about what engagement looks like in your classroom but rather about how to initiate and maintain the engagement within authentic inquiry focused learning. Engagement is so much more than just keeping the children busy with...

Digital Storytelling in the IB PYP Classroom

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Teaching writing is something that I actually love to do. I know there are many who regard it as a chore and a challenge to get the kids to write enthusiastically. I believe that all boils down to the methods and the purpose behind the writing. There isn’t much to get excited about when you have to write to a specific, meaningless prompt week-in-week-out, using the same old rigmarole. Engaging our learners with authentic learning is an ENORMOUS part of maintaining their interest, enthusiasm and participation. (I have a post with several tips and tools for authentic learning right here. ) Whether you’re working on fairy tales or science reports, these web sites should help overcome a bit of that reluctance with your young writers. I use them a LOT within our units of inquiry. They are easy, engaging and absolutely make writing fun!

Digital story telling is a means of creating a story, report or fun presentation through digital means. It can be used...

Using Interactive Bulletin Boards in Your IB PYP Classroom

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I am so excited about this new tool for IB PYP classrooms! The interactive bulletin board offers so much and can quite literally become the learning hub for many of the approaches to learning skills, the unit of inquiry or a specific curricular area, all centred around the Learner Profile. It promotes international mindedness, communication skills & accountable talk, builds the attitudes of independence, tolerance and confidence, to name a few, and encourages student agency in our classroom. This tool does it all!

Form : What does it look like?

The Learner Profile, being the centre of the IB PYP, is also the central part of this interactive bulletin board display. The posters with the Learner Profile descriptors are actually pockets. They are cute and colourful, with the usual kid-friendly description of what it means to be a learner through each trait.

These pockets can be stapled or pinned to your board at a kid friendly...

Online Teaching with the IB PYP- A Starting Point

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I am going to begin with applauding each and everyone of you, my dear colleagues, wherever you may be in the world, as we endure this CORVID 19 pandemic and work together to keep educating our young learners and making their lives as normal as possible given the incredible abnormality of the entire situation. I’m hoping, by sharing a few of my own trials and successes, that I can lessen some of the concerns you my have and help you to recognise that we are all feeling the same feelings. Teachers, children and parents alike.

We were thrown into this online learning situation with only 12 hours notice. Italy announced on a Sunday evening that schools would be closed the next day, for one week. Three weeks later, we re still working through it and growing from it! Stay positive, stay strong and focus on the silver lining of this cloud.

We have since learned that our children are incredibly positive, incredibly independent and incredibly willing. Their beautifully innocent...

Amazing Books for Developing IB PYP Thinking Skills

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There’s a lot more to this thinking business than we think. When developing IB PYP thinkers and inquirers, I believe it’s so important that we first teach the children to become aware of their thinking. They need to know what this whole thinking thing is about. And before we point to that reference poster on the wall that outlines those sub-skills, I want to help them identify much of what those sub-skills involve. This is where books come into play!

When you’ve been teaching as long as I have, you come across a few books that become your favourite, go-to books over and over, for very specific purposes. This article shares my favourite books for developing the IB PYP Learner Profile attributes of Thinker and Inquirer and, in turn, the Approaches to Learning thinking skills. In addition, I was excited to host a giveaway on my social media accounts and was able to give away 7 books to 7 teachers around the world! In this article,...

Developing Thinking Skills with the IB PYP

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Hello again fellow inquiry teachers! This article is going to be expanding on my previous post where I was sharing my favourite books for developing thinkers and inquirers.

Looking for ideas for books? Read the article here.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’m going to be breaking down the IB Approaches to Learning Thinking Skills and sharing strategies for bringing a greater awareness and understanding of the sub-skills to the children. If you are a subscriber to my blog, you already know that I send you free samples of my new resources and examples of tools I’ve used. Look out for those in your inbox over the next few weeks. If you’d like to become a subscriber and...

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