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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...

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...

A scavenger hunt with attitude! That’s what’s going on here.  IB PYP attitudes to be more precise.

As the term growth mind-set sweeps across the educational world, I’d like to point out that we within the IB PYP have been promoting such mind-set for a very long time.  With an emphasis on developing an “I CAN” attitude, growth mind-set promotes courage, confidence, independence, tolerance, enthusiasm, integrity, cooperation, open mindedness, self management and so on. You get the picture? Character education is just another part of the PYP’s comprehensive approach to teaching and learning that focuses on the development of the whole child.

With the newly enhanced PYP being released this year (2018), the IB Attitudes will become a part of the descriptors within the Learner Profile, as the focus on the Learner shifts towards enabling greater student agency. Understanding one’s personal development through the Learner...

When I first started writing this post, my intention was to jump straight into ideas for implementing student agency in our PYP classrooms. Then I got to thinking that maybe not everyone is wholly familiar with the PYP’s enhancements to be released this year. (2018) And so, I thought I’d take a step back, try to clarify the term “student agency” and go from there.  So, bear with me if you’re up to date with the shifting and changing going on. The ideas follow the chat.  Otherwise, grab a cup of tea and read on.

Form: What is agency in the enhanced PYP?

Even though the term “student agency” is the new buzz word regarding our learners in the PYP, it really isn’t altogether new. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not a brand new change but rather a shift towards a greater emphasis of providing more deliberate autonomy for our students, thus developing leadership. This form of leadership can be...

Hang in there teachers! Summer is in sight!

For those of us north of the equator, the end is in sight! Summer is fast approaching!

I wanted to share my Summer Reading Challenge with your really quickly. Its FREE and is such a win-win activity for kids as well as teachers. Keep those brains in training with the Summer Reading Challenge!

So easy to print and go, there are reading challenges to suit grades 2-6, with a checklist to complete as they go. Send it home over summer or use it to keep your students reading with enthusiasm right up until the last day. Read by torchlight, read a menu, read by the pool, read upside down, read a biography….and the reading goes on and on. 

If you read some of the comments from others who have already tried it, there are some great ideas to copy. I like to send them home over summer with the promise of a wee reward for those who complete it and hand it back to me at the beginning of the school year....

If I’m to be honest, teaching elapsed time is not my favourite thing to do. It’s pretty close to pulling my own teeth, but of course, ultimately, far more rewarding.   With interactive timelines things get far more interesting.

With 3rd grade, it is such a tricky concept to grasp, particularly with hours and minutes. And then when you throw in years and A.D and B.C ( now also known as Before the Common Era /B.C.E and the Common Era/ C.E) , we can really end up quite tied in knots. But once they’ve got it, by golly, the wee angels are soaring! And their teacher is on cloud nine with them!

The review, by the time we get to 4th and 5th grades, isn’t quite as painful, thank goodness, and fine tuning those time lines and introducing more complex variations can even become a fun experience for all involved with great digital variations that the kids love exploring. I’ll get to more of those in a bit.

There are numerous ways to teach elapsed...

Ah, back to school thoughts are upon us once again. Summer. It just FLIES in, doesn’t it? I’m always torn between dreading going back to work and  excitement for the start of a new school year, new kiddos to get to know and maybe even a new classroom.

Whether you start sooner or later, I wanted to share one of my newest back to school activities that you can use with ANY age level. Part getting-to-know-you and part craft, it is so cute and the kids absolutely LOVE that it is all about them and even looks like them.  I can just see them all hanging up in my classroom, with their adorable t-shirts telling all about Who We Are. A perfect back to school display.

This is simple to prepare and acts as a fabulous getting-to-know-you activity for those first days back. I planned it for about 2 hours a day, over 2 days.

Three Parts to Complete

The front of the t-shirt is divided into sections and is  a...

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...

It never fails to amaze me, when given the opportunity to take the lead, how much our students rise to the challenge. With the enhancements to the IB PYP having recently been unveiled, I felt that this would be a great time to address co-planning the unit…..with your students as your co-planners!

Encouraging greater student agency in your classroom is more than simply listening to the student voice. In my previous post  about implementing student agency, I mentioned the difference between passive learning and active learning. Allowing the children to actively contribute to the planning of their own learning, absolutely promotes meaningful student involvement.

The unit of inquiry has been planned  in a variety of ways over the years:

• teachers develop a skeleton plan and complete it as they are informed by the childrens’ inquiries and progressing knowledge.
• teachers may collaboratively develop the unit with their team, before...