Last week of Term 1

After a long and dynamic first term, it's time to bid farewell until next year. There were so many outstanding events this week and the pace was so fast, most of my photos are blurry!

One of the great successes of our most recent unit of inquiry was Suheda's periscope as a way to change point of view. It's a very unique project that authentically demonstrates the concept of Perspective while exploring mathematics, optics, and construction.

As part of their Cultural Expo, the students researched and created models of fashion from different parts of the world and historical eras.

Their outfits were not only creative, but historically and culturally accurate!

Planning for the Winter Performance Celebration of Learning was a valuable lesson in planning and time management, as the students wanted to create 'sets' just one day before the show! Although they did make backgrounds, we didn't bring all the necessary equipment to quickly mount them on stage.

The students were probably most excited to share their food. Unexpectedly, the JIES community ate everything!

We were all impressed and proud of Suheda's first public violin performance. Brava, Suheda!

Our trilingual dramatic production about perspective and point of view was interesting and entertaining.

Of course, who doesn't love a heartwarming song like That's What Friends Are For during the winter holiday season?

Now, we all deserve a rest, time with family, and a few homework assignments to keep our minds sharp and continue our inquiries. I've also sent it in an email, but here is the list of Winter Homework Tasks:

1 Personal History Project (interview, gather primary sources)

2 Independent reading (30 minutes per day, at least five days)

3 Daily Tasks Form (check email, Kidblog, XtraMath, Geography quizzes; at least five days)

4 Independent inquiry (at least one reflection)

5 Journal (Kidblog; at least two posts)

Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm and commitment to learning this term! Happy New Year!

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Counting down...

These last two weeks of Term 1 have started very well, with all of the students very engaged with their inquiries and excited to learn with their friends at school.

It has been a particularly busy week for Miray, starting with her blog post about one of her favorite television programs. Below is the tweet from our class Twitter account (twitter.com/jiesgrade6).

Miray blogged about a #greatstory, @digeryarimatv! http://t.co/UwzTZJtXg4 #Turkey
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) December 8, 2014

Sule and Miray worked together to measure the area of the school playground as part of Sule's inquiry into 'how many soccer balls would it take to fill the playground?'.

Congratulations to Suheda for completing XtraMath! Each student in our class practices XtraMath daily and can easily access their account from the JIES Grade 5/6 wiki (jiesgradefiveandsix2014-15.wikispaces.com).

It was difficult to keep the secret, but many students at JIES planned a surprise birthday party for Bushra!

Of course, finishing inquiries and preparing for the Winter Performance Celebration of Learning takes quite a lot of work. The class is collaborating to write a trilingual script about alien abduction and cultural perspectives over time. View their work in progress by clicking this link!

They also made a fun discovery while writing their script:

We have discovered the chat function in Google Docs. BAHAHAHA!
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) December 12, 2014

We're very excited for next week! See you on Thursday!

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People from history book

In Japanese class, Grade 5/6 students picked their favorite person and historic event to make a paper about them.
They learned about Masaoka Shiki, Marilyn Monroe,Helen Keller,Taki Rentaro, Elizabeth 1 of England, Cleopatra, William Shakespeare, Palace of Versailles, Apollo program.
They were really creative when they were making the paper.

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Sky Tree and The Fab Mind

Before the next two weeks become too busy, we decided to squeeze in a field trip as part of our inquiry into Perspective, 'point of view', and how our 'personal histories connect us to the past and help to determine the future'.

Exploring #perspective at Tokyo Sky Tree! pic.twitter.com/UgDhc2J7QN
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) December 5, 2014

Seeing Tokyo from 450 meters altitude provides a rare and unique opportunity to experience Perspective visually and physically. I am curious to see how students apply this new understanding in other areas, for example, interpreting research or drawing.

The Fab Mind at Tokyo's premier design museum, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, was the perfect compliment to our unit of inquiry. Our central idea, 'personal histories connect us to the past and help to determine future', might have been the theme of the exhibit. It features conceptually rich, technology and solution oriented, culturally and socially conscious, design and art work from around the world.

Next week, the students will complete their inquiries and begin to assemble their presentations for the second Celebration of Learning and Winter Performance.

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Growing independence

Independent Inquiry is an activity we do in the 'Uniters' class every Thursday. During this time, students are free to manage their own time and direct their own inquiries. Of course, they still have responsibilities to complete ongoing assignments and inquiry tasks, so it's an excellent opportunity to practice time management and reflecting on priorities.

Sule drew a meaningful graphic to remind herself to be balanced.

During the Peace Crane Project, one of our partner schools in South Africa was under a postal strike. They couldn't mail their peace cranes to us! Finally, the strike was resolved and the cranes arrived this week.

Seeing the students lackluster efforts during marathon a few weeks ago, I decided to set a goal that each one of us would run or 'fast walk' twenty five laps around the track every week. We have a goal sheet in the classroom. Thus far, we've run 384, but we're behind schedule!

Today, since we didn't have marathon due to Pika Pika Keyakki, all of the grade 5/6 students were completing their laps during recess. Miray's extra challenge was to bring a little friend along with her!

The class is digging deeper and deeper into 'points of view and how they change'. Suheda started a brilliant project of building a periscope to explore the scientific aspects of changing perspective.

Next week will be devoted almost entirely to inquiry as we begin exploring 'the links between world events' and 'how we record history'.

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Going divergent

As our new unit of inquiry heats up, we begin new lines of inquiry. This week, on Wednesday, we starting inquiring into 'Points of view and how they change'. One fun and engaging way to explore this idea is by practicing divergent thinking through a series of challenges. My favorite is the candle problem.

Students were presented with a cardboard box containing a candle and several thumbtacks. Their instructions are to 'attach the candle to a corkboard so that it won't drip wax on the floor when lit'. To deduce the solution, one must think divergently, or see the problem in a different way.

How would you solve it?

Next, we played with circles. We all tested our imaginations by thinking of many different illustrations that could be made with a page full of circles.

I'm curious to see how each student applies their understanding of these exercises in metacognition, or thinking about how they think.

On Friday, we enjoyed modelling factorization of numbers.

Many mathematics curricula teach tricks for solving problems, but the PYP emphasizes conceptual understanding through modeling, making, testing, and other hands-on inquiry approaches.

We also finished reading The Fault in Our Stars and wrote our final reflections on the class blog. You can read all of our reflections for the Global Read Aloud by clicking this link: kidblog.org/JIESGrade562014-15/tag/gra14.

We have also been more active on our class Twitter account. Here are some recent tweets:

Please help Bushra with her #inquiry into 'blue #food'! http://t.co/q55Bb2oGIC
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) November 21, 2014

'How do you make yogurt?' pic.twitter.com/77oadpOEHi
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) November 20, 2014

Harajuku style! pic.twitter.com/FgaPTsap2s
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) November 20, 2014

If you use Twitter, please follow us at twitter.com/jiesgrade6. We would love to interact with you!

I look forward to the remainder of the term as we continue pursuing our inquiries more deeply and prepare for the second Celebration of Learning, the Winter Performance.

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Finishing the project

Grade 5 and 6 students have been making the pamphlet of the city/country they want to introduce.

They enjoyed getting more and more information about the city and made a nice pamphlet.

Some of them are still on the way, so I hope they can complete them soon!

We also read "Hyakunen go no furusato o mamoru" and "I-ha to-bu  no yume" during the class.

These are about personal histories.

I will introduce them more biography next week!

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Stories connect us to the past

This week, the Uniters Grade 5/6 class began to focus on stories, specifically, personal histories. During our weekly trip to the Harajuku public library, I introduced them to the English language biography and reference section. Of course, there are many ways in which people share their stories, and our inquiries in the next several weeks will explore many of them.

The students were particularly interested in Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes as a unique perspective on the history of the world in the last two hundred years.

On Parent's Day, we were excited to reunite with Julia, who took a spelling pretest with us. This week was the start of a period of serious academic practice. Each class has a separate mathematics plan to focus on basic skills that will develop their numeracy and help them toward their best achievement on the International Schools Assessment in February.

I have also been impressed by general improvement in writing. All of the students are including more specific details and organizing their ideas in more fluent and understandable ways.

On Friday, the sixth grade class from Jinsho invited us to help them to interview foreign visitors in Japan. They are inquiring into attitudes and ideas about Japan around the world and our multilingual students were happy to help them.

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Feeling connected and building independence

While it was a fun and important learning experience to create and send peace cranes, it is somehow more fun to receive them! Recently, large packages arrived from Arizona and Hawaii packed with origami cranes.

The students are busy creating beautiful posters to remember this inspiring project.

We also connected with other sixth graders by using Skype. Several weeks ago, Japanese language students at the Mid Pacific Institute asked us our complaints about living in Tokyo. This week, they presented their design ideas to try to solve our problems.

Their ideas included litter cleaning robot dogs and indoor aquaponic gardens!

This week, the Uniters have also been reflecting on their previous inquiry. Each student has an Inquiry Task Organizer which they use to document their learning. This is an important tool to learn data and self management skills that will be critical for their Exhibition.

I look forward to sharing and discussing them with parents on Monday! Below are my slides for the Coffee Time presentation. I look forward to seeing you there!

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Literacy Week and Celebration of Learning

This was the busiest week of the year so far. The students had many inquiry tasks to finish, Literacy Week activities, and the Celebration of Learning on Friday.

Bushra showed outstanding creativity and courage by making her Cleopatra costume and then walking up Takeshitadori to the Harajuku library in her costume! We were very proud of her winning the costume competition.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we all worked frantically to prepare for the Celebration of Learning. A productive planning meeting and materials was all we needed to show off our learning, and I was happy to see everyone applying time to their serious inquiry learning as well as the fun carnival.

Please visit their Summative Assessment Task blog posts by clicking on their names below:

Bushra | IT'S NOT FAIR!

Miray | Everybody's Rights

Suheda | Go Equal Rights!

Sule | The Belief of Religion

It would be ideal if you would leave a comment as a guest on your child's post.

 

Each one of the 'Uniters' had a major role in hosting the Celebration of Learning. They did an excellent job. I look forward to seeing how they all grow and thrive as public speakers this year.

Finally, on Friday, we partied! The Celebration of Learning was a huge success and the younger students loved playing our carnival games.

I wish everyone a lovely midterm break. See you in November!

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Wrapping up inquiries

This week, we started the process of finishing our inquiries for the first unit, Who we are. We have been exploring Rights & Responsibilities in depth, including collaborating to create a Human Rights Awareness Survey to learn about people's understandings and beliefs about human rights. Please click on the link below to complete the survey and participate in our inquiry.

CLICK HERE: https://docs.google.com/a/jies.jp/forms/d/1Esv0Ed3N7NGgEr9xSyz_MnfcEg67K6BISG6pYP8Gr7A/viewform

To support our inquiry, we have also been studying data handling. I was very impressed by everyone's careful attention to detail and creative graphs!

We're ecstatic to (finally) start our musical keyboard inquiries again. Each student will work at their own pace through our piano method book and develop their own compositions. Suheda and Bushra began to work together on a piece, which including a lesson on music notation!

Next week, we will put on a classroom carnival for the younger students. It's a great way to have fun learning about probability and economics! On Friday, we took a shopping trip to Daiso to purchase essential materials.

Next week is Literacy Week, and also the final week of our unit. I'm very excited to see the students' presentation and exhibition at the Celebration of Learning on Family Fun Day!

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Kanji review

At the beginning of this year, everyone decided how many pages they want to  practice every week. They are trying so hard not to break the promise and gave me the Kanji notebook every Thursday.
This week, they practiced Kanji on the smart board while considering the balance of character, such as stroke order.

Grade 5 students have been learning some classical stories.
"Taketori monogatari" (The tale of the bamboo cutter).
"Makura no soushi"(The pillow book)
"Heike monogatari"(The tale of the Heike)
They really enjoy the old style of Japanese stories.

Grade 6 students are now getting ready for a debate.
They came up with some topics they want to talk about.

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Making, creating, cocreating

This week has been very special for me because I am seeing the students grow closer to our motto for the year, 'Inspired and Independent'. They have started more challenging inquiries by themselves, often finishing their snacks quickly to have more time to work.

Another important goal in the beginning of the school year is to build a sense of team, and they are doing just that. By choosing to inquire, make, and learn together, they are practicing valuable social and communication skills. Just as importantly, they are having fun.

This week, I introduced our Carnival Games Tycoon Probability Challenge:

The goal is to design and build carnival games for the younger students to play, but the challenge is to test the games to ensure that the tycoons (Grade 5/6 students) get back all of their tokens.

It will be a great chance for them to use their mathematical thinking skills, data collection, and perform probability experiments. I suppose, however, that they are more excited about the artistic design elements at the moment!

Bushra thought that the key to getting students excited to pay tokens to play games is having great prizes, so she went to work right away on those.

She also designed and built a magnetic claw hand for her carnival game!

We also started building a token machine. Sule and Miray are planning to play 'junken' to get more tokens from the ticket machine. It's hard to explain in a blog post, so you'd better visit the carnival to see how it works!

The students are also busy working on essay blog posts about human rights. Because expository writing is so important, we will devote a lot of effort to becoming fluent essayists and bloggers this year. I look forward to publishing their major work soon!

For now, please enjoy their journals and other posts on our blog, 'Uniters' JIES Grade 5/6.

Early in the school year, I sent all parents a link to their child's grade sheet. It has been updated regularly with scores for homework completion, spelling tests, reading comprehension quizzes, and math tests. Please find the link in your email and have a look at your child's grades!

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Smile Week

This was a busy and exciting week for engaging with our school and local communities. First, we began receiving Peace Cranes and Peace Doves from other classes. Our first package arrived from Massachussets, USA. It was strong motivation for us to pack our own envelopes and send them around the world!

To share with the Shibuya Ward Office about what we did for Peace Day, the students created a fantastic poster describing the project. We entrusted our work to the Grade 4 class to deliver to the Mayor of Shibuya.

In Tuesday's school assembly, Suheda told everyone that Friday was Smile Day. I had an idea to put little smiley faces all around the school. This led to the class making necklaces with smiley face pendants on Friday for everyone at school.

For one inquiry period, they became a smiley face factory!

Because of the caring action of the Grade 5/6 students, this Friday truly was Smile Day at JIES.

The students have also been busy collaborating on our Class Rights and Responsibilities.

There are still a few details to sort out, and I'm very proud of how they worked together, both in face to face discussion and on Google Docs, to synthesize their ideas into meaningful essential agreements for our expectations for the school year.

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