Final week

Our last week as the 'Uniters' class focused on reflection and preparing to celebrate our learning for the entire school year at the Year End Show, School Awards, and Graduation Ceremony.

The grade five and six students wait with patience for younger classes to rehearse their stage entrances and exits.

You can't hide on stage. Our rehearsals were a unique opportunity to learn and practice stage presence and other performing arts and presentation skills.

One of my favorite types of photographs is the 'preshow', taken moments before a performing group takes the stage.

The students' show, being totally student created and collaborative, was a very authentic product of their understandings of 'How we organize ourselves'. It was our summative assessment task for the unit, and a valuable artifact of learning across disciplines and elements of the PYP.

This has been a rewarding school year for all of us. I truly appreciate the opportunity to learn and grow together and wish everyone the best for their future endeavors.

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Preparing a musical

This week, we have been applying our new understandings of how people organize themselves to collaborate with the Grade 4 students to produce a mini musical.

With Suheda serving as Producer and Miray as Musical Director, the students have written a script, organized music, and choreographed original dances.

They have enjoyed working together and practicing their social and communication skills.

I was very impressed the first time I saw the 'dance battle' and recorded the time lapse video above to give you a preview of what to look forward to at the Yearend Performance.

This week has also been the final chance for a few activities, such as visiting the Harajuku Public Library. We will have more of these closure activities next week, particularly the Yearend Performance, Graduation, and Student Led Conferences. I look forward to seeing you there!

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compound words

Grade5/6 students have been learning about some compound words in Japanese.
Since they have already learned about Wago which is known as Yamato kotoba , Kango, words imported from China long time ago, Gairaigo, words mainly from Western countries, they all enjoyed looking for the compound words.

Inquiring into How we organize ourselves

Now that Exhibition and Undokai are fond memories, the Grade 5/6 'Uniters' have returned to more structured inquiry.

One of my personal goals in this final unit is to help the students to see that the Internet is not necessarily the best, and certainly not the only, resource for research. We spent some time in the library this week using books to help formulate questions about our inquiry with the central idea of 'Government systems and citizens are interdependent.'

Vocabulary is critical to inquiry learning, and this warm up on the concept of 'authority' was particularly stimulating. I was impressed with the variety of examples that the students shared, as well as their willingness to listen to and respond to each other.

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5kinds of Hakaru

Grade5 students were experts with Japanese dictionary this week.

They learned when we use 図る、測る、計る、量る、謀る.

Those words are all pronounced Hakaru which means check,measure,weigh,but they are used in different situations.

Some students still didn't finish making their own story(fantasy!)  so they kept writing.

Undokai fun and sweat

You'll know it's the week of Undokai because everyone is wearing their PE uniform, the schedule changes daily, and energy and excitement fill the corridors and classrooms.

Sule, Miray, and Suheda are honored to be this year's English language announcers.

It's important that we be well prepared, so a good amount of time is devoted to practicing marching and standing to ensure that the ceremonies go smoothly.

This year's musical numbers have been the best I've heard!

We have been blessed with lovely warm weather for exercising outside.

We still manage to squeeze academics into our hectic schedule. The students truly developed their capacity for assessments and examinations, skills that will serve them well as they move on to middle school and beyond!

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Exhibition

After weeks of planning, researching, organizing, creating, revising, etc, we finally held our PYP Exhibition. The process of setting up began with hanging black fabric to create an intimate gallery space to display our artwork and other learning.

There is something very satisfying about seeing a painting properly hung and lit. The students also used some of their materials to promote the event on a corridor wall display.

On Thursday, we officially opened the doors. The students seemed nervous about how their work would be received by the school community and about delivering their speeches.

Students poured in to see the exhibits and ask questions. Listening to their observations was one of my most enjoyable memories from the event. For example, one younger students commented about how the animals in Miray's Puppy Mills looked sad. Some students found humor in Sule's slideshow, BUILDING BREAK.

 

Another touching moment was seeing Suheda explaining mental illness to Kindergarteners in a way that they could understand and answering their questions.

I was also a bit surprised at the enthusiasm that the third graders had for the essays!

Finally, it was a pleasure to see Ms Gouge at the evening event. She was impressed by the hard work and deep learning that went into the Exhibition. As one parent said, we are proud of these students for their independence and commitment.

Next week, the students will turn their attention to documentation and self assessment on their Exhibition wikis. Please click on their names below to view their work and reflections.

Miray    Suheda    Sule

My appreciation goes out to everyone who contributed! Thank you!

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