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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Parents' Day

It was fun to see you at Parents' Day! The Grade 5/6 'Uniters' were thrilled to share their stop motion animation video, Save the Water, with our school community. Please enjoy watching it, too!

I was happy that the Parents' Day visit happened during Independent Inquiry. It was a fantastic chance for parents to see the students pursuing their own interests and collaborating on each others' projects.

Sule enjoyed participating in Bushra's 'make up' project while listening to music. Bushra also recruited her mother to illustrate her sense of beauty and fashion!

Suheda and her mother brainstormed ideas for the PYP Exhibition. Even though their heads were 'empty', they worked together to make many ideas!

Miray used some of her time to master mathematics facts. It's great to see the students improving their time management and taking responsibility for balance in their learning.

I can't believe that next week is the end of the term! We will decide and schedule our Exhibition 'kick off' trip and begin gathering ideas so that the students can start inquiring during Spring Break.

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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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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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