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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Undokaimania

The warm weather and rest of Golden Week have perfectly prepared us for Undokai. This week, our only activities have been collaborating with our friends at Jinsho and putting the final touches on our Exhibition.

I am always impressed with how courageously JIES students dive into this challenging cultural exchange. Their willingness engage with new experiences is evidence of their international mindedness.

I'm also impressed with their increased physical strength, agility, and endurance.

Undokai is an opportunity for students to challenge their bodies and will. Sule and Miray asked me to help them practice gymnastics during recess!

Of course, next week is all about Exhibition. As a newly authorized IB World School, our Exhibition is truly the culmination of a year of inspired and independent inquiry learning.

We look forward to seeing you at school on Thursday, 21 May, at 5pm.

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Exhibition nitty-gritty

PYP teachers around the world agree that the Exhibition is unpredictable. When children direct their own learning, they often find was to make their learning meaningful and messy.

Suheda used this week to complete an exploding balloon painting while wearing wacky professor goggles and listening to Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. It was great to see Sule and Miray collaborating with her to shoot video of the project and set up all the balloons.

I can't wait to see what they all come up with during Golden Week!

 

We are also looking ahead to the year end performance. The grades 4-6 will be collaborating to create a short musical theater piece incorporating music, drama, and dance. Naturally, our 'Uniters' have taken leadership roles early in the project.

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Global issues

This has been the most important week of Exhibition thus far. Our Global Issues Expo for International Children's Day was a perfect way to help the students to focus on globally significant issues and engage with our school community.

Each student created a poster to raise awareness and a sticker survey. They wrote one question related to their global issue and asked visitors to place a sticker for their answer.

Miray's Animal Abuse display led to interesting conversations among our guests which helped her to more deeply understand the issue.

Sule's Public Safety survey was a hit among younger children.

Suheda's Mental Illness exhibit led to eye opening results to her poignant question, 'Do you know any person who has a mental illness?'

Taking turns supervising the exhibits led to each student learning more about each others' issues!

I've been very excited to see moments of inspiration occurring this week. Miray's bloody paw prints are certain to evoke empathy in her Exhibition.

On Friday, all of the Grade 5/6 students became engrossed in documentary videos about mental illness. This kind of collaboration is one of the most difficult to achieve goals of the PYP Exhibition!

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International Children's Day

Our International Children's Day exhibit is a prelude to our Exhibition. I asked the students to focus on their globally significant issue and create a display to raise awareness. They were busy researching and discussing all week. Finally, we created our materials.

We will also be hosting a game, Rafa Rafa. It is an activity to practice intercultural communication and promote international mindedness.

It was a lot to ask the students to learn this activity while working on their Exhibition projects, but they have been very patient and committed.

I am sure that we will continue this spirit of collaboration as our Exhibition preparations continue. I look forward to seeing your at International Children's Day!

Keeping busy!

This was a week of milestones. In addition to having our 100th day of the school year, Grade 3 hosted a speech contest. Although the contestants prepared mostly by themselves, we did take some time in the Performing Arts Studio to practice presence, poise, and engagement in public speaking.

I recorded a video of the activity which you may view on our class blog on Kidblog. The students were noticeably nervous for the contest, but persevered to deliver excellent speeches. We are very proud of Suheda and Miray for their special recognition. 

Please click each child's name, Miray, Sule, Suheda, and Bushra, to see a video of their speech! Please note that the videos are 'unlisted', which means that they can only be seen by clicking on the links.

Another milestone was the first Friday on which the students had five different tests: Spelling, Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Japanese! It was a perfect warm up for the ISA next week.

We introduced a new piece of technology, although it is probably not what you'd expect. The class is very excited to use a Post-It Easel for making their discussions and collaboration visible.

This will be a valuable tool when preparing their Exhibition.

Thank you for your participation in planning our Exhibition Meeting for students, parents, and teachers. We're waiting to hear from a few more parents before scheduling the meeting.

If it is too difficult for everyone to attend, I will try to find time to record my presentation and conduct a question and answer session online.

Finally, here is a reminder about being prepared for the ISA which was sent in an email last week:

Please help to ensure that students have slept well, eaten a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time.

Grade 5/6 students may also bring a healthy 'brain food' snack to eat during the tests to help with concentration. These snacks should be low in processed sugar and oil, and high in natural sugars and protein.

Salt free nuts, whole grains, and fresh fruit are particularly recommended. As usual, chocolate and other sweets will not be allowed during the tests.

Thanks!

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Focus on academics

This was an odd week due to the Wednesday holiday, ISA trial tests, and being after a Celebration of Learning. Considering the International Schools Assessment, we have focused on academic skills, especially in mathematics.

The fifth graders' understanding of division showed that they could use some review of some key concepts. One way to do this is through a 'hands on' activity. By modeling division equations by cutting, drawing, coloring, and labeling, they deepened their understanding through an inquiry approach.

Another way to improve in advanced mathematics is through practice. I have stressed the importance of independent thinking, mental strategies for calculation, and perseverance. 

Of course, people are social learners. After independent work, we always take time to share our results, identify errors, and discuss strategies.

They haven't exactly 'enjoyed' our mathematics practice this week, but seeing how they work problems with increased confidence has shown me that the work was well worth it.

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Projects and collaboration

The Art Exhibition with Jinsho has been an inspiring way to motivate ourselves to collaborate on creative projects. Working together toward a goal and with a deadline quickly approaching has tested our time management and organizational skills, as well as the abilities of our project managers.

Suheda is the project manager for our stop motion animation video about global water issues. She did an outstanding job synthesizing each of the student's 'chapters' into a meaningful story. Everyone was excited to see how she tied their stories together.

Miray is in charge of the art exhibit. She enjoyed holding project meetings to discuss our plans and has been open to all of the team members' suggestions.

I've enjoyed seeing the students' concentration this week. After reflecting together on our progress and some stern assessments by their teacher, they seemed to realize the urgency of the projects and were extremely productive at the end of the week.

Most interesting to me were the inquiries required to create their art. For example, Miray and Sule read books from our school library about paper and plastic to learn about how they are made, where they come from, and their consequences.

Today's 'warm up': Open the window and watch the snow fall.

A video posted by Bart Miller (@botofotos) on Jan 29, 2015 at 3:39pm PST

Finally, on Friday, it snowed. The whole class spent the morning meeting time with the window open, quietly enjoying the falling snow and the unique thoughts and feelings that it brings.

We look forward to sharing our learning with you at the Celebration of Learning on Friday, 6 February.

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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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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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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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Inspired & Independent

Activities this week were designed to inspire the students to pursue their inquiries with independence. While we maintain rigorous routines for language and mathematics skills building, we also use plenty of time for research, making, sharing, and reflecting.

Sule used some of her independent inquiry time to refine her sewing and doll making skills. She was very shy at first to discuss her project, but we were all excited to hear that she was making toys for her brother!

After school on Wednesday, Bushra and Suheda were joined by Busra from Kindergarten for some dance practice! Fantastic to see our 'Uniters' enjoying learning and setting a positive example for younger students.

We took our first trip to the public library. After exploring the 'pop up' books, Miray also visited the third floor to research about animals.

Suheda works on a blog post about human rights with her notebook on her lap. 

One of my goals for this year is to see the students actively following inquiry models, use their notebooks to gather ideas and research, then transfer their learning into digital format for editing and publishing.

Another addition this week is our ACTION organizer. This chart helps us to think about and share our actions in different ways, and use a model to turn our ideas into meaningful action that has an impact on the world around us.

Of course, we have been utilizing our ActivBoard extensively, especially in Mathematics. There is something special about a two meter long virtual ruler!

It seems my efforts to get the class inspired to pursue their interests are working! On Friday, they decided to build a small stage in the front of the class out of cardboard and PET bottles. Of course, they need to ask for donations of plastic bottles, so they are conducting a marketing campaign with posters and planning to make an announcement in the school assembly on Tuesday morning.

Next week, we look forward to hosting the school's Peace Crane Club. The Uniters will read aloud Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and teach younger students how to fold origami cranes to exchange with other schools around the world in the Peace Crane Project.

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