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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Being an author part2

Now G5/6 students are finishing their own story.

It was a great chance to review how to write on the manuscript paper properly since there are so many rules.

They are excited to read their friends' stories soon.

They also made a surprise present for you...

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!

Being an author!

Grade5/6 students have been making their own story this month.

They picked one picture and wrote down the keywords they were inspired from the picture.

They also learned how to use ki-shou-ten-ketsu, the four-part organization of the story.

(Ki（起）is introduction. Shou（承）is development.Ten（転）is turn. Ketsu（結）is conclusion.)

Exhibition week 1

We have literally started this years Exhibition with a BANG! Suheda has been pursuing inspiration to create art by exploding paint filled balloons onto paper. She conducted many experiments related to the amount of liquid and air to put into the balloons and methods to puncture them. 

Miray and Sule have been very cooperative whenever she needs extra help. We shared her first product on our class twitter feed:

First exploding paint balloon artwork. #pypexhibition pic.twitter.com/SoIYr2uaNQ
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) April 10, 2015

I was impressed that Sule began her project by making a memo book to help keep herself organized.

She struggled to think of a global issue connected to wrecking balls and building demolitions, but she's going to research Public Safety to get started. I expect that her Exhibition will include a lot of building and destroying!

Miray's passion for animals helped her to settle on a global issue quickly: Animal Rights.

For International Children's Day, she will be exploring 'Sharing the planet' by raising awareness for animal rights. 

Raising awareness for #AnimalRights. #pypexhibition pic.twitter.com/zxCWRkDaez
— 'Uniters' JIES Gr5/6 (@JIESgrade6) April 10, 2015

She rushed to make a poster, but decided to start over and take more time to make it look better.

It's very exciting to see the Uniters working independently and I expect that this Exhibition will be a fascinating experience for all of us.

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