PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME (PYP) TERM 3 | 2021-2022 at St. Andrews International School, Green Valley
What a very busy term we have had so far at Green Valley! With it has come a much welcomed sense of normality, which has been made even more special by opening our doors to you, our Learning Community! I am thrilled that we can once again celebrate and share the children’s learning as a community through hosting the year group Learning Journeys. As well as being fun and entertaining to watch, these really do showcase the transdisciplinary nature of the PYP, where children showcase their knowledge and skills in a variety of subject disciplines as well as applying essential skills such as social skills, communication skills and leadership skills. Ease of restrictions has also opened doors to off-site visits! We know that children are natural born inquirers, who love to explore and ask questions. Off-site visits build on this natural curiosity and are invaluable for children to build memorable learning experiences to add depth and relevance to units of inquiry. I have loved hearing the children’s reflections of their visits to the Space Inspirium and the Elephant Sanctuary so far and look forward to hearing more in the upcoming weeks. Nearing the end of the school year, it fills me with great pride to see how each learner has grown academically and personally. Our units of inquiry have enabled this growth in knowledge and skills, and most importantly developing our love for learning! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank teachers, who have worked relentlessly to overcome the challenges of online learning and school closures, in continuing to provide exciting learning opportunities for each and every child to succeed.
Mrs Faye Wood PYP Co-ordinator
PYP SPOTLIGHT LEARNING JOURNEYS Learning is a process that never ends! Even as adults, we are still discovering new things and exploring new interests in our own learning journeys. For young learners, it's particularly important that they understand that learning is a process that continues throughout their entire lives. As a PYP school, it is our responsibility to equip our students with the skills, knowledge and resources they will need on their lifelong learning journeys, wherever this may take them!
At Green Valley, one of the many ways for learners to reflect on their learning at the end of a unit is by leading and hosting a Learning Journey. A Learning Journey can come in many different forms such as a performance, exhibition, presentation, workshop, fayre and many, many more! They enable our learners to take action, showcasing their accumulation of knowledge, skills and experiences gained during a unit of inquiry. It also is a wonderful opportunity for our learners to celebrate this with their Learning Community! As a PYP school, we want to develop learners that are reflective, curious and love to learn. Learning journeys are a great opportunity for learners to do just this! By making meaningful connections to the curriculum, celebrating accomplishments and reflecting on newfound learning, children not only develop confidence but also discover the joys of lifelong learning. The Year 6 PYP Exhibition is also an example of a Learning Journey, where the learners will reflect on their learning journey throughout the Primary Years Programme in their final year of Primary. The Year 6 learners are already exploring, documenting and reflecting on their understanding of a Global Goal that they feel passionate about and are incredibly excited to share this process with their Learning Community on Wednesday 22nd June.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION NURSERY
Central idea:
We share the planet with many different animals
During this new unit of inquiry, the nursery children have loved learning about different animals through stories, songs, role play and art. Dancing and singing the ‘Animal Boogie’ has been a firm class favourite with the children! The children have loved expressing themselves and exploring their body movements and voices to role play different animals.
The children have developed their research skills, using careful observation to sort and identify animals’ similarities and differences. In doing so, the children have developed their vocabulary to not only name animals and where to find them, but also their appearance. They have learnt words such as furry, spotty, claws, teeth, ears and many more! This has fueled their beautiful artwords, using collage and stamping techniques to record their observations of camouflage and pattern.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION KINDERGARTEN
Central idea:
Stories can help people understand the world.
In Kindergarten, we have enjoyed exploring our central idea ‘Stories can help people around the world’. The children have learnt how stories are created and proven themselves to be confident risk takers by performing puppet shows of The Three Little Pigs and acting out The Gigantic Turnip during their recent Learning Journey. During their performances, the children have demonstrated excellent selfmanagement skills, developing their agency to choose their own characters and to learn their contributions for each performance, both individually and as part of a team. The children have been very openminded about the feelings and emotions that stories create and why characters in stories make the choices they do. It has been a pleasure to see the children’s confidence and communication skills grow through storytelling and role play.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION RECEPTION
Central idea:
Human activity can be influenced by the Earth (and its natural cycles).
Reception have had a fantastic time during this unit based around ‘How the World Works’. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about space and have become incredibly knowledgeable about the solar system and its planets. Using careful observation skills, the children concluded that the stars and the moon appear differently at night time and used critical thinking skills to think about the effect that this has on us. As a result, the children have impressed us with the vast amount of knowledge they have gained and were keen and curious to discover more by researching in books and asking their own questions. We concluded our unit by learning collaboratively with Year 5 children, who led a ‘Space Camp’ so we could become fully trained astronauts! We integrated literacy during the unit and had lots of fun studying the book ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. We were shocked when we came to school to find the underpants we had designed had vanished! That inspired us to build and create rockets that we could fly into space on and go in search of other life…and to find the underpants we had designed!
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR ONE
Central idea:
Stories can be told in a variety of ways to engage their audience and communicate meaning.
This term our PYP unit of inquiry has been all about stories! We have been learning that stories can be told in a variety of different ways to engage an audience and communicate meaning. Year One have enjoyed learning to retell the traditional tale of The Magic Porridge Pot story in many different ways using Talk for Writing storytelling actions, writing their own innovative versions of the story and leading an entertaining performance as part of their Learning Journey. The children were thrilled to share their learning with their parents and proved to be great risk takers during their performance. The children developed their self management and social skills, choosing and taking responsibility for their own roles including: musicians, actors or narrators. Together we achieve so much more! We collaborated with Mr England, a Secondary English Teacher and published author, to create animal story books, where the animals in the story have a missing body part and demonstrate a character trait such as bravery, kindness or strength. The children highlighted the moral of the story: you should not judge someone based on how they look! Developing their communication skills even further, the children took action by sharing their stories with Kindergarten and enjoyed teaching them this moral message.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR TWO
Central idea:
Habitats have unique features which living things are dependent on.
During this ‘Sharing the planet’ unit of inquiry, the Year 2 children have become very knowledgeable about gardening. Collaborating with Green Valley experts, we have used their know-how to plant seeds correctly in order to grow our own plants. Developing their research skills, the children studied their plants to create beautiful art works using observational drawing techniques. We became inquirers, wondering what other conditions would be suitable for growing plants, and used student agency to design our own experiments to find out. One group watered the plants with milk to see if it mattered what liquid was used, another grew their plants in different amounts of light and one group even grew seeds inside fruit instead of soil! We were very open minded, but we now better understand what plants need to grow and to care for them correctly.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR THREE
Central idea:
Children globally encounter a range of challenges and opportunities. Year 3 have been exploring challenges and opportunities that children encounter around the world. We began this unit by reflecting on things we are grateful for and identifying difficulties in our own lives. Taking up the challenge to stay a night away from home on the Year 3 Camp Out, the children proved themselves to be caring companions, who are willing to take a risk! A visit from Derek Franklin from the Father Ray Foundation brought valuable insights into challenges that children in our community face, and how charity foundations support them. The children asked thoughtful questions to deepen their understanding about children’s rights and why they are so important. They also experienced first hand what it would be like to be blind to get in the shoes of some of the children the Father Ray Foundation support. The learning doesn’t stop there! As we are nearing the end of this unit of inquiry, the children are working hard to take action to write and deliver persuasive speeches for an Assembly. The children look forward to sharing their reflections of what they have learnt to the school community as well as informing and advocating resilience strategies to overcome our own personal challenges.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR FOUR
Central idea:
Structures are designed to serve a purpose in our community.
For our unit on Architecture, children in Year 4 have utilised their communication, thinking and inquiring skills to work together in groups and complete challenging tasks to help them understand how structures are designed to serve a purpose. During their inquiries, they have explored various materials to complete their tower challenge and they looked at what could be adapted and changed to make it even more supportive. Using their research skills, the children studied various bridge constructions and what skills and knowledge are needed to construct them. To deepen their understanding, Year 4 have also considered how architecture in the local and global community is influenced by purpose and location and how this impacts the design of structures. This unit has provided lots of opportunity for fun teamwork and for the children to build their communication skills.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR FIVE
Central idea:
Scientific investigation of the Earth leads to understandings of its systems and cycles.
Our latest Unit of Inquiry started on board the International Space Station! We were on a critical mission to collect and test soil samples from unknown planets. We explored the attributes that make a successful space explorer, and identified that scientific thinking was vital. We were required to investigate the Solar System and gather scientific evidence about the Earth. The children put their knowledge and skills to the test during a two day space camp, where the children truly proved themselves to be superb space explorers! We visited the Space Inspirium where we enjoyed learning many new facts about space, walking on Mars and visiting the International Space Station (ISS). The children also continued their space training at school with outdoor activities using coordinates, an underwater construction challenge and a orienteering trek. We all graduated from space camp with flying colours! To conclude the unit of inquiry, the children took action by sharing their knowledge with Reception. It was wonderful to see the Year 5 children stepping up to take the lead, sharing their knowledge to lead activities such as train like an astronaut, Oreo moon phases, gravity experiments and 3D shape rocket building.
PYP UNITS IN ACTION YEAR SIX
Central idea:
Exhibition!
Year 6 are currently in the middle of their Exhibition unit, based on the transdisciplinary theme ‘Sharing the Planet’. During the Exhibition process, the children have agency to produce their own unit of inquiries, designing their own central ideas and lines of inquiry related to their passions. From their inquiries, they will take action to demonstrate their understanding, applying knowledge and skills to make a contribution to a cause or positive change. The Exhibition is a culmination of their learning through the Primary Years Program through a process of inquiry, which will lead them to exhibit skills, knowledge, conceptual understanding and learner profile attributes to showcase to an audience. It is very much a collaborative process, where currently the children are actively working with experts within our Learning Community to deepen their understanding and inquiries. Year 6 look forward to welcoming you to their Exhibition on Wednesday 22nd June, to not only share their units of inquiry but to celebrate their learning journey throughout their entire primary experience!
PYP UNITS IN ACTION SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
SWIMMING Year 4 have applied their knowledge of construction techniques to create tall, stable structures using swimming equipment. As well as thinking critically about their construction methods, the children had lots of fun trying to knock their opponents' structures down during a fun relay race!
ENGLISH At Green Valley we have many talented teachers! Sean English is not only an English and Drama teacher in the Secondary Phase; he is also an author who publishes children’s books. As part of their PYP unit, our Year 1 learners interviewed him so they could learn more about what authors do and what makes a good story. From this, the Year 1 children authored their own picture books with a moral teaching of celebrating differences. The Year 1 children confidently shared these with Kindergarten to retell their stories of why the unicorn had no horn, why the cat only had three legs and many, many more!
PYP UNITS IN ACTION SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
MUSIC Fee, fi, fo, fum … a spectacular performance full of laughter and fun! This Term, Year 2 and 3 wowed their audience with their learning journey production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Not only did they express themselves in many different ways through costume, acting and narrating, the children also worked collaboratively with Mr Stefan during music lessons to incorporate cool sound effects and dance elements! The children showcased their learning journey using excellent teamwork, collaboration and communication skills…and so did the teachers too!
THAI Year 1 have inquired into the many different ways a story can be told, including the different languages that we use to retell them! At Green Valley, we are internationally minded and celebrate the many different nationalities and cultures that make up our diverse learning community. The Year 1 children have learnt about the moral message in the traditional tale of the ‘Tortoise and the Hare’, both in English and in Thai. Scan the QR code to listen to Trin retell the story confidently in Thai.
Primary Invitational Games
#PYPrisktaker
#PYPbalanced
OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Year 3 Camp Out
Year 6 Elephant Sanctuary Trip
#PYPknowledgable
Walking Assembly
Earth Day LAMDA
#PYPcaring
Year 3 Car Challenge
#PYPthinker
#PYPcommunicator
King’s Day
#PYPcommunicator
Year 5 Space Inspirium Trip
#PYPbalanced
#PYPbalanced
#PYPreflective
Early Years Open Morning
UPCOMING UNITS OF INQUIRY
Central idea
Approaches To Learning (ATL)
Changes happen in the world around us
Thinking
Kindergarten
Through investigation, we come to new understandings.
Research
Inquirer Knowledgeable
Reception
Different art forms allow people to express themselves in different
Communication
Risk taker Communicator
Year 1
People interact and use the local environment in different ways.
Research
Caring Principled
Year 2
Scientific investigations can help people to make sense of the world.
Research
Caring Principled
Year 3
Communities can take action to ensure responsible production and
Social
Year 4
Belief and value systems offer explanations about the world and what it means to
Self management
Reflective Open-minded
Year 5
Economic activities have an impact on humankind and the environment.
Research
Principled Thinker
Year 6
PYP Exhibition
The children will apply and celebrate their development of all the ATL strands
The children will apply and celebrate their development of all the learner profiles
Nursery
IB learner profile
Risk taker Reflective
Thinker Caring
UPCOMING EVENTS MAY 23
U9, U11 AND U13 BOYS FOOTBALL MATCH V RUGBY AT GREEN VALLEY
MAY 24
YEAR 2 TRIP TO NONG NOOCH GARDENS
MAY 26
YEAR 1 ON A SCHOOL TRIP TO THE TURTLE SANCTUARY.
MAY 27
PRIMARY WATER PLAY AFTERNOON
JUN 1
PRIMARY ONLINE SAFETY DAY.
JUN 3
YEAR 3 LEARNING JOURNEY
JUN 9
YEAR 2 LEARNING JOURNEY
JUN 10
PRIMARY STEAM DAY.
JUN 11
INTERNATIONAL DAY
JUN 13-14
YEAR 6 INTO 7 TRANSITION DAYS FOR YEAR 6 STUDENTS
JUN 17
PRIMARY MINI MUSIC CONCERT DURING ASSEMBLY
JUN 22
YEAR 6 EXHIBITION
JUN 23
YEAR 6 SLEEPOVER AT SCHOOL
JUN 24
RECEPTION CLASS GRADUATION
JUN 28
PRIMARY PROGRESS AND ATTAINMENT AWARDS 9 AM
JUN 28
PRIMARY MEET THE NEW TEACHER 10 AM
JUN 28
PRIMARY REPORTS AND NEW CLASS LISTS EMAILED HOME
JUN 29
YEAR 4 LEARNING JOURNEY
JUN 29
RECEPTION CLASS END OF YEAR TRIP
JUN 30
YEAR 5 LEARNING JOURNEY
JUN 30
YEAR 6 GRADUATION IN THE BLACK BOX
JUL 1
LAST DAY OF TERM 3
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