IB PYP Newsletter
St. Andrews International School Green Valley
Nov 2018
Primary Years Programme (PYP) @ St. Andrews
“Developing independent, confident, life-long learners.” One of the most distinctive features of our school is the smiling faces I see when walking around the campus. It is apparent from everyone including gardeners, TAs, admin staff and teachers that GV is a special environment. The first half of term 1 provided numerous opportunities for our students to learn in meaningful and engaging ways. From our everyday PYP inquiry-focused classroom activities which challenge and support each student, to our enriching activities programme and our field trip experiences, St Andrews GV really is an exciting place to be. With renewed energy from our holidays, I look forward to seeing our students in action this half term! Rachel Mustovic, PYP Coordinator
“พัฒนาผู้เรี ยนให้ มีความคิดอิสระ มั่นใจ ใฝ่ รู้ เพื่อการศึกษาทีย่ ั่งยืน” หนึง่ ในคุณลักษณะที่โดดเด่นที่สดุ ของโรงเรี ยนเรา คือใบหน้ าที่ยิ ้มแย้ มที่ฉนั ได้ เห็น เมื่อเดินรอบ ๆ โรงเรี ยน ไม่วา่ จะเป็ น รอยยิ ้มจาก คนสวน ผู้ช่วยครู เจ้ าหน้ าที่ธุรการ และคุณครู เป็ นที่ประจักษ์ วา่
กรี นวัลเล่ย์นนเป็ ั ้ นสภาพแวดล้ อมวิเศษยิ่ง ในช่วงครึ่งแรกของเทอมหนึง่ นักเรี ยนมีโอกาสได้ เรี ยนรู้ จากหลากหลาย กิจกรรมจากโปรแกรม พีวายพี ซึง่ ช่วยสนับสนุนการเรี ยนรู้ที่ยงั่ ยืนของเด็กๆ ผ่านกิจกรรมการสืบค้ นเพื่อกระตุ้นให้ ค้นคว้ าหาคาตอบ และเรี ยนรู้ จากการไป ทัศนะศึกษา หลังจากที่ได้ หยุดพักเติมพลังในช่วงครึ่งเทอมมาแล้ ว ฉันหวังว่าจะได้ เห็น กิจกรรมต่างๆ จากความพากเพียรของนักเรี ยนในครึ่งเทอมหลังนี ้! เรเชล มัสโทวิค
PYP Spotlight: International Mindedness As an IB school, St Andrews aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The PYP encourages students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
International Mindedness is... Having respect and understanding for other perspectives, cultures and languages
the ability to see oneself as a responsible member of the community and a global citizen
Having intercultural understanding and respect
understanding how we connect with others
the ability to be better prepared for the 21st century global challenges
an awareness that the world is much larger than the community in which we live
International Day In a perfect example of GV encouraging and embracing International Mindedness, the whole school came together on International day to share and celebrate our different national dresses, dances and foods. Starting with our parade, followed by different cultural activities and finishing with an incredible feast, it was yet again a day to remember. Thank you to parents who joined in the day by either dressing up, making food or coming along to support!
PYP Spotlight: #GenerationIB To celebrate the its 50th birthday this year, the IB launched an initiative called #GenerationIB, which encourages students from all over the world to share their action with others. There are 5 different focus areas which allow students to get involved in a range of areas. At GV, our Year 3s have already posted to the #healthIB with examples of their action during their Health & Wellbeing unit. Keep an eye out for more great examples of action throughout the year!
#educationIB
Education and literacy
Technology and its impact on education, life-long learning, access to education and skills for the future.
#equalityIB
Social justice and equality
Human rights, racial equality, gender equality, economic opportunities and the distribution of wealth.
#healthIB
Health and nutrition
Food poverty, sustainable food production, mental health, health care, exercise, nutrition and obesity.
#CitizenshipIB
Citizenship and responsibility
Global communities, migration, economics, conflict, freedom of speech, responsibility of the press, fake news, the use and abuse of social media.
#EnvironmentIB
Environment and humanity
Climate change, energy, pollution control, recycling, sustainable living and urban planning.
Stars of the Week At St. Andrews, we not only challenge students academically, we encourage them to become active, caring, lifelong learners who demonstrate respect for themselves and others and have the capacity to participate in the world around them. These are just some of our ‘Stars of the Week’ who have shown our Learner Profile attributes so far this term. Well done everyone!
Inquirer
Caring
Open-Minded
Thinker
Communicator
PYP in Action - Units of Inquiry Here is a round-up of what’s happening during Term 3 in the Primary School. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a pretty inspiring time to be at school! Year
Nursery
Central Idea
My Wonderful World
Learner Profile
Caring
Nursery children have been learning to interact with the people around them. This half term we will continue to focus on helping them to develop their social skills. How to play nicely and share fairly with each other.
Year
Central Idea
KG
People’s choices impact on how they grow and learn
Kindergarten and Reception joined up to go on their first field trip of the year. As part of Kindergarten's Unit of Inquiry, the children have been discussing healthily lifestyles and what a balanced diet looks like.
Students had the opportunity to visit Banchang Market where they chose food items to create a healthy meal for themselves and their friends as well as go to Romson's restaurant where they took part in different activities designed to work on team building and working together. All in all, we had an amazing day!
Learner Profile Balanced Knowledgeable
PYP in Action - Units of Inquiry Year
R
Central Idea
Interactions with others help people build
Learner Profile Reflective Caring
Reception completed their first Unit 'Who We Are' having shown fantastic Inquiry, Thinking and Open-Minded skills throughout. Students took part in a variety of activities throughout the 7 weeks based around co-operation, conflict management, building friendships and taking responsibility. For our field trip we had the opportunity to go to Rimnam Beach where students worked together in a variety of co-operative games and throughout the unit students were involved in group building games. Well done, Reception!
Year
1
Central Idea
Learner Profile
As people grow, they learn about who they are and what they can do.
Inquirer Open-Minded
Year One has been learning about how we grow and change as we get older. As part of our inquiry, we visited Nursery and reflected on how we have changed since we were little. Ms Retno showed us the tiny toilets, the changing room and the sleeping area. We then had lots of fun playing with all the Nursery toys! We also thought about what things might be different when we got older. We drew pictures about our ideas and then visited Year Six. We shared our ideas with them and they wrote down our thoughts. It was great working with the older students and it was interesting to see what happens in the upper school.
PYP in Action - Units of Inquiry Year
2
Central Idea
Communities are organized to meet the needs of
Learner Profile Thinker Reflective
In our Communities Unit we have learned about the different communities we are part of, our role within them and thought about how we could design and improve communities. We have explored new communities by visiting a nearby school and seeing what similarities and differences their school had to ours. We were also very pleased to welcome them into our school and participated in activities together.
We chose and researched a country, creating a poster of our findings and giving a presentation. We independently and later on, in groups, designed our own island communities. We considered which buildings people needed and wanted and thought about their placement. We also linked with maths by creating maps and practiced giving directions. It has been a lot of fun and look forward to building on the knowledge and skills we have gained in our future learning.
Year
3
Central Idea
Choices play a role in people’s well-being and health.
Year 3 were so lucky last week, one of our parents Khun Suree came to give our children a taster session of Yoga. The children are learning how the choices we make can affect our well-being. As you can see from the photos Yoga definitely made them feel good!
Learner Profile Balanced Reflective
PYP in Action - Units of Inquiry Year
4
Central Idea
Learner Profile
Throughout history Explorers have searched and
Knowledgeable Inquirer
Year 4 have just completed their first unit and it was a great start to the year! The students gained so much knowledge when inquiring into various explorers – all the way back to the Vikings to recent explorations on space and under the water. We linked our unit across all subjects areas to help deepen our understanding and we celebrated the end of the unit with our Learning Journey and an amazing, informative and entertaining assembly.
Year
5
Central Idea
Living things go through changes as they grow and develop.
On the Year 5 trip one of the highlights was learning about different plants that help us and seeing how soap can be made from natural ingredients. They also learnt more about caring for specific animals and birds. Students have also been exploring the lifecycle of plants and making careful observations about the different parts of flowers. They looked at lots of botanical watercolour drawings of flowers and then made their own. They have then been thinking about how things change as they grow and explored ratio in the human body.
Learner Profile Inquirer Knowledgeable
PYP in Action - Units of Inquiry Year
6
Central Idea
Learner Profile
Economic activities have an impact on humankind and the
Principled Knowledgeable
Children in Year 6 have been on an extraordinary adventure from ‘Bean to Bar’. They have learned about the treat that most of us love to devour and they have researched some of the issues surrounding Fairtrade and the hardships some cocoa farmers experience.
They have worked in groups to create their own chocolate bar and wrapper. They then advertised it to a board of directors using their persuasive language, IT & Art skills. This unit was ‘wrapped’ up with a trip to the Chocolate Factory in Pattaya where they became chocolatiers for the morning and created their own delicious chocolate treats which were then rapidly scoffed! This unit enabled many cross-curricular links which made learning more hands-on, fun and engaging.
PYP in Action - Outside the Classroom
Parent help & support @GV At St. Andrews we are very lucky to have parents who are willing to give up their time to help in the Primary School. The way that our parents help include: listening to children read, helping with a Primary activity, helping in the library and buying all the ingredients every week for our cooking activities. Below are our PYP Units of Inquiry which have just started this second half of term. We are looking for parents and/or community members who may be able to help support these units by sharing their expertise. Even if your child isn’t in the year group, if you think you could offer something, please let us know!
You can either talk to the class teachers direct or speak to Rachel Mustovic, our PYP Coordinator (email: rmustovic@standrews-schools.com).
Year Nursery
Kindergarten Reception
Central Idea I learn about my world through shape, colour and numbers
Living things grow and change over time Communities need rules and routines in order to work effectively.
Year 1
Different materials are used in the construction of shelters around the world.
Year 2
Celebrations are an important part of our cultural identity.
Year 3
Human migration is a response to challenges, risks and opportunities.
Year 4
Human interactions with the environment has an impact on Earth's changing geology.
Year 5
People have different perspectives in response to the arts
Year 6
Societies can evolve through conflict
Information for Parents We now have several different ways of keeping parents updated with our latest news and events:
Seesaw Gives you regular updates and samples of work from the classroom. Contact your child’s teacher for information on how to link to your child’s account.
Firefly Online Learning Platform This not only provides parents with curriculum and general school information but also has Class Pages with weekly updates and news.
Facebook Follow us /StAndrewsGV
Twitter Follow us @primarygv
LINE Stay in touch by joining GV School News or GV Parent Sport
Upcoming Events Nov 9
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Nov 15
YEAR 1 VISIT TO THAI THANI ARTS AND CULTURAL VILLAGE
Nov 15
YEAR 3 CAMP OUT AT SCHOOL
Nov 16
TERM 1 REPORT CARDS SENT HOME
Nov 22-25
PHUKET 7’S FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
Nov 22
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE
Nov 23
LOY KRATHONG
Nov 27 & 29
THE LION KING PRIMARY DRAMA PRODUCTION
Nov 30
KINDERGARTEN TRIP TO THE BEE FARM
Dec 5
HM KING RAMA IX’S BIRTHDAY
Dec 6
EARLY YEARS XMAS PERFOMANCE
Dec 10
RECEPTION TRIP TO BANCHANG BOOKSHOP
Dec 12
CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
Dec 14
LAST DAY OF TERM 1
Dec 15—Jan 7
END OF TERM 1 HOLIDAY