Category Archives: IB

During my ten week practicum I taught a Unit of Inquiry with the central idea “Adaptation impacts survival.” This was a really fun Unit of Inquiry under the Transdisciplinary Theme, Sharing the Planet. The unit started with a provocation in which the students visited various stations and had to record and explain in a personal research booklet if the animal at that station could survive in the environment at that station. This provocation launched the class into a discussion about the possibility of a dolphin living in a river, what a pangolin is and where it lives, and what a platypus is and where it lives. From this provocation the unit was launched and investigations and action were taken. Throughout the unit the students began to learn about adaptations and how they aid animals in surviving in particular environments. Along our journey, the students, as well as myself learned about various cool adaptations (ex. the mimic octopus). It was clear the students understood adaptations when we played a “Adaptation Game Show” in table groups and the students had to figure out what the mystery animal was, where it lived, and what adaptations it had. Please see the image of the “Bearhawk” below.

Unfortunately, my practicum ended before I was able to see the final lessons of this unit, but I will be visiting my class to see their final projects in a few weeks.

A few key learnings I took out of this experience:
– When teaching through inquiry, you need to learn how to ask good, deep questions
– Teachers will learn alongside their students
-Teaching through inquiry allows students to learn and retain the information better than through teacher-directed instruction

During my 10-week practicum my students were inquiring into the concept of lifecycles. The students were able to see first hand the lifecycles of various plants and animals. Each student was growing their own bean plant, their own marigold plant, as well as their own grass plant. The classroom also had meal worms, chickens, butterflies, and fish. The students had many questions that they were able to investigate and discover the answers to during this Unit of Inquiry. The highlight of this experience was seeing chicks hatch in our classroom. Please see the picture below of a Rhode Island Red chick hatching.

Today, we started our day off with a morning message about the students’ new Unit of Inquiry (U of I) on how environments affect communities. What a great way to start the day! The students were very excited about this new U of I and had so much to talk about and share. The conversation went on to inquire about homes in Africa. Since I have been to Kenya, I shared some of my knowledge. The students were surprised to know that not all people in Africa live in mud houses. The conversation also involved a discussion about the differences between living on the coast versus living inland. We also discussed how living near the equator may impact our clothing choices. The students had some great ideas and justifications for their thought processes.

To follow up on this morning discussion, in the afternoon, I pulled up some of my pictures of Kenya so the students could see. I had a picture of a house in the city of Nairobi, and a boma (straw/mud house) in the Maasai Mara. I also showed them the physical environment in the Mara, and a school I visited within it. The students were very curious about the differences between the Mara school’s recess environment and the one they have at their school in Vancouver. They also inquired into the animals, how students in the Mara get to school, the ages of the students in the school, the hazards, and the safety procedures. We also looked at some pictures of the drinking water available in the Mara, and discussed how this differs from Vancouver. It was a great inquiry discussion to be involved in!
Please see the pictures below of my pictures from Kenya that I showed the students.

A boma in the Maasai Mara

A view of the Mara

A lion drinking from water

A school in the Mara

A house in a gated community in Nairobi

A hippopotamus in the Mara

When I first chose to go into the IB program, I did not know all that much about the program. I knew that it was a different approach to teaching then the one I experienced in elementary school, and I knew it meant I could go internationally, but that was about it. During these past four months I have been learning all about the IB PYP program. I have been understanding the different aspects of the program so far, but I had not had my “AHA!” moment of clarity in grasping the whole concept of the IB PYP program. This all changed my first week back to school this January. I had been reflecting on the program during my winter break, telling others about it, and capturing what I believed the program to be in my own words. This reflection coupled with my first EDCP 331 (Socials) class this term really allowed me to experience my “AHA!”moment. In this Socials class, we were asked to create a vision for the year, complete with themes (units), critical thinking skills, guiding questions, etc. It was during this process of planning a vision where the IB PYP program came into effect. I saw the whole vision for the year through an “IB lens.” I imagined my “units” or “themes” as the six PYP transdisciplinary themes, or Units of Inquiry. From there it was easy to see where the PLOs would fit into each Unit of Inquiry (U of I). The guiding questions could then be seen as the lines of inquiry, and the critical skills as the PYP Approaches to Learning (Trans-disciplinary Skills). It was from this moment on that I truly saw the IB PYP program as a whole, and not just the parts I had been learning about. I am so excited that I had a moment like this and it has only confirmed my  belief that this program is fantastic. I am very excited to move forward with this program and to continue to learn more about the IB PYP program and all of its benefits.

In our class the students have been working on a bunch of great activities. A few of my favourite activities have been creating sock stuffies and creating purses. Our current central idea is “Imagination inspires creation.” Please see the picture below showing our central idea in action! The kids loved this activity!

Imagination inspires creation. The students were given the opportunity to create any sock stuffed animal they could imagine. They all turned out great. This is my favourite activity to do with kids!

Today I was back in the classroom with my wonderful Grade 2 students! They just completed their summative activity yesterday, which consisted of creating a treasure map for their Grade 7 buddies. The Unit of Inquiry theme has been ” Where we are in place and time” with the central idea “Navigation provides information.” As I stated in my week 1 of 2 blog post, I had the opportunity to be present for a great provocation at the beginning of this Unit. Although I was not present yesterday for their summative, they are now onto reflecting on the Unit they just completed, and I was able to participate in this reflection today. My morning message was a connection question. Please note: “Connection” is one of the key concepts in the IB PYP program. Thus, participating in this morning message was of particular importance to me as just earlier this week my UBC EDUC 490k class was working on the PYP key concepts! I am feeling like my UBC schooling and what I am seeing in the classroom are really blending together, and my learning is being enhanced when this is occurring. I am starting to see the big picture, parts of it anyways, of the PYP program and how it plays out in schools. Further, I got to see how the students responded to such connection questions. I can see how connection is a key concept and it digs deeper into a student’s knowledge. *Please see pictures of the morning message and student responses below.

In addition to the morning message, I set up the new Unit of Inquiry wall. The new Unit of Inquiry is ” How was express ourselves” with the central idea being “Imagination inspires creation.” Doesn’t this sound like a great Unit?! I also related the set up of this new wall to what I have been learning. There are three key questions in this unit, and I had to figure out which key concept they related to. Thus, I was putting my knowledge from earlier this week into action. Needless to say, although I am sad this past Unit has ended, I am very excited to see what is to come for this next Unit of Inquiry into imagination!

Original morning message.

Morning message after corrections.

A student responds to the morning message.

Previous U of I wall.

New U of I wall.

Well my two week practicum ended today and it’s back to school for me next week. What an interesting two weeks I’ve had! During the second week I was given various opportunities to teach in the classroom. I continued on with my small group novel study this week and almost all of the students have now finished the book. This experience was very beneficial as I got to work closely with a group of students and see them grow in such a short period of time. In addition to the novel study, I taught the morning messages, as well as ran the weekly spelling test. With regards to full lessons, I taught a math lesson, an inquiry lesson, and a P.E. lesson. From the math lesson I got to see how much preparation goes into one lesson and I received some great feedback as to what I can improve on. The inquiry lesson I taught was on the provinces and territories of Canada where I took the class on a “bus trip” across the country followed by the students making their own maps based on the mapping criteria we created last week. This lesson went surprisingly well and the students and I had a great time. I also taught a P.E. lesson which was a reality check into how challenging teaching P.E. can be. During the P.E. lesson I was teaching the students ball skills (underhand and overhand) and I was finding that I was talking for quite a bit of it. I would like to work on this and research ways to maximize student activity while delivering a fundamental movement skills lesson.
In addition to the teaching I did, this week allowed me to learn more about the IB PYP program and to see IB throughout the students and the teachers. I saw a lot of the transdiciplinary theme occurring throughout the various lessons. For instance, during language arts, the students were reading about the provinces they have been studying in Inquiry. There was also a lot of Action that occurred this week in my class. The students are very excited about the current transdisciplinary theme and bring in items everyday to share. The use of the learner profile terms were also evident this week especially when a discussion was had about good decision making and how to know the difference between right and wrong. I was very impressed by my School Advisor as she can turn a negative conversation into a positive one using the learner profile. Moreover, it is good to see the information we have been taught so far at UBC about the IB program evident in the classroom. As I am gaining more insight into the IB program and how it is reflected in the staff and students I am understanding why we were told that IB is a way of life, and not an approach to teaching. I am hoping that I am reflecting the IB learner profile myself and being a good role model for my students.

Morning message mind map. The students recorded their mind map ideas in their Units of Inquiry books.

The Map of Canada I drew for our Inquiry lesson.

The bus we took to travel across Canada and the map each of the students filled out.

The Action wall.

The Remembrance Day Wreath.

I have just finished my first week of my full time two week practicum in my lovely Grade 2 classroom! During this week my class started their new Unit of Inquiry on the trans-disciplinary theme “Where we are in place and time.” The central idea in this unit is “Navigation provides information.” This has been a really exciting unit so far with the Grade 2 students. Our provocation began with scattering gold (chocolate) coins all over the gym floor, turning off the lights, and having the students use their flashlights to find the coins. I felt that this was a great introduction to the unit as the students were very engaged and were having a great time. We then had a group discussion in our room about their navigation to find the chocolates, then a general discussion on navigation. The students came up with very creative and intellectual ideas. All the students were actively involved, engaged, interested, and wanting to learn more. Some comments the students had involved people using the stars to navigate, boats using lighthouses to navigate, animals using their senses to navigate, and planes using towers to navigate. We also got into an interesting discussion about wifi and GPS. The students went home that day (Monday) and did a ton of research themselves, and came back the next day (Tuesday) ready to share and learn more. Over the entire week the students remained actively engaged with the topic of navigation. Each day there was at least one student who brought in an item to share with the class such as maps, and compasses. The topic of navigation was not only discussed during our Inquiry class, it was also included in our spelling words for the week, our morning messages, the students’ reading, and in general throughout the day. It even came up when we discussed trick or treating! During this first week I really got learn more about IB and got to see how IB can transform a classroom.

Incorporating our U of I into the Morning Message I wrote. Students must fix the spelling and answer the questions.

The fixed morning message.

Gathering some student ideas after reading the original morning message and before fixing and answering it.