Oh the Holidays we celebrate!

Here we are end of October - and it's time to buckle up! This is the season of Holidays here at GSP!
Our school community is fortunate to celebrate Holidays from around the world and several classrooms chose their current PYP theme for the upcoming weeks around the way cultures celebrate around the world.
So be ready to learn more about the origins of Halloween, Thanksgiving celebrations and the many ways Christmas is celebrated around the world.
I always enjoy learning about the commonalities of world celebrations and the deeper, underlying purpose.
Here is a link with information about the recent popularity of Halloween if you are interested.
Halloween around the World

This is Who We Are - Grade 5

I hope you had a chance to see some of the work that our second grade classes did. Maybe some of your dinner conversations evolve around the "who we are" theme that all classes worked on in the last few weeks. If that is the case I would love to hear about it!
I find it incredibly fascinating to see how students make these connections. We have first grade students meeting with Kindergartners to share their process and third graders teaching fourth graders what they have learned about bones and muscles.
Our fifth grade class inquires about the concept of cultures. You may have answered their questionnaire a while back and their findings are now displayed in the hallway. Analyzing real data and graphing results offers our students a meaningful opportunity to develop corresponding math skills. Frau Bahr is working with the group on exploring the importance of music in culture and how music is part of each student's personal culture. They used a web-based tool "wordle" to create word clouds.What a fun way to make connections beyond subject areas.
The following are some impressions from their work in progress.
I feel very fortunate to be a part of our culture of learning and exploring!

culture survey results

What is culture?

music integration

This is who we are - more news from grade 2

Well, second grade completed their interviews and are proudly displaying their findings outside their classroom. If you would like to find out more about who we are, come by anytime! I love their imagination and eye for details. The portraits have interview answers on the back, too. Now that students found out so much about our communities and their work, they will explore their own interests and how they are part of communities. I hope you take a moment to see this exciting project come together.

"Who we are" Unit - continued

Do you remember how second grade students created questions about our community last week?
By working in small groups they were able to share what they already know and answer many questions.
But what will they do with the mysteries left? Frau Peterson and Frau Wester may know the answer to many mysteries but this week students took the initiative again to find out for themselves. 
Over the course of the week they interviewed GSP community members about the questions that matter to them. They scheduled time with community members to meet, prepared their interview questions and chose different ways to document answers - there was even a technology component of sorts involved. The students' questions highlighted the group's interests as much as the overall theme of community.
In order to be successful students exhibited a range of learner profiles. They had to be curious and
communicate within their group and their interview partners to name just a few.

Communicator - I can share my ideas with others in many ways, and listen to others.

Inquirer - I am curious and enjoy learning. I try to find out new things

 Stay tuned for more on what the groups will do with their new found knowledge.