Journey through PYP Exhibition 2010-2011

Ms.Usha  Vadapalli

 Grade VI - TL

 PYP Exhibition 2010-2011 has seen students confidently and elaborately sharing their process of inquiry with their parents, teachers and in all the wider school community.  The process of Exhibition started from the beginning of the academic year where one period every week was meant only for PYP Exhibition.  I will take you through the complete journey students underwent when they were working for it with lots of enthusiasm and commitment considering all the five essential elements of PYP.

1) The complete process started from the Information day for students where they were informed about what PYP exhibition is? The importance, the process, their role in it.

 

  2) After students had a clear understanding of the importance of PYP Exhibition in their academic and personal lives. It was the time for them to find out what would be the transdisciplinary theme they will be working for their PYP Exhibition. For this the teachers of grade 6^th decided to make students do a Jigsaw activity where they came to know that the TD theme for their PYP Exhibition.

 Now the students knew that they will be working for the TD Theme “ Sharing the Planet “.

3) Students then identified the key ideas from the description of the TD Theme.

                         

4) It was the time for students to understand that any issues they take up they are the part of it, and there action can create a difference in this world so they personally connected themselves with the key ideas.

5)   After each student has done personal connection they identified where the issue/ problem was and then the complete class consolidated all the issues they came up with.

6) Finally the students chose the issue they were interested in and wanted to work for it. They where divided into different groups under each mentor teacher.

7)  Students created the central idea, lines of inquiry and in total their own POI matrix.

8)  It was the time where the wider school community was involved in planning the PYP Exhibition process till the final day. Meeting with activity teachers, language teachers ICT teachers helped us a lot.

 9)  To spread awareness about PYP Exhibition students have put banners around the School campus.

10) Then students started attending guest lectures conducted by the parents, Subject specialists, IBDP students, Arts Teachers, field trips.

Students used Primary and secondary resources to work on their selected issue.

11) Parent mentors supported us during the process by sharing ideas, organizing surveys.

                           

 12) During the process, students were continuously assessed through formative assessments.

                          

 Throughout the process students did self and peer assessments on profiles, skills and attitudes.

 Poster, logo, poem and slogan competitions were conducted based on their issue.

13)  Students  working together as a group for their selected issue.

14 ) Students  started taking action, by spreading awareness among their community members, lower grades, putting up posters, writing letters to the headmistress for actions to be taken etc.

15) The final day of PYP Exhibition on 26^th and 27^th November 2010 were parents, the school members, the mentors visited and had seen complete process the students underwent.

This journey of PYP Exhibition is just a glimpse of the complete process students, teachers and the school community has taken.

 The beautiful process would not have been possible without the collaborative effort of all the teachers and    the students.

Action Cycle - Grade 1- B assembly

It was a wonderful opportunity for grade1-B to conduct the assembly. The assembly started with a short prayer followed by a thought for the day, a melodious song and the news report. The highlight of the assembly was the “ACTION CYCLE” which was put up as a puzzle to the students. It was amazing to see that the students of Grade 1, 2 and 3 were easily able to identify the “ACTION CYCLE” which is one of the key elements of PYP.

 Ms.Shraddha Pandey

Class teacher Grade 1B

’The Vaishali Bisht’s theater workshop’

Drama can provide a child with many skills that will be of use to them throughout life. It is certainly not all about acting and dancing, though of course these elements form the basics of a drama. Perhaps one of the most important skills a child can learn from drama is self confidence.

Some children are obviously shy and not at all confident about coming forward and standing out. However, improving self confidence is something that many children can benefit from, even those who, on the surface, may already appear to be quite sure of themselves. Think how many adults are gripped with varying levels of anxiety when faced, for example, with giving a speech or hosting a meeting. Even being invited for a job interview can heighten the nerves of many of us, especially as it is not uncommon these days for some companies to undertake interviews involving role play and thinking on your feet.

We Oakridger’s never let go of an opportunity of learning experiences.Therfore we visited the famous Shilpa Kala Vedika for ’The Vaishali Bisht’s theater workshop’ a theatre festival for the children of Hyderabad.

Our children of Grade V had an opportunity to watch the plays ‘Day I met the prince’ and ‘Once upon a Tiger’.

Our experience here was enriching, as the team presented a play that was interactive. At all stages what amused us was, with minimum props and excellent stage presence, the artists could create a great ambience. The story line was simple with incidences that a child could relate to.The costumes were appropriate to the characters.

 Students were enthusiastic and believed that they could incorporate these experiences in future.

Ms.Sita Supriya Jammi

Grade 5 Faculty

PP1 Field trip to ‘Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy’

A field trip is much more than just a journey outside the classroom. It is a journey into life experiences that cannot be duplicated within the classroom walls.

1^st December 2010 was one such learning journey for our tiny tots of PP1s who went for a field trip to ‘Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy’. As the POI unit was “Learning through Play”, children were exploring different types of play, which helps them in the learning procedure.

The students  interacted with Saina Nehwal by asking some interesting questions like

-How many rackets she has?

-How many hours a day does she practice and why she needs to practice for so long?

And they were keen to listen to her answers that she has 10 rackets and that she practices for 8 hrs in a day.

Children were able to differentiate between indoor and outdoor play and the different tools required for each play.

It was a wonderful learning experience for the whole team of PP1s .

Ms.Rekha

Class Teacher PP1 E

Reflection

    Ms. Raksha Dand

Grade V (Team Leader)

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time is an age old adage. This is so true and the PYP Exhibition is the right platform to let children take ownership of their own learning.

The present Grade VI batch put up a wonderful PYP Exhibition . I have taught these students in Grade IV ,V and  can confidently say that these children have definitely grown up not only as learners but also as individuals after I had a look at the PYP Exhibition. I was amazed at the way they planned and organized their research. They displayed wonderful conflict management skills.

 All my dear students –well done, I am proud of all of you.

Every child learns; some just learn differently…..

Children have a tremendous capacity to learn, absorb and internalize information, hence each child learns. The difference being that some learn differently.

Taking a cue from these lines, the Supportive instruction unit planned a week of learning difficulties in which difficulties like dyslexia dyscalculia and dysgraphia were explained by our students during the assembly.

Principal Capt. Rohit Sen. Bajaj spoke about the importance of Supportive instruction unit and how well it is catering to the different learning needs of the students which is helping the school in bridging the gap between learning capacity of different children.

  Dr. Shakila Naidu school psychologist shared her thoughts about empathy. Ms.  Ragini a guest speaker and a parent   spoke about how to overcome learning difficulties in children.

 Students from grade IV enacted a role play based on peer pressure and bullying. Awareness material was on display in the PYP workroom which helped teachers and students to gain more insights on learning difficulties.

 An orientation session was organized for teachers   of Grade 1 to IV on how to identify and refer children for remediation, strategies for teaching, tips on dyscalculia, and some cooling interventions which can be used in classrooms were discussed.

Ms.Sangita Karan

Supportive Instructor

PYP Exhibition - A Reflection

Last Saturday(27^th Nov) , I had a chance to go see the PYP exhibition put up by the 6^th graders. I had heard a lot about how the exhibition was an important part of the 6^th grade curriculum, and how it would showcase the skills picked up  by the kids during all  their PYP years. I would also get a bunch of details from my daughter everyday about all the activities, efforts and skills that went into the preparation of this exhibition. With all this background and this being the first time I was actually seeing such an exhibition, I went in with a lot of expectations.

To say that the PYP exhibition lived up to my expectations would be an understatement. It was great to see enthusiastic kids all around ready to share all that they had learnt during this process. The amount of hard work and efforts put in by one and all was visible all over the place. The charts, the room decorations and exhibits were very well done. The children seemed confident to talk about their topics with the teachers always at hand to help out as required.

The topics related to “Sharing the Planet” theme were well picked and were very relevant in todays day and age. It was evident the kids had a great time gaining this all important practical knowledge, and they came up with some interesting steps to save and share our planet. All in all, a wonderful experience. My daughter immensely enjoyed putting up the exhibition as much as I enjoyed watching it. Great job and look forward to many more such activities at Oakridge.

Ms.Manju Rajesh

Parent of Anjali Rajesh, Class VI B

One of the Best show by Grade – VI students in their PYP Exhibition

COL (Retd) Y S RavindranathBURSAR

My congratulations to the students and faculty members of Grade – VI for organizing one of the best PYP Exhibition. I have visited all the class rooms and could meet a number of students and was very happy to see their confidence level and subject knowledge. This shows the interest taken by the students in laying out a wonderful exhibition.

                Well done children!   My kudo’s to Ms. Shalini and her team of talented and committed teachers.