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OUR PROGRESS
FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PROGRAM’S IMPLEMENTATION
We have been getting some interesting feedback about
the way our PYP program has started off.
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Mrs Holland relays the interesting story of one of the boys in her
class who was talking to his mother about the program. He was
describing what his responsibilities were as a PYP student and upon
hearing how much thought he had put into his role she apparently
declared, “Well, I guess if you’re going to be a responsible PYP
student, I’m going to have to be a responsible PYP parent so I can
help you and we can learn together”. |
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YEAR 6 SOUP KITCHEN
As is the winter tradition now, the Year 6 boys have
again rallied to support the Moore St Centre who offer care for Adelaide’s
less fortunate.
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With the help of their teachers and a band of parents, the Year 6
classes take it in turns to make about 20 litres of nutritious
vegetable soup in the classroom each week. The program is a real
eye-opener for some who, amazingly, have never cut or peeled vegies
before! |
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One of the great things about the program is that the boys are not only
learning important cooking skills but that they have a responsibility to
support others in the community and that they can make a difference. They
also contribute to their own sense of self worth and genuinely deserve any
praise they might get. All of these outcomes not only reflect our school’s
Dominican philosophies but also the ATTITUDES we are striving to promote
in the International Baccalaurete Primary Years Program. Specifically,
we’re developing EMPATHY, COMMITMENT, ENTHUSIASM, CONFIDENCE and
CO-OPERATION.
Here’s what some of the boys have to say about the Year 6 Soup Kitchen…..
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“Cooking the soup is fun we learned lots of new things like how to cut
vegetables and how to cook pumpkin soup.”
Alex |
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“I think the soup kitchen is great because we are giving poor people a
little bit of warmth in their life. I think it’s great that we are
caring for the disadvantaged.”
Dominic |
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YEAR 3 REFLECTIONS ON THE PYP
One of the features of the Primary Years Program is
that the boys learn how to reflect on their work and relationships in
order to celebrate their strengths and address areas that need
development. Here are some Year 3 reflections:
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“I really enjoy doing the PYP because it teaches me about our (unit)
and I have lots of fun. It has also (taught) me more about working in
groups and how to express my feelings and how to reflect on my work
and not rush it. It taught me how to use an encyclopedia and how to
use a dictionary properly. It taught me it is good to be organised. My
favourite part of the PYP was doing the board game.” Kristofer
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“What I like about our PYP unit is that we get to learn about people
who are victims of the tsunami disaster. How we worked on it was by
finding information on the internet. My research skills have improved
a lot because I’ve found a good way to find information on the
internet and I’m also getting better at finding things out of a book.
My presentation skills have also gone up.”
Thomas
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“My favourite (unit) in PYP was Caring Organisations because it was
fascinating, fun and cool. We made a cool board game. We had to make
it with bonus and penalty cards. Another (unit) we did was Where Do
You Live? We made a treasure map. We had to make it with a compass
rose and key. Our (unit) now is recycling and in the last week of
school last term we went on an excursion to a recycling centre.”Riley and Austin
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TRANSDISCIPLINARY SKILLS
Whilst it is fair enough to say that students are also
developing in schools without the PYP, the program’s deliberate
development of what are called the “transdisciplinary skills” is one of
the things that distinguishes it as a well structured, high quality
learning program. Transdisciplinary skills in the PYP, or to put it
simply, skills developed across the curriculum are divided into five
categories. They are: Social skills, Self-management skills, Thinking
skills, Research Skills and Communication skills. At Blackfriars each are
targeted (as suggested by the testimonies above) and feature in our new
end of year written report.
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