Thought from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

The overarching goal of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) is to develop internationally minded, balanced students. The teachers endeavor to do so by employing a holistic teaching method, recognizing that academics are only one part of a child’s education. The PYP written curriculum, as noted in the PYP publication Making the PYP Happen, is created so that students can acquire “essential knowledge and skills, development of conceptual understanding, demonstration of positive attitudes and taking responsible action”. These are referred to as the 5 Essential Elements of the Written Curriculum

Developing skills and ensuring students understand concepts are important as I have touched on in recent newsletters. But, there is a vital focus on the development of “personal attitudes towards people, towards the environment and towards learning, attitudes that contribute to the well-being of the individual and of the group.” Including the attitudes as an essential element of the written curriculum signifies that the PYP “is making a commitment to a values-laden curriculum.”

In PYP schools, students should demonstrate:

Appreciation Appreciating the wonder and beauty of the world and its people.

Commitment Being committed to their own learning, persevering and showing self-discipline

and responsibility.

Confidence Feeling confident in their ability as learners, having the courage to take

risks, applying what they have learned and making appropriate decisions

and choices.

Cooperation Cooperating, collaborating and leading or following as the situation

demands.

Creativity Being creative and imaginative in their thinking and in their approach to

problems and dilemmas.

Curiosity Being curious about the nature of learning, about the world, its people and

cultures.

Empathy Imagining themselves in another’s situation in order to understand his or

her reasoning and emotions, so as to be open-minded and reflective about

the perspectives of others.

Enthusiasm Enjoying learning and willingly putting the effort into the process.

Independence Thinking and acting independently, making their own judgments based on

reasoned argument, and being able to defend their judgments.

Integrity Being honest and demonstrating a considered sense of fairness.

Respect Respecting themselves, others and the world around them.

Tolerance Being sensitive about differences and diversity in the world and being

responsive to the needs of others.

Week 30 of the Primary Weekly Correspondance

Week 30 Primary Blog

Primary

Parent Survey Parent survey letter here. Parent survey link here. School Spring Fair Date: 24 February 2018 More details here. Words Go Round - Author Visits February 27 to March 7 More details here. March Lunch Menu Confirmation Extension: Enrolment/Transfer In/ Between Chatsworth Campuses Dateline: 28 Feb 2018 More details here. Chatsworth International School Annual Fees 2018-2019 More details here. 2018-2019 School Calendar Y8 Food Drive Letter Date: 5th - 23rd February 2018 More details here. Sports Day K1-K2 Sports Day (9 Mar) Y1-Y6 Sports Day (8 Mar)

Primary Parent Event

CPG Coffee Morning (2 Mar 18) Book the date! More details coming up next Monday!

Happy Chinese New Year

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a wonderful Chinese New Year. 
This will be my family’s first CNY and we are excited to spend the long weekend in Singapore.  I have been told that many shops are closed and there are not so many people on the streets as there normally would be.  This, I will have to see for myself to believe.

Again,  I hope you and your family have a safe and relaxing holiday.

Dr. Michael Berry

Head of Primary

Week 29 of the Primary Weekly Correspondance

Week 29 Primary Blog
Primary Correspondance

• 2017-2018 Primary Parent SurveyParent survey letter here.
  Parent survey link here.
  
• Chinese New Year Holiday (15-16 Feb)
  Please note that there is no school on the 15 & 16 February due to Chinese New Year Holiday
  
• Staff Professional Day - No school (19 Feb)
  Please note that there is no school on 19 February due to Staff Professional Day
  
• Chinese New Year Celebration (21 Feb)
  More details here.
  
• School Spring Fair
  Date: 24 February 2018
  More details here.
  
• Y8 Food Drive Letter
  Date: 5th - 23rd February 2018
  More details here.
  
• K1-K2 Sports Day (9 Mar)
  More details here.
  
• Y1-Y6 Sports Day (8 Mar)
  More details here.

Primary Parent Event

Parent Cafè: Assessment in the PYP
Investigating assessment in the IB Primary Years Programme.
In the PYP, we use formative and summative assessments to guide our teaching practices.
We will look at current research, give you the opportunity to see EY and JY classes in action and
then reflect on your observations.

Date: 23 February 2018

Time: 0900 - 1100

Venue: Room 5A

Presenter: Mr Michael Lucchesi

RSVP your seat/s here.

Other

Knufflebunny

A Cautionary Musical performance in March.
More info here.

Thoughts from the Primary Chatsworth Hallway

I attended Longwood College in the United States many years ago where I earned my bachelor’s degree in elementary education.  In addition, I took extra reading/literature classes to earn a reading endorsement allowing me to teach in that area from grades K-12.  Later I went on to earn my master’s degree as a reading specialist. I assumed I would do something with reading when I embarked on my journey in earning my doctoral degree.  As they say, life got in the way.  

In my first year as Elementary Principal at ABA, An IB World School located in Muscat, Oman, there was concern voiced by middle school teachers and parents that our primary students were not proficient in recalling their multiplication facts.  I set out with my doctoral dissertation to determine if a) that were true, and b), if so, why not?  The title of my dissertation was The Effect of Matheletics.com Technology on Basic Multiplication Fact Fluency.  

In writing a dissertation, one requirement is to compose a Literature Review chapter.  This chapter is dedicated to the most current research where one reads peer-reviewed articles, research and other dissertations in the subject area as well as the surrounding supporting aspects of the subject.  One area of my literature review focused on the importance of understanding multiplication at the conceptual level.  I took this information back to our teachers for us to consider.

The teachers and I have met together to read and speak of how the PYP believes children learn mathematics. We learned what the most recent research says about the importance of children’s conceptual understanding in the context of mathematics and how this influences later mathematics learning.  The research is clear, when a child does not know what it means to multiply numbers conceptually, even the memorization of multiplication basic facts becomes more challenging.  The research is also clear that it is not an “either / or” approach in pedagogy.  Procedural learning is important in learning mathematics.  However, Rittle-Johnson and Alibali found that children with greater conceptual understanding tend to have better procedural skills.  In other words, procedural teaching, although an important educational piece, must go hand in hand with the teaching of conceptual understanding in mathematics.

Stanford University mathematics professor Jo Boaler, who I have mentioned in previous newsletters, has influenced me in how I believe teachers should be teaching mathematics with our children.  She has been recently recognized as the twelfth most influential person in education.  I would encourage you to visit the website www.youcubed.org to learn more about her revolution in how we teach math.  

As Boaler repeatedly states, “Viva La Revolucion”.

Michael Berry Head of Primary

Week 28 of the Primary Weekly Correspondance

Week 28 Primary Blog
Primary Correspondance

• 2017-2018 Primary Parent SurveyParent survey letter here.
  Parent survey link here.
  
• Chinese New Year Holiday (15-16 Feb)
  Please note that there is no school on the 15 & 16 February due to Chinese New Year Holiday
  
• Staff Professional Day - No school (19 Feb)
  Please note that there is no school on 19 February due to Staff Professional Day
  
• Chinese New Year Celebration (21 Feb)
  More details here.
  
• School Spring Fair
  Date: 24 February 2018
  More details here.
  
• Y8 Food Drive Letter
  Date: 5th - 23rd February 2018
  More details here.
  
• K1-K2 Sports Day (9 Mar)
  More details here.
  
• Y1-Y6 Sports Day (8 Mar)
  More details here.

Primary Parent Event

Parent Cafè: Assessment in the PYP
Investigating assessment in the IB Primary Years Programme.
In the PYP, we use formative and summative assessments to guide our teaching practices.
We will look at current research, give you the opportunity to see EY and JY classes in action and
then reflect on your observations.

Date: 23 February 2018

Time: 0900 - 1100

Venue: Room 5A

Presenter: Mr Michael Lucchesi

RSVP your seat/s here.

Other

Knufflebunny

A Cautionary Musical performance in March.
More info here.

Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

I recently read a few articles regarding how picture books can aid in fostering the love of reading in young children. One of them, a blog really, I found particularly interesting and wanted to share its contents with the parent community.

Children’s book author Terry Pierce, listed and expanded on five reasons she believes picture books benefit young children. The first reason she spoke of was language development. Pierce notes that most picture books contain only about 500 words; many books have fewer. Because there are so few words, the author has to choose the language carefully which is why a hallmark of picture books is that they are crafted with such care. Editor Anne Hoppe writes that with picture books “the writer distills, the illustrator expands”.

Picture books also facilitate brain development in young children. Between the ages of 2 and 7 the brain is making extra neurological connections, trying to establish “patterns, cause-and-effect and sequences”. For those of us that have read picture books, we know that many of them contain familiar patterns (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin) and rhyming words (The Gruffalo and Stick Man, by Julia Donaldson) which children love. These books help to create new connections is the brain.

Pierce also believes that the physical participation of a child turning a page in a book is important in the child developing a love of reading. Turning the page in the book “sets up an interactive experience between the child and the story”. Many authors build suspense when writing by beginning a sentence on one page and ending it on the next after a page turn. This allows for more cause-and-effect pathways to develop in the brain.

Children want to be part of the reading experience. When children participate in the reading of a book, their attention span can be enhanced. Being engrossed in a book, especially one that has a catchy refrain (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst), allows for students to wait for their opportunity to join in the storytelling experience by “reading” the refrain along with the teacher.

Finally, picture books are multi-sensory. Brains at this age are developing rapidly. The experiences that we as educators provide (this includes parents as you are your child’s first teacher) allow for development to happen more rapidly by stimulating their children’s senses. When reading a picture book, children are hearing words, seeing shapes (letters/words) on a page, touching or feeling the book (tactile /touch-and-feel books), and smelling the pages as well (scratch-and-sniff books).

There is a disturbing trend in the United States that began just under a decade ago; the sales of picture books are down. The New York Times noted that many parents are skipping picture books and going straight to chapter books.

The reason?

Some parents believe that by going straight to chapter books they will help to “advance their (children’s) reading skills”. Bluntly, Pierce writes that, “It isn’t true. Or smart”. She provides the analogy of a parent not allowing his/her child to crawl and go straight to walking as eventually this would make the child a better runner.

I am sure we would all agree that this would not be in our children’s best interest.