IB Primary Years Programme
KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 5
Assemblies
Aside from Monday mornings that start the week with a whole school assembly, the Primary/Elementary School also have a Friday morning assembly. During the assembly different classes present their learning to the larger school community and school related announcements are made by the principal. Parents are welcome to attend.
Newsletter
Newsletters will be sent home regularly from their homeroom teacher and a part of our active reporting guidelines that outline the learning that is happening at school. The newsletter includes the unit overview, subject specific content highlighted during this period, upcoming dates, and talking points for your child as well as a picture gallery.
Approaches to Learning (ATL)
ATL are deliberate strategies, skills and attitudes that permeates CIS teaching and learning environment from Pre-School through High School across all subject areas. It is our belief that student’s education is not only what you learn but also how you learn. As such the IB identifies five sets of skills necessary to conduct purposeful inquiry and in order to be well prepared for lifelong learning:
- Social Skills
- Communication Skills
- Thinking Skills
- Research Skills
- Self-Management Skills
These skills are relevant to all learning, formal and informal, in the school, and in events experienced beyond its boundaries. Students also develop skills and strategies drawn from the subject areas, but aligned with the five transdisciplinary skills they build the basis for a holistic education.
For example, becoming literate and numerate enhances students‘ communication skills. The acquisition of literacy and numeracy, in their broadest sense, is essential as these skills provide students with the tools of inquiry. However, the acquisition of knowledge, concepts and skills of the subject areas should not be limited to stand-alone teaching opportunities but also needs to be an integral part of the units of inquiry.
Students’ growth in the Approaches to Learning is embedded in our reporting system.
Conferences
| Goal Setting | Parent/Teacher Conference (PTC) | Student-led Conferences (SLC) |
|---|---|---|
| Goal Setting Conference sets the tone for the year by including all members of the learning team (students, parents and teachers) and a time to describe the process and importance of setting clear, definable and achievable goals throughout the year. Goals will continue to be reflected on regularly and new goals set and communicated throughout the year based on student readiness. | Parent/Teacher Conference (PTC) offers an opportunity for parents and teachers to speak directly with each other at the end of the first trimester and further develop home-school communication. Teachers should take the opportunity to gather information, answer parent questions and address concerns and help define roles of the learning process. Parents can help support learning by providing a cultural context of the student’s learning. | Student-led Conferences (SLC) involve the student and the parent. The students are responsible for leading the conference, and also take responsibility for their learning by sharing the process with their parents. It may involve students demonstrating their understanding through a variety of different learning situations. There may be several conferences taking place simultaneously. |
| Student/Parent/Teacher Conference (SPTC) | In Class Presentations | Individual Conferences |
|---|---|---|
| During Student/Parent/Teacher Conference (SPTC), students reflect on their learning throughout the year with their parents and teachers. Collaboratively they establish and identify the students’ strengths and areas for improvement. This may lead to the setting of new goals, with all determining how they can support the achievement of the goals. | While not a formal conference time, parents are invited to classrooms to attend presentations, learning engagements or unit exhibitions at least once per trimester. | This may be requested by students, parents or teachers as needed and scheduled at everyone’s convenience. |
Reporting
The purpose of the CIS reporting and conference cycle is to provide parents with clear and varied opportunities to learn about their child’s learning throughout the course of the year. A combination of grid criteria with clear descriptors and detailed narratives of learning are integral to comprehensively describe student learning at specific times throughout the year. Reports also form a basis for conversations regarding student learning during conferences.
Report Card sequence:
| November | March | June | September | February | May |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimester 1 Report Optional PTC/SPTC | Trimester 2 Report | Trimester 3 Report | Student-led Conferences & Goal Setting | Optional PTC/SPTC note: younger or older | SPTC - student-parent-teacher |