Primary Years

Programme

News ISSUE 2, SEPTEMBER 2013

Inquirers

Knowledgeable

Thinkers

Communicators

Principled

Open-minded

Caring

Risk-takers

Balanced

Reflective

Learning is about the joy of

discovery and the mastery of

meeting challenges.

-Unknown

Our

learners strive

to be

MISSION STATEMENT

We help our students discover their passion and direction in life and make a positive contribution

in the world.

CORE VALUES:

We are a nurturing Christian community, basing all we do on the values of:

RESPECT for ourselves, for others and the environment. RESPONSIBILITY for our actions.

HONESTY in our interaction with others. COMMITMENT to achieve our best in all we do.

FROM THE PYP COORDINATOR

What is inquiry?

I often hear the children referring to ‘inquiry time’ or ‘during inquiry’ giving the idea that ‘inquiry’ is a subject we learn at John Wollaston. Is it? The term ‘inquiry’ refers to an approach to teaching and learning which puts students at the centre of their learning. The IB Primary Years Programme is committed to:

“structured, purposeful inquiry that engages students actively in their own learning” Making the PYP Happen; 2007

What does this mean? Instead of learning to remember a bank of facts or statistics, students gain knowledge by asking their own questions, conducting their own research and developing their own understanding of the big ideas or concepts that underpin that knowledge. This is made most meaningful when it builds on their existing knowledge and understandings with a connection to them personally in some way.

Recently students in Year 1 inquired into the central idea: “Through stories we discover other cultures”. The opportunities in this unit allowed students not only to become familiar with a bank of stories, or to learn a number of facts about other cultures, but instead students were able to build on their understandings of the stories they already knew, by exploring stories of significance to others in their class. It has been my great pleasure to read many delightful stories written by the Year 1 students. Beyond the carefully described characters, settings and interesting storylines, has been the richness of personal connection to the story, sometimes through culture and sometimes through personal interest. This is the product of effective inquiry.

“History can be uncovered through a variety of sources”. This central idea has provided Year 3 students with countless opportunities to explore history through artifacts, events and personal interest. It is amazing how much richer history is when you inquire into the origin of Grandad’s sheep shears or delve into the past through a personal interest such as aeroplanes. The students have been so engaged in this unit many have been begging to work at lunchtime!

The Year 4 students recently walked around the school grounds investigating the sources of energy the school relies on whilst inquiring into the central idea “Energy use impacts on the environment”. This prompted them to wonder if there were more efficient ways of providing energy to the School. They began to consider alternatives and conduct research into the feasibility of using wind to generate power. This prompted them to interview Mrs Shore, the Business Manager and to attempt to persuade her to consider this as an alternative. This has resulted in some further investigations into quieter, cheaper alternatives!

After years of learning through the process of inquiry, Year 6 students have the opportunity to develop their own inquiry in the Year 6 PYP exhibition. This term the Year 6 students have been inquiring into their own passions and interests and how these can inspire them to take action. The quality of work on display has been proof in itself of the importance of children making a personal connection to inspire them as learners. Some of the work will be on display in the Library Resource Centre until the end of the term for viewing by the whole school community.

So… is inquiry a subject … or an authentic process of learning? MRS FIONA CURREY PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME CO-ORDINATOR ASSISTANT DEPUTY HEAD OF PRIMARY

In this Unit of Inquiry the Year 5 classes have been learning about how organisations help people who have been affected by natural disasters. Our central idea is:

Organisations are set up to assist people affected by changes to their environment. We had a couple of incursions throughout this inquiry. We had a visit from Todd Pender who volunteers for the Armadale SES. He talked to us about what he does in the SES and he also showed us his vehicle and trailer that he uses when he does work for them. The Bilby class also had a visit from Lucas Grant’s Grandmother who was affected by the 1974 Cyclone Tracy in Darwin. She told them some very interesting information on Cyclone Tracy. The Year 5 classes have definitely been very enthusiastic about this unit. Both classes have also brought in many interesting artefacts.

In Pre-Primary, our current unit of inquiry is about

plants. Over the term, we have looked at the

importance of plants for the survival of humans and

other living things. We have learnt about the parts of

a plant and what they do and have also investigated

where different fruits and vegetables come from.

On Thursday 29 August, we went on an excursion to

Kings Park Naturescape where we explored the

natural habitats of trees and animal life. We watched

a special performance called ‘From Little Seeds Big

Trees Grow’ that explained the life-cycle of the

Marri Tree and some of us were lucky enough to be

able to help perform this special story to our peers.

Our excursion to Kings Park was a fantastic day

which we all enjoyed.

Animal rights

featured strongly.

Passions and

interests can

inspire people

to take

action

Students took action against

obesity by providing

fitness programmes.

Action has many forms: Mathue raised awareness of the effects of video game violence by measuring blood pressure when playing games. Emily raised awareness of epilepsy by making information packs for use in and out of school. And this is just a snap-shot! There was LOTS of action taken.

A highlight of the exhibition is the opportunity for Year 6 to demonstrate their learning to the School Community.

The Year 2 children this term have been developing a unit of work related to their inquiry on communities and how they reflect the culture and heritage of the people within them. The children have studied the importance of Aboriginal symbols and how they are used in a variety of ways to create stories. They have enjoyed working together in groups creating interesting canvases and murals depicting rock art. This has led to creating their own bark paintings and totem poles.

Inquiry in the Japanese Classroom

Year 4

Central Idea: Technology has

transformed the way people communicate.

Year 3 Central Idea: A variety of signs and symbols facilitate local and global communication.

(Above and left) These are some examples of how we could communicate before we started using MacBooks.

Central Idea:

Through stories we can discover other cultures.

Year 1 Echidna and Numbat

We enjoyed reading

stories from different

cultures. We looked for

clues in the pictures and

words in the story that

helped us to discover

the culture that the story

was from.

During the UOI, we

learnt to tell stories

in different ways.

Some of us made

puppets and told

stories with our

puppets. This

helped us to write

our own stories.

Mrs Nicholas came in and did an incursion with us. We learnt about how stories from different cultures can be told

through music. We experimented with making Aboriginal symbols using our bodies and we used them to help us

tell the story of ‘the Rainbow Serpent’. We had a go at playing the didgeridoo to see if we could make the sound

we heard in the music that we danced to.

KEY DATES FOR TERM 3 2013

ASSEMBLY PROGRAMME—TERM 3 & 4 2013

Year Day Date Time

Emu/Possum Friday 27.09.13 2:20pm

Kangaroo Thursday 31.10.13 2:15pm

Frilled Neck Lizard Friday 01.11.13 2:20pm

Numbat Thursday 07.11.13 2:15pm

Black Swan Friday 08.11.13 2:15pm

Quokka Thursday 21.11.13 2:20pm

Bilby Friday 22.11.13 2:20pm

Merit Certificate

Assembly

Friday 06.12.13 2:20pm

WORSHIP PROGRAMME

Term 3&4 (Years 3 to 6 - Wednesday 11:45am

– 12:15pm, ELC – Thursday 2:00pm– 2:40pm)

Year Group Date

Year 3 & 4 18.09.13

Year 5 23.10.13

Year 6 30.10.13

ELC 14.11.13

Year 3 20.11.13

ELC 28.11.13

Year 4 04.12.13

DAY DATE EVENT

Wednesday 18.09.13 Art Exhibition Opening (VMAC) Year 3&4 Worship

Friday 20.09.13 JWACS Film Festival Premier 2:00pm Visit from Swan Christian College

Monday 23.09.13 IPSHA Inter-School Athletics Carnival at All Saints

Tuesday 24.09.13 Primary Inquiry Journeys IPSHA Inter-School Athletics Back Up day

Wednesday 25.09.13 Art Exhibition Closing and Primary Partnership Coffee Morning