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Grade 5 Gazette

**Volume 1, Issue 5 & 6 Grade 5 Gazette May/June 2012 **

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back to the start of the final term in Grade 5. We trust that you had a well-rested break with your children.

In our previous Unit of Inquiry the students enjoyed looking at Natural disaster and creating a model of a community showing how to minimise the impact of a disaster.

We are now well into our final Units namely //Who We Are// and //Sharing the Planet//, the latter being the Exhibition unit. These units will be running concurrently. Below is an outline of what each unit entails.

**Who We Are **



This is our fifth unit and it lends itself well to the transitioning process that the students will experience as they move on to the Middle Years Programme.

The central idea is ‘The changes and challenges we face as we grow help us to understand who we are.’

The lines of inquiry are:


 * Changes and challenges from childhood to know
 * The effect our decisions have on ourselves, future and people around us.
 * Transition to secondary.

The students have been engaged in researching into different areas of conflict in the world and how to resolve these conflicts. They have become more knowledgeable on how to resolve personal conflicts and how to communicate to each other.

**Sharing the Planet: The Exhibition Unit **

<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">


 * <span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;">Our final unit is ‘Sharing the Planet, and the transdisciplinary theme is ‘An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.’ ||

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">According to the IBO curriculum framework, this unit is designed for students aged 10 to 12 who are in their final year of the programme and are expected to carry out an extended, collaborative inquiry project, known as the Exhibition, under the guidance of their teachers.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">The Exhibition represents a significant event in the life of both the school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the programme and sharing them with the whole school community. It is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the student profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the programme. It is a culminating experience marking the transition from the PYP to the Middle Years Programme (MYP).

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Schools are given considerable flexibility in their choice of the real-life issues or problems to be explored and investigated in the exhibition.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Throughout this unit we will be focusing on all the 5 essential elements namely—concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, action—are incorporated into this framework, so that students are given the opportunity to:

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">• Gain **__knowledge__** that is relevant and of global significance

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">• Develop an understanding of **__concepts__**, which allows them to make connections throughout their learning

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">• Acquire transdisciplinary and disciplinary **__skills__**

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">• Develop **__attitudes__** that will lead to international-mindedness

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">• Take **__action__** as a consequence of their learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">It is our belief that essential elements of the IBPYP will indeed help them to be better lifelong learners.

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 22pt;">Language Arts: Read-Write-Think **

<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">We will be covering a range of topics in these two units based on the focus of the students exhibition e.g. research, report writing, speech writing and descriptive writing to convey a point of view.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">In addition the students will also engage in journal writing as part of their reflection process.

**__<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;">Media Literacy: __**

<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">The students will use ICT to research and write their chosen issue based on their exhibition.

<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 22pt;">Drama: **<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;">Students will have opportunities to portray different scenarios in which they can demonstrate their action component of their exhibition.

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 36pt;">Mathematics **

<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Maths is everywhere! So whenever you have a chance to explore maths with your child such as the supermarket, in games, etc… please do so.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">The students will be learning how to manage data in preparation for collecting, interpreting and presenting information during the Exhibition.

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 22pt;">Field Trips: **<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;">We shall keep you posted once the details have been confirmed.

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 22pt;">Summative Assessment: **<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;">Details to follow

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">We look forward to working together to ensure that the students are being exposed as much as possible to the world they live in with plenty of variety and fun!

**<span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; font-size: 20pt;">News from the Arabic department & Modern Foreign Languages: **

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">The students will be supported in their exhibition work in these departments as mentors and they will also help organise presentations to be held during the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Please feel free to e-mail us with any suggestions, questions or concerns.

<span style="font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sincerely,

**ebarczynski@gcshool.ae****<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT',sans-serif;"> __nmartin@gcschool.ae__ **

**dstratford@gcshool.ae****lkyalo@gcschool.ae**