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The art centre provides an opportunity to explore the tools and materials of different media.
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The construction centre encourages children to create structures of different shapes and sizes with a variety of materials. |
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The drama centre gives children opportunities to participate in role play and to use their oral language to communicate and to listen to others. |
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The book centre offers a variety of books with which children may retell predictable texts, and develop their awareness of symbols, numbers and letters. |
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Sand and water centres provide hands-on exploration and tactile stimulation. |
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centres related to topics of study offer children an experience to probe further in a Unit of Inquiry. |
Outside play exposes children to different activities to develop their gross motor skills, and to learn to take turns and to share equipment. Children in the Exploratory Years also use our garden spaces for explorations in a natural setting.
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Children gather often to sit down with their teacher for large group discussions. This circle time is an opportunity to focus on early understandings in Literacy and Numeracy and to discuss ideas related to the Units of Inquiry. As children join in songs, stories and class discussions, they are learning to listen and to participate in large group activities, to develop an awareness of personal space, and to follow daily routines.
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Language is central to a child's development. It is "fundamental to learning, thinking and communicating, and permeates the whole curriculum," (IBO 2007). Our CIS Language Arts Curriculum programme focuses on developing children's depth of understanding, fluency in communication and mastery of skills.
| The curriculum is organized around six key strands: |
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Oral Communication - Listening and Speaking |
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Written Communication - Reading and Writing |
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Visual Communication - Viewing and Representing |
Throughout the day and in all subject areas, language literacy skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, representing and viewing are crucial tools for learning. Children learn to express their ideas, feelings and opinions, to support their thinking with sound arguments and research, and to use the language appropriate for formal and informal situations.
Children in the Exploratory Years are constructing their understandings about how oral and written language work. Our classrooms immerse children in language rich environments which offer opportunities to experience language in different ways and for different purposes. Children learn language as they listen to and use language with others in their everyday lives. They learn about language, as they try to understand how language works, and they learn through language, as they use language as a tool to think about, or reflect on a theme, concept or issue.
Please note that in keeping with the framework of the Primary Years Programme, the CIS Language Arts Curriculum is organized as a learning continuum. Expectations in Language Arts stretch across the two years of ECE and Junior Kindergarten. Children have two years to meet the combined expectations for the end of Junior Kindergarten.
| Oral communication: Listening and Speaking |
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Children will use oral language for social interaction and to obtain knowledge of people, places and things in their environment and in the wider community. |
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They will communicate needs, feelings and ideas in order to respond to a variety of experiences. |
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They will participate appropriately in conversations, tell stories and events in sequence, and will give and follow instructions. |
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In order to learn to communicate effectively, children will be given daily opportunities to listen and speak in authentic contexts, either independently, in small groups or with the whole class. | |
| Written communication: Reading & Writing |
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Children will be eager to read. |
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They will enjoy playing and experimenting with reading behaviours as they practise reconstructing text. |
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They will show an interest in books, stories, charts and songs as they "read" simple, familiar text using visual, contextual and memory cues to make sense of print. |
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Children will "read" daily with support and guidance; either independently, in small groups, or in whole-class situations. |
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Children will be read to daily, and will have opportunities to read with and to one another, and to discuss what they have read. |
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Through these experiences children will gain an understanding of concepts about print. |
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Children will be curious about print. |
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They will enjoy playing and experimenting with writing by making marks to emulate writing. |
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Drawing, sketching and diagramming are important parts of early writing development as children imitate, rehearse and think about the process. |
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Children will use representations of their name (and/or those of family members) in a variety of ways. |
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Regardless of their stage of written development, they will assign meaning to messages and will gradually produce recognizable (though not necessarily conventional) spellings of a range of words. |
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Children will be encouraged to write daily with or without support and guidance; either independently, in small groups or with the whole class. |
| Visual communication: Viewing and Representing |
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Children will play, experiment, talk about and relate to a variety of media. |
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They will enjoy using media and other forms of representation such as drama, movement and art to make sense of their world and will learn to respond both verbally and non-verbally. |
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They will show a natural curiosity and interest in many forms of familiar visual communication and, with guidance and support, will make connections between the real and the imaginary. |
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Children will view and react to media items or factual information in order to understand and describe what they see. |
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Children will use their developing skills in drama, movement and art as other media through which they may extend or share their understanding. |
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| Children are exploring numeracy through their centres activities, one-on-one conversations with teachers and in Circle Time discussions. In Exploratory Years classrooms children are garnering experience in hands-on exploration with manipulative materials such as blocks, beads or plastic counters, and in opportunities to sort and compare, and to begin to count aloud. They will consider aspects of pattern, measurement, data handling and shape and space as these concepts arise in investigations with their teacher. In ECE and Junior Kindergarten children are building up a rich store of mathematics experiences which will be formalized in later study as they move on to Senior Kindergarten. |
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In order to support and promote mathematical understanding students will need a wide range of experiences including: classifying, patterning, seriating, measuring, playing with geometric shapes, and playing with and investigating numbers.
Learning by inquiry is very natural for young learners. They are keen to explore and make sense of the world around them, and they demonstrate an enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. In our classrooms, children use equipment and resources to solve problems and to make connections to real life situations. They explore ideas and show that they have increasing capacity for language, inquiry, and for understanding other points of view.
Language is a critical link in developing conceptual awareness and understanding. Teachers model and engage children throughout the day in mathematical language in meaningful contexts. Children have opportunity to "talk mathematics" with their teachers and classmates, as they share ideas to clarify their own thinking.
| They are learning to think mathematically by: |
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Making sense and finding connections |
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Using and interacting with technologies |
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Seeking patterns and generalizing |
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Posing questions and solving problems |
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Reflecting and communicating |
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Conjecturing and verifying/proving |
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Visualizing and representing |
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Estimating and being precise |
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Modeling and predicting |
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The frameworks of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and our own CIS curriculum are organized to reflect a continuum of learning.
While children grow through similar developmental stages, they progress at different rates and with different challenges and leaps of understanding. Our core belief that, "Learners' progress can be seen as a learning continuum" (Touchstone # 7) helps us to capture the particular journey of each child and to meet individual needs.
We recognize, however, that assessment must also consider the child's progress against an expected standard. We gauge the child's growth as an individual, and consider that growth against a norm for the grade level. We work to hold these two forms of assessment in balance. Both of these kinds of information are needed to complete a full portrait of a child as a learner. We have set Benchmarks for each grade level which reflect the typical capabilities of a child at the end of that year.
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Students inquire into and learn about globally significant issues in the Units of Inquiry (UOI). Each unit of inquiry may incorporate topics of study in Science and Social Studies (or a blend of the two), and other disciplines.
At CIS, our curriculum leaders and teachers strive to make learning relevant for their students. All students in JK explore Social Studies and Science concepts through four units of inquiry during the year. While a specific UOI will have the same transdisciplinary themes, on different campuses the central idea will change slightly. In Junior Kindergarten children take up the following inquiries:
Who We Are - An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
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Central Idea: Every day I can learn about who I am and what I can do. |
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Lines of Inquiry: |
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Physical characteristics
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What I can do |
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My feelings, likes and dislikes |
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Growing and changing | | |
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Key Concepts: Form, Change |
How We Express Ourselves - An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.
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Central Idea: Stories are a source of discovery, pleasure and knowledge. |
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Lines of Inquiry:
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Our favourite stories |
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How stories make us feel |
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How stories are created and shared | | |
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Key Concepts: Form, Perspective |
HOW THE WORLD WORKS - An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.
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Central Idea: Energy comes from different sources and is used around us. |
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Lines of Inquiry:
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What energy is |
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Forms and sources of energy |
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Ways energy is used around us | | |
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Key Concepts: Function, Causation |
HOW WE ORGANIZE OURSELVES - An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.
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Central Idea: People work together to provide food. |
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Lines of Inquiry:
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Places where food comes from |
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Why people need people |
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Process food goes through | | |
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Key Concepts: Connection |
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The program we use in French is called "Histoires en action!" (AIM program). It is based upon the use of stories and music for the specific teaching of French as a Additional Language. Specifically designed stories are written in the form of plays which become the focus for a range of motivating language activities that help students develop confidence and competence in the language as they progress through each story unit. There are also songs, chants and raps that help students learn through rhythmical activities.
Another component of this program is the Gesture Approach, a technique that uses hand signs to help students learn and remember the important vocabulary found in the plays, songs and other activities. Each word is associated with a gesture, so that the language is represented visually and kinesthetically. There is also emphasis on the development of all four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) through this program, however, for young students, the written word is gradually introduced and the focus is on oral language acquisition with plenty of pleasant repetition. Activities are varied, so that students have the opportunity to work individually, with partners, in small groups and as a whole class. In JK, students will learn basic vocabulary through varied themes, songs and games.
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At CIS, our Mandarin Programme focuses on the use of the Chinese language functionally for communication purposes in everyday situations. The programme has been structured to develop students' use of Chinese in meaningful and relevant contexts. Now, Mandarin lessons are a motivating and enjoyable experience for the students regardless of what level they are in.
| The Mandarin Programme at this level is designed to achieve the following goals: |
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Cultural awareness:To develop the interest of students in the Mandarin language and the Chinese culture through engaging activities and singing.
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Social awareness: To enable students to use simple Mandarin in their conversations confidently in a stimulating environment. |
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Language awareness: To introduce the similarities and differences between the writing systems of Chinese and English. For example:
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Characters in Mandarin are words, not letters. |
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Characters are made up of strokes. |
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Some characters are stylized pictures. | |
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On-going Assessment: To assess students primarily on participation and oral communication. |
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Music, Drama and Art activities are daily features of learning in Exploratory Years classrooms. Songs, storytelling, role play, and visual arts with a variety of media are engaging experiences through which the children are constructing and representing their understanding.
Children participate in Music classes twice each week with our specialist teachers. During the course of the school year, children may also have opportunities to work on short-term projects with our Drama and Art specialists.
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Children focus on developing their fine motor skills, spatial awareness, strength, coordination, balance, agility and fitness as they participate twice a week in our PE programme. Classes in the Exploratory Years enjoy a circuit of activities with specialized equipment in our Gross Motor Room. Social behaviours are also key as children work to take turns, to share and to play safely together. Physical education for students in JK will have the following focus:
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Adventure Challenge |
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Movement discovery and movement to music
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Cooperative games
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Circus |
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Students often arrive at school with a great deal of technology "know how" and our task, as teachers, is to help them understand that the computer is a tool for work and learning as well as a source of fun and exploration. Our programme is designed to help students acquire skills and to develop a greater understanding of how to apply those skills in meaningful and relevant ways in their learning.
Our teacher-librarians work closely with teachers in planning Units of Inquiry in the Primary Years Programme. Our focus is on integrating technology and curriculum to support student learning. Information technology is another way to open up the world to a child.
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