The ABC's of IB

• Inquirers: Students develop their natural curiosity.
• Knowledgeable: Students explore concepts, ideas and issues that have both a local and global significance.
• Thinkers: Students think critically to engage themselves in figuring out complex problems.
• Communicators: Students express themselves and information through a variety of modes of communication.
• Principled: Students act honestly and with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups, and communities.
• Open-minded: Students appreciate their own cultures and personal histories and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities.
• Caring: Students show respect and compassion towards the needs of others.
• Risk-takers: Students approach unfamiliar situations with courage, as well as defend their beliefs.
• Balanced: Students understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being.
• Reflective: Students give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience.

Transdisciplinary Themes
The IB program is centered around six themes through which learning is planned. These are:
*Who We Are
*Where We Are in Place and Time
*How We Express Ourselves
*How the World Works
*How We Organize Ourselves
*Sharing the Planet
 

These themes are selected for relevance to the real world and include the Minnesota State Standards. They focus on issues that go across subject areas. Teachers work together to develop inquiries into important ideas which then requires a high level of involvement on the part of the students. All together, these six themes make up the Program of Inquiry (POI) for that grade level.

Central Idea
The central idea is a sentence that expresses what sort of inquiry will occur during the unit of study. It will extend student's prior knowledge and extend student understanding of the lines of inquiry.

Lines of Inquiry
Each unit has three or four lines of inquiry. These extend the inquiry, focus student research, and deepen student's understanding.


Key Concepts
IB teaching and learning is conceptual learning. There are eight key concepts that are used in all of the thematic units. These include:
*Form: What is it like?
*Function: How does it work?
*Causation: Why is it like it is?
*Connection: How is it connected to other things?
*Perspective: What are the points of view?
*Responsibility: What is our responsibility?
*Reflection: How do we know?


Approaches to Learning
Developing and applying these skills helps students learn how to learn. There are five different categories of these skills. The skills are:
communication, research, thinking, social, and self-management.



Attitudes
The IB attitudes are a vital focus in the development of positive attitudes towards people, the environment and learning. These are the day to day attitudes we use:
Appreciation: being grateful for something
Commitment: finishing what you start and not giving up
Confidence: thinking you can try or do most things
Cooperation: working together
Creativity: coming up with your own ideas
Curiosity: wanting to do and learn more
Empathy: putting yourself in someone else's shoes.
Enthusiasm: enjoy learning
Independence: thinking and doing things for yourself
Integrity: being honest to yourself and others
Respect: being polite and kind to yourself and others
Tolerance: accepting others

Summative Assessment
How we assess student understanding of the central idea for each theme.



Action
In an IB school, voluntary, meaningful student action is expected to be seen as a result of student learning. Student action should be a result of student thought and reflection during each unit of inquiry. Through action students are able to grow socially and personlly and develop lifelong skills.

Thank you for sharing in your child's journey at Scandia Elementary IB World School!