In case you didn't know already, I'm a fan of the Harare International School. In particular, I love the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. Students focus for weeks on in-depth studies called units, and they are able to make their reading, writing and math studies relevant to the unit of study.
For example, Miles recently did a unit on weather. He and a fellow 6-year-old classmate were lab partners collecting weather data every day: wind direction and strength, types of clouds, amount of rainfall, and weather. They recorded data in computers, through illustrations, writing narratives, etc. They bar graphed their results to analyze the variation over 4 weeks. They did a performance, singing songs with lyrics like "The Hydrologic Cycle." Miles was the West Wind. Other kids were sunbeams, scientists, air currents, hydrogen and oxygen....or aliens from another plant who needed to be told how all this Earth weather works. They're taking a field trip to a Weather Station tomorrow.
Not everything they do is related to their unit. Miles still wrote stories from his own imagination, practiced phonics for reading, and did math sheets. But the majority of their work is tied in with the subject of the unit. Kids feel like they really know something about the world by the end of it. (Seeing this in practice is all the sweeter since my mom was pushing for this type of approach 20 or so years ago, that hers was a lonely struggle that she was passionate about, and that in the end, she was right! Curriculum revolution. You did your part, Mom.)
One day per year is the Student-led Conference where kids age 3-10 take their parents around to show them what and how they've been learning. Portfolios are put out with examples of the work they've done all year, and students explain how they have improved. It's such a great idea. The kids and parents enjoy it. Teachers don't participate (on the day) at all.
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| Miles shows us his portfolio |
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| Eliza shows us her portfolio |
More photos from the day.
