IB

I teach at an International Baccalaureate school which follows a PYP program. We do a lot of inquiry and trans-disciplinary teaching. Here are some of the things I do in my room!

 

I use one of the "lines of inquiry" as a planner reflection. I write it on an index card and the students reflect on the planner to be hung on our "IB Reflection Wall."

 

 

 

 Wonder Wall! My students are ALWAYS asking questions and being little inquirers. I love it but sometimes we don't have time to answer all these questions in our day. I always say "I LOVE THAT, will you go write it on a sticky note so we can research it later?" We always do, and they really enjoy writing the answer at the bottom of their inquiry sticky note.
 

 

 

I guess even Second Graders notice the trend. Here is an inquiry after I introduced our Economics Planner last week.

 

Producers and Consumers

For an introduction to my Economics unit I brought in some juice and left 5 cents (fake coins) on each kids desk. They all purchased the juice and I collected their money. I discussed with them that a person that sells an item is called the producer and the person that buys the item or good is called the consumer. I had them write reflections afterwards.

Producers Consumers

Ox- Cart Man is an AMAZING book for discussing Producers, Consumers, Goods, and Services with your kids. Last year I just read the book to my kids but this year I found the Reading Rainbow video read aloud and played that also. The first day I read it to them and asked them to find the goods and services in the story. The next day I played the video and they searched for the producers and consumers.

Wants Vs. Needs

Our Economics Unit is one of my favorites because it is always a hit with my kids.

I wanted to see what students had background knowledge about the terms "wants and needs" so I gave them each two sticky notes and asked them "What do you think WANT means? What do you think NEED means?

 

One of my favorite sidebar conversations that I heard was "Well I asked my mom for new Nike shoes and she said I DIDNT NEED THAT" "But you do need shoes to survive, so she SHOULD have bought them for you."

 

Afterwards, we watched a BRAIN POP Jr. short video that explained Wants and Needs. Students were able to write down the real terms if they didn't already have that answer on their sticky note.

 

Next, we started our Wants and Needs Folders. The students were given $40. They had to spend $20 on things they need to survive and $20 on things that they thought would increase their quality of life. I gave each student a lined piece of paper where they made a T chart to keep track of their spending. Their objective was to total up their purchases to make sure they did not exceed their $20 limit.

 

 

I had both magazines and Publix adds to groups to look through. It was interesting how many students asked "Can I buy this Puppy?"