Good Day Kunyung Families!
‘Long time no newsletter article from me’……..well, to be honest, I had a lesson in ‘flexibility’ and ‘adaptability’ last week…….I wrote my newsletter article twice and lost it ‘into the ether’ both times!!!
I admit that I was grumpy and frustrated with myself as it took quite some time to construct and, let’s be honest, we are all time poor! So maybe my lesson was really in ‘backing up my work’ or ‘not rushing’???
I’m not really sure what it taught me specifically BUT I do know that I could have looked at my situation through so many different lenses and I would have learnt a good lesson that could transfer into any situation!
FLEXIBILITY- Things are NOT always going to go as planned!
ADAPTABILITY- always look for a PLAN B!
SAVING- It’s always safer to save- just in case!
TIME MANAGEMENT- Manage your precious time so, if things don’t work out, you have time to fix it!
For me, these BIG understandings were far more important to take out of my lesson than the simple one of what my newsletter article was actually about!! (Ha! Not that it wasn’t excellent reading!!!!)
This is what IB calls ‘concept driven’ learning……..and it’s how we learn at Kunyung!
We use concepts to drive our teaching…….these are the BIG IDEAS that can be transferred and applied in many life situations. They are timeless and not value laden!
You may have heard your children talking about them (or not!) but once a concept is chosen, teachers use this concept in all areas in the classroom.
The key concepts include: responsibility, reflection, connection, perspective,
form, function, causation, change
Some example related concepts include: bias, evidence, opinion, loss, systems, consequences
You can probably see that these ideas are not ‘taught’ in a lesson but are used during class time tasks to develop an understanding of what they mean and why they are important to understand!
Our curriculum is ‘INQUIRY BASED and CONCEPT DRIVEN’ and all staff @ Kunyung work together to develop this………….please just ask if you would like any further information about how we use CONCEPTS to drive our teaching and learning!! 🙂
Please look below at our new Units of Inquiry for all Level Teams- this will be the final Unit of Inquiry for 2015 for all levels…….as always please contact me, or your child’s class teacher, if you would like to assist with any of the inquiries below!
PREPS
THEME: Sharing the Planet
CENTRAL IDEA
Living things share resources in order to survive and grow
AN INQUIRY INTO
Characteristics of living and non-living things
Plants and animals having similar needs
The need to share resources to sustain plants and animals
CONCEPT: Responsibility
RELATED CONCEPT: Custodianship
JUNIORS
THEME: How the World Works
CENTRAL IDEA
Structural features and adaptations help living things survive in the environment.
AN INQUIRY INTO
Adaptations that help survival
How adaptations aid animal survival
Adaptations of living things suited for particular Australian environments
CONCEPT: Function
RELATED CONCEPT: Roles
MIDDLES
THEME: How we Organise Ourselves
CENTRAL IDEA:
Organisations and systems are created to meet personal, local and global needs.
AN INQUIRY INTO
Personal, local and global needs
The structures of organisations.
The functions of and within organisations
Local and Global Organisations
CONCEPT: Connection
RELATED CONCEPT: Roles and Responsibilities
SENIORS
THEME: Sharing the Planet
CENTRAL IDEA
Personal well-being is dependent on a complex balance of interconnected factors
AN INQUIRY INTO
The concept of ‘well-being’
Factors that contribute to well-being
Personal issues affecting our well-being
CONCEPT: CAUSATION, RESPONSIBILITY
RELATED CONCEPT: adaption, growth, relationships
Have a lovely week and GOOD LUCK to all of our previous Kunyung students who are right in the middle of Year 12 Exams! Do your very best and remember that an ATAR score doesn’t define you, there are many ways to measure your success as a member of the community- a score is one way only……
Happy Days
Kim Jackson
Assistant Principal
PYP Coordinator