IB PYP Student Unit Planner

A few years ago I started teaching in an International Baccalaureate school.  I was thrilled to be jumping into a new adventure.  Teaching in a PYP programme for the first time was both exciting and terrifying. I wasn't unfamiliar with the IB, but I was by no means an expert!

I immediately began to see a need for some IB supports in my classroom, not just for my students, but for me as well.  After teaching the first couple of units I felt like I wanted my students to have some organizational tools to help structure their understanding.  Being a bit of a Type A control freak I also wanted a wanted a place for students record, store, track and reflect all in one place throughout our Unit of Inquiry.

IB Learner Profile Puzzles

Finding new ways to engage students is just plain fun.  I've always been a big fan of concentration/memory matching games.  They are a simple way to reinforce just about any subject and most students enjoy them.  My initial plan was to take my IB Learner Profile Posters and make them into a concentration game for students to use in learning stations.  My plan changed when I stumbled across this fantastic puzzle clip art from Krista Wallden of Creative Clips.  How fun would it be to make puzzles for each trait?  In case you hadn't noticed I seriously LOVE all her work!

So now this learning station includes puzzles for each Learner Profile Trait too! The biggest aha-moment with this activity came with the mini-poster set on a binder ring.  These  sets worked perfectly for differentiating the lesson.  Some students used them to check their work, but others used them as an aid in helping to solve puzzles.

I am a also a big fan of recording sheets for learning stations.  Just a little something to reinforce the concepts being reviewed with the games.  I did think it would be fun if you have an iPhone or iPad in your classroom for students to take photos of their completed puzzles and post to class Instagram if you have one!

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Passport to Global Citizenship for IB Students

Do you teach PYP in an International Baccalaureate school?  This little passport to global citizenship is designed to compliment teaching the IB Transdisciplinary Themes and to reinforce your Central Ideas and Lines of Inquiry, and it's just plain fun for kids!

This passport just got a a face lift and some updates that I think make even easier to use in your PYP classroom.

There are pages for students to make Global Connections and record Lines of Inquiry, as well as, some blank pages you can edit to meet your own classroom needs.   You might want to consider using these extra pages as a motivator for students to share ideas and global connections they have found or make on their own outside of the classroom.

There are two versions of this passport and both are editable! The updated version is a PowerPoint file allows for a bit more customization and already has text boxes for you to personalize this passport to match your IB units of study. You can pre-type your Central Ideas and Lines of Inquiry or you can print a blank version and have your students fill these in themselves.

You have several different printing options.  This passport includes Transdisciplinary Theme icon stamps that you can print and students can cut and glue them into their passports as you complete each unit.  Or you can have students illustrate their own icon stamp that symbolizes your particular central idea if you prefer.  There is also a version that allows you to pre-print with the icons already on the page.  It's totally up to you! 

Both versions of this product allow teachers to enter personalize data on the Global Citizen ID Page and even allows for adding a student picture electronically.  You can also add customized text to the included blank pages.

NOTE:  To add the picture to the PDF version you must have the most recent version of Adobe Reader (XI).

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For those of you who may have found your way to this post and aren't familiar IB schools.  IB stands for International Baccalaureate.  It is a world wide program founded in 1968.  The following is the IB Mission Statement:

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

To be honest I think this mission statement is true for most educators.  I am pretty sure that most of us who go into education desire to develop "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect."