"While recognizing the importance of knowledge, concepts and skills, these alone do not make an internationally minded person. It is vital that there is also focus on development of personal attributes towards people, towards the environment and towards learning, attitudes that contribute to well-being of the individual and of the group. By deciding that the attitudes need to be an essential part of the programme, the PYP is making a commitment to a values-laden curriculum." Making the PYP Happen 

In the PYP it is believed that education should address and encourage socially responsible attitudes as well as intellectual knowledge, concepts and skills. In K1KB we have been learning about some of the attitudes that are considered a fundamental part of the IB programme.  

Recently, the Student Councillors asked the children in K1KB to create a display to inform other students in the school about what creativity is. 

The IBO defines creativity as "being creative and imaginative in their thinking and in their approach to problems and dilemmas", but we wanted to create our own definition. 

To help us understand what being creative means, we read a wonderful story called 'The Thingamabob'. In this story a curious elephant discovers a mysterious red object. Since nobody he asks seems to know what it is for, he decides to experiment with it. He thinks: Maybe I can fly with it? Maybe I can hide behind it? Nothing seems to work, until it starts to rain. The little elephant doesn't want to get wet, luckily he has the thingamabob (an umbrella)! 

After discussing the story we came up with our own definition of creativity which is: having new ideas or trying things to make something new. We then thought about all the ways we have been creative and chose an idea to share.

Today we celebrated World Math Day. All over the elementary school children dressed in clothes that featured numbers and played their favourite math games. We took ours outside so that we could enjoy the sunny day.

Over the last two weeks we've been studying the star name - Aarav. We noticed that 'Aarav' has lots of 'A's and also spotted a new letter: v! When we were discussing the words that start like 'Aarav' we noticed how many children in K1KB have names that start with 'A' - Abulkhair, Amira, Anri and Aubrey. It's such a popular letter. We also noticed that Grace, Edward, Julian, Mirai, Nora, Siena and William also have 'a's. That's nearly everybody!

We also completed our sand tracing, study of letter sounds and formation, thought about what the letters in Aarav remind us of and came up with fantastic questions for our star name interview. 

On Wednesday we took another trip to explore two different ways of getting around. We walked to the Somerset MRT station from school, then took the MRT back to Orchard Station to help us understand why people choose to move in different ways. 

Before we left school we read a book called: Jonathan Cleaned Up - Then He Heard a Sound by Robert Munsch and we talked about our prior experience on the MRT. Almost all the children in K1KB had been on a cable car to Sentosa Island and they made the connection between this experience and the MRT. The conversation we had about our prior experiences led to some interesting questions. 

Ms. Karla: "Tell me about a time you went on the MRT."
Abulkhair: "I went on the cable car and sit down there."
Ms. Karla: "Abulkhair has made me think of something. Lots of children have been on a cable car. Is there a difference between the cable car and the MRT?"
Siena: "The cable rides in the sky. The MRT goes under the ground."
Kili: "Why does it go under the ground?"
Siena: "Maybe it’s attached to the ground"
Grace: "We went on the MRT to our friend Caris’ house"
Julian: "I went on the MRT with my cousin. It’s supposed to be underground so they can go places quicker."
Abulkhair: "So nobody can mess it up."
Aubrey: "It’s in a tunnel. Because trains should be in tunnels."
Siena: "It can’t be on the road! Where would all the cars go?"
Grace: "The MRT is in the tunnels the MRT is not on the road because it is too long and can’t stop so the cars would bash into them."
William: "All the cars will crash and you need to fix your car and take a new one."
Abulkhair: "But if there was no traffic then the MRT could go on the road. When the traffic light is red you need to stop so you don't smash into the car."
Nora: "You have to have it underground because it doesn’t fit up there."

We also discussed what we thought the MRT would be like, completing one half of a thinking routine called 'I used to think . . .  but now I think . . . ' by Harvard Project Zero.

Here's what we thought about!

On returning from our trip, we completed our thinking routine and discussed why we might chose to travel by MRT and why we might chose to walk. 

Ms. Karla: Why do you think a person might choose to walk instead of taking the MRT?
Julian: “If you have too much energy.”
Grace: “You get some exercise.”
William: It’s longer”
Abulkhair: “Sometimes I exercise by playing stuck in the mud.”
Amira: "Maybe you want to look at the trees and the sky."

Ms. Karla: “Why might you choose to take the MRT?”
Grace: “It’s quicker and you can get places in time. Like if you’re late for school you can say, “I’ll take the MRT” and be really quick.”
Julian: “If you’re late to a party you can use the MRT.”

Here are our reflections from our trip.

During our discussions about how people transport themselves from place to place, it seems natural to talk about the journey that we take almost every day - our trip to school!  

We watched this video about how children around the world get to school. We noticed that there were lots of different ways to go such as . . . 

Our conversation turned to how we each come to school each day. We drew pictures that represented the different ways we travel. As you can see from our photographs, some of us walk, ride the bus or come with mum or dad in the car. 

Next we thought about how we could sort our pictures so that we could see how many children came to school by bus, car or by their own two feet! We found that the most popular way for us to get to school was by bus. Seven children catch the bus to school each day! Three of us come in the car and two children in K1KB come to school by foot. 

On Wednesday afternoon we responded to the things we saw on our trip to view the traffic at the corner of Orchard Boulevard and Patterson Road by using a range of open-ended to express our ideas. We could choose from fabric, sticks, blocks, playdough, felts, crayons, paints, lego, string and more! We also decided if we would work collaboratively with others or on our own to produce the reflective pieces we envisioned. 

"It's a house that I saw. It was made out of shapes! I put a sign next to it which says 'Hill Road' so everyone knows where to go." - Grace

"I made this picture of my friends. We are walking and talking. We are looking at the cars, people and big, big buildings." - Nora

"I built houses because I saw them everywhere. They look like leaning towers." - Amira

"I made a motorbike because I like motorbikes" - Edward

"We make car and house. There is a door for the peoples. And we have a tower where we go to sleep" - William

"This is the building we saw. There were heaps of trees and people. There was even a car. One car is parked in the garage." - Julian

"We made roads so the cars could drive down the street" - Abulkhair

"I made a motorbike because I saw it. And I like motorbikes. I'd like to ride on one." - Kili 

On Wednesday K1KB took a trip down the road to see how other people in our school area move and why they do. Before we left we thought about the things that we might see . . . 

We also discussed how we could keep ourselves and our friends safe on the street as we were walking along. Orchard Boulevard and Patterson Road are very busy places!

After our discussion, we were ready to go. We walked out of the school, down the hill and crossed the pedestrian bridge over Patterson Road. The view from the top was fantastic!

On the bridge we looked down from walkway to observe the movement of the cars on the road. We noticed that the people driving cars also have to follow rules to keep themselves and others safe. We pointed to the signs that reminded people about these rules as we walked and talked to our buddy about what they meant. Here some of the symbols we saw:

Crossing the road was proving to be a challenge as we could see 'no crossing signs' everywhere! Luckily, we had some experts in our class who knew we could cross the road at special pedestrian crossings. We needed to look for white lines on the road that meant traffic should stop for us or the 'walking green man' traffic sign.

After a great trip we made our ways back to school. Watch this space to see the fantastic reflective work we have created about our trip!