Grade 6 students have started delving deeper into the idea of different civilizations and the structures that were built by these civilizations. The week started with a class discussion centering around how different historical structures such as the Great Wall for example can actually tell us a lot about the thinking and beliefs of civilizations in the past. In groups of two the Grade 6s were given a list of some of the most famous historical structures in human history. The questions included asking for information such as why do the students think those sites are still so famous in modern times and what does each individual structure tell us about the civilizations that built them. 

This week in grade 7 Individuals and Societies class students have continued looking at concepts on economic empowerment. The students completed their work on analyzing sources of information, for their origin and purpose, to build an understanding of what makes a source of information good, or reliable. This task brings them back to the debate between equality versus equity. The students are learning and practicing skills they will use in an upcoming summative assessment.

This week in grade 8 Individuals and Societies class students are continuing their unit on physical patterns in a changing world. The students have begun working on their Unit 1 summative assessment. The students are going to research and create a presentation on responding to natural disasters. They have chosen a research question and are working on analyzing and evaluating sources of information they will use as a part of their research project. Students are working on their research and critical thinking skills.

This week in grade 9 Individuals and Societies class the students are progressing through their ancient civilizations unit. The students have begun the 4th civilization, Ancient Greece, which is a continuation, or development, from the Minoans and Mycenaeans. The students are exploring significant written works from the civilization by reading pieces of Homer’s The Odyssey in order to understand the mythology, role of gods, and their relationships with humans. The students are tracking Odysseus’ journey and documenting the locations and events on his way from Troy to his home of Ithaca.

This week G10 students started wrapping up unit 1 of I & S, the French Revolution. We engaged in some review activities, where students picked key events from the french revolution to explain and analyze the significance of, and shared their work with the rest of the class via Padlet. Students were also introduced to their final summative assignment of this unit, a historical speech. In this speech, students will be asked to reflect on the context of the revolution, and consider what the perspective of people like Robespierre and Marie Antoinette would have been at the time. It is also a great opportunity for some creative expression!

Psychology

The Grade 11 Psychology students began the week reviewing Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory before being introduced to a summative observational research project. This project will help prepare the students for the Internal Assessment. They will work in groups of 2-4 to conduct an observational study and collect and share data. Then they will write a research report for their study. This week the students identified a phenomenon they wanted to investigate and began preparing the procedure of the study.

Grade 12 Psychology students continued their unit on social influence. They discussed how schema influence cognition and behavior and reviewed three psychological studies that support the theory. The students also considered how schema influence our memories through a replication of Loftus & Palmer’s two studies on leading questions and reconstructive memory. They reviewed Bartlett’s early study on schema and Bransford & Johnson’s influential study. 

Global Politics

Grade 11: This week, students explored the differences between Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO’s), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), and Multinational Corporations (MNC’s). Students practiced categorizing these types of organizations in a test of speed on the whiteboard. Students also wrote their first global politics quiz of the year, testing them on key fundamental concepts of global politics that we covered during this introductory period of the course, and definitions of Sovereignty and Legitimacy and how concepts can be identified in real world events.

Grade 12: This week was not heavy in terms of content covered as half of the class was away participating in the ACAMIS volleyball tournament. However the remaining students refreshed their understanding of key course concepts by developing brief presentations on global politics issues of personal interest to them, and linking these political issues to concepts like Sovereignty, Human Rights, and Interdependence. Students also spent time working on their first draft of their engagement activity IA, which is due next week.

Business Management

The focus for grade 12 students this week has been completing their Internal Assignments for submission on Monday 6th November. A few Grade 12 students have also been to Beijing for the Acamis tournament but they have taken their work materials with them in order to meet the final deadline. 

Grade 11 students have been taking a deep dive into all forms of external growth strategies, mergers, Acquisitions, Take overs, etc. Students have worked in groups on 6 case studies determining the optimal form of expansion strategy (example question below).

One of the 6 short-form case studies students considered was:

Hefei University (HU) has a strong research team in AI and works with many local Hi-tech’ companies. Ningbo University (NU) has a large team developing robotics. The two teams of researchers met at an academic conference and realised that they were working in complementary areas.  Both projects have strong commercial potential. Each team has been given the right by their respective University to set up a commercial company to exploit the financial advantages of their research. HU owns a 10% share in their team’s research and NU does the same with their team. What form of strategic relationship might they consider?

Question: Merger, acquisition, take over, joint venture, strategic relationship or organic growth?

Throughout this week, the sixth-grade students engaged in a period of self-reflection within their Design class, with a particular emphasis on evaluating their progress regarding criteria A, as well as the skills and understanding they've acquired thus far. The classroom activities included collaborative group work, interactive Q&A sessions, and digital work on their computers. These activities not only facilitated a deeper understanding of the content and instructions but also fostered the development of a wide range of Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills.

During the past week, seventh-grade students dedicated their efforts to enhancing their attention to detail while refining their boat design concepts. The week concluded with them receiving instruction on the fundamental principles of technical drawing. This criterion has instilled in students the ability to think innovatively, take calculated risks, and meticulously attend to the finer aspects that ultimately impact the overall performance of their product. It was an enriching and productive week in the design class as seventh-grade students delved into the acquisition of a new skill.

Eighth-grade students have made remarkable progress in the fabrication of their rubber-band cars, which will serve as essential tools for data collection in their science class. The classroom atmosphere was abuzz with excitement as students eagerly engaged in hands-on activities, utilizing various tools and materials to bring their selected designs to life. The evolution of ideas, students seeking advice and asking questions, and their remarkable self-management throughout this project have vividly demonstrated the immense value of the design cycle. It has also underscored the skills that students have developed through this creative and practical process.

The ninth-grade students enthusiastically invested their time and efforts in honing their attention to detail while further developing their animal habitat design ideas. The week reached a high point as they received instruction on the fundamental principles of technical drawing, further enhancing their skills. This criterion has not only empowered students to think innovatively and take well-calculated risks but has also instilled in them the discipline to meticulously attend to the finer nuances that significantly enhance the overall quality and performance of their projects. It was a highly rewarding and productive week in the design class, with ninth-grade students enthusiastically embracing this opportunity to acquire a new and valuable skill.

This week, we had a general introduction to Java programming for the grade 10 Design students. Most students have not had any experience with any programming languages and they do not see an immediate value to learning how to code. The world they live in is full of technology and what makes everything work are the devices and applications that they use. Many of these applications were and are developed by Java programming. This first week, we looked at simple input and output procedures that they will need and use.

Arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable, instead of declaring separate variables for each value. They help maintain large sets of data under a single variable name to avoid confusion that can occur when using several variables. This week, we introduced the use of one-dimensional (1-D) arrays in the coding portion of grade 11. We followed up with in class coding assignments where students demonstrated their understanding of 1-D arrays. HL students continued to study the role of the operating system in Resource management.

Case studies emphasize the decisions encountered by the programmer and the criteria used to choose among alternatives. This week in grade 12, we provided a second case study from a recent exam so that HL students can begin to understand the format and the preparation needed to ready themselves for the paper 3 exam. Learning how to read, understand, and research for case studies is a real-world activity that computer scientists must be able to appreciate. Students continued to use their time to progress through their Internal Assessments.

K1 (Yani Wang)

This Monday and Tuesday, we had some Halloween-related celebrations in K1's German class. For example, we used sandbags to throw ghost mugs and used napkins to make ghost paper cups.

Our second topic last week was learning about colours. Through the picture book "What's My Color," students learned the names of various colors in German. We also played a color classification game with various items. Students picked a card from the table and stated the item and the color. Finally, the students put the selected cards in the appropriate color area.

K2 (Yani Wang)

This Monday and Tuesday, we held some Halloween-related celebrations in K2's German class. After learning Halloween-related words, we played a Halloween card solitaire game called "I have... who has...". For example, one student would say, "I have a vampire, who has a witch," and so on.

We also started a new topic about autumn. We created a list of autumn picture cards and learned the German names of the items on these cards. Students observed autumn leaves and colored leaf pictures using autumn colors. Additionally, we learned a German song about autumn titled "Der Herbst ist da."

K3 (Yani Wang)

On Monday and Tuesday this week, we had Halloween-related celebrations in the K3 German class. We played Halloween memory cards, a Halloween cup smashing game, and made Halloween lollipops, among other activities.

We also learned about the fall season. Through the German song "Der Herbst ist da," students learned about various characteristics of autumn, such as harvest, fallen leaves, wind, rain, and nuts. We used simple pictures to help the children remember the song lyrics. We used numerous picture cards to introduce German names of items related to autumn.

PYP German

 (Sascha Wandkowsky & Robert Jordan)

G1: This week in class, we had a productive time. We started by reviewing last week’s words through a dictation exercise, which helped reinforce the students’ vocabulary. We then introduced the new letter sounds ‘ei’ and ‘eu’. We practiced these sounds with words such as ‘eight’ and ‘Europe’, and discussed their placement within these words. Our reading topic this week was about feelings. We read stories that evoked various emotions, and encouraged the students to talk about their feelings. They also had the opportunity to express their emotions through acting and drawing.

G2: This week in class, we had a productive time. We started by reviewing last week’s spelling words through a dictation exercise, which helped reinforce the students’ vocabulary. We then introduced the new letter sounds ‘au’, ‘ei’, and ‘eu’. We practiced these sounds with words and discussed their placement within these words. We also worked on cursive writing of the letters ‘L’ and ‘Z’. We had to spend a little more time on ‘L’ as it was a bit more challenging for the children.

G3: This week in our grade 3 German class, we focused on word derivations and spelling. We learned how to decide whether to use 'ä' or 'e' and 'äu' or 'eu' in different words. We also had a review session with a dictation exercise to practise this skill.

At the end of the week, we had a reading test to check the students' abilities at the end of the chapter. Everyone did their best which was great!

G4: We started by reviewing last week's lesson on "Praedikat und Subjekt" (predicate and subject). We practiced forming sentences with these elements to strengthen our understanding. This week, we introduced "Adverbialbestimmungen Zeit und Raum" (adverbial determinations of time and place). We learned how to describe when and where actions take place in a sentence. We discussed this important topic and completed exercises related to the story, helping students develop their comprehension and communication skills.

G5: The class enjoyed doing poster designing and holding a presentation in a show and tell round. Students were expected to speak for 5 minutes about one specific object, promoting their organisation, presentation and communication skills. We also discussed some ideas about giving feedback and receiving feedback.

On Thursday, after a brainstorming session with the students, we spent some time outside to discover nature and name certain things within the school grounds. Students also used their creativity by constructing a birdhouse or bird nest.