St George International School
In 2006 I started working at St George International School , this gave me the opportunity to work and use the IPC which was a first for me. I taught a Mile Post 1 class 5-7 years of age so Key Stage 1.
The Early Years multiage program at St George International School was for children ages 3 and 4. This program was built on a foundation of understanding the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of young children. We understood that the whole child must be nurtured. This was done by providing an environment that is child centered, experiential, stimulating, creative, and flexible. Activities are designed to offer children opportunities to explore, experiment and discover with hands-on materials. The multiage learning environment, climate, and activities encourage students to develop confidence, skills, and attitudes that will benefit them throughout their lives. Because children are active learners with innate curiosity, the program ensures that learning objectives are relevant to students and set in a joyful and playful atmosphere. This includes language development, self expression and creativity approached through puppetry, drama, literature, songs, dance, poetry, and games. Listening and speaking in English is a large component of the Early Years program. The rich language environment that is grounded in play, drama, music and stories, and that is beneficial to young native English speakers, is the same environment especially critical for second language learners. Vocabulary and grammar are developed in natural and authentic ways as students engage in the varied experiences of the classroom. While providing developmentally appropriate activities, SGIS Early Years teachers understand that every child is on a unique path of growth, and also has a unique personality and learning style.Therefore, objectives and outcome goals are child specific while aligning with appropriate age-level school standards. By the time students enter Kindergarten, they will have worked on learning letter names and sounds, conveying ideas on paper with pictures and letters, counting and recognizing numerals to 20, sorting, and patterning. Students enter Milepost One (Kindergarten-Grade 1) with a solid foundation in those concepts, plus further work with math and problem solving and having engaged in early literacy activities including beginning reading. Children are given the opportunity to learn, grow and develop according to their own path, each in their own time and unique way. While many children in the multiage classroom may seem to be engaged in a similar activity, the teachers understand that each student may be taking different learning from the experience. A positive self image as well as a core of knowledge results from the opportunity to grow and be nurtured individually in this type of rich and stimulating environment.
Above all, the Early Years experience strives to ensure that the children are happy and eager to come to school.
Elementary instruction at St George International School follows the IPC (International Primary Curriculum). The IPC was developed in 2000 as a cross-curricular thematic curriculum to meet the needs of international schools around the world. The central purpose of everything connected with the IPC is student learning. Helping children develop academically, socially and emotionally through a focus on learning is the core goal of this curriculum. The curriculum takes into account the most recent research on the brain and how children learn. IPC has been designed with a particular focus to help children develop an international mindset in connection with an awareness of their own nationality. Children are encouraged to develop the skills they need to take an active part in the world around them. The subjects of geography, history, science and society are taught in integrated units. These units will also include some art, ICT (Information and Communication Technology), music and PE. Each unit contains an international element to raise children's awareness of the world around them. Each subject, in addition to being integrated into a unit, has clearly defined goals for knowledge, skills and understanding, which the children are expected to meet at the end of a milepost. The goals differ according to the age group of the children. The three and four year olds at SGIS use the Early Years Program. It is a separate part of the IPC and leads into the study of the elementary mileposts. For the elementary years, there are three mileposts. Milepost One includes study for Grades K and 1. Milepost Two includes study for Grades 2 and 3. Milepost Three includes study for Grades 4 and 5.
Milepost One (Grades K & 1)
At Milepost One, there are two multiage classes of kindergarten - grade one students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction. For the 2012 - 2013 academic year, students at Milepost One will be studying the following units from the IPC:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST ONE UNITS
Insects and Flowers
Places People Go
The Things People Do: Jobs
The Magic Toy Maker: Toys and Games
Food
Milepost Two (Grades 2 & 3)
At Milepost Two, there are two multiage classes of grade two - grade three students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST TWO UNITS
Explorers and Adventurers: Discovering the World
Clean Water Dirty Water & new Science Unit on Electricity
Entrepreneur: Money and Trade
Do you live around here? Habitats
Time and Space, Earth and Place: Time Zones
Milepost Three (Grades 4 & 5)
At Milepost Three, there are two multiage classes of grade four - grade five students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST THREE UNITS
Brainwave: The Learning Brain
Time Tunnel
Investigator: Scientific Inquiry
Express your Feelings
Go With the Flow: Rivers
For more information on the IPC please visit their website at: International Primary Curriculum.
What is the International Primary Curriculum (IPC)?
The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is a comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum for 3-12 year olds, with a clear process of learning and with specific learning goals for every subject, for international mindedness and for personal learning. The IPC is an exciting curriculum for Primary schools, currently used by 1600 schools in 87 Countries, The IPC has been designed to ensure rigorous learning but also to help teachers make all learning exciting, active and meaningful for children. Learning with the IPC takes a global approach; helping children to connect their learning to where they are living now as well as looking at the learning from the perspective of other people in other countries. The IPC is used by schools in more than 90 countries around the world.It is designed to help children:
The IPC covers the following national curriculum subjects:
History, Art, Geography, Science, Music , Design & Technology
Subjects are linked together within Units (topics) but taught discretely.
How is it structured?
The IPC is split into 3 phases which cover:
Years 1 & 2
Years 3 & 4
Years 5 & 6
During each phase pupils will study a variety of Units each usually lasting for a half term but occasionally a whole term. Each unit has a major subject focus e.g. History and covers other subjects to a lesser degree. At Penwortham we have selected Units for each phase that give pupils an exciting variety of themes, whilst ensuring full coverage in each subject by the end of that phase.
How does it work?
What is it about the IPC that has gained the commitment of over 1,300 schools in over 63 countries around the world in just 10 years?It has always been important for children to receive a great education. In the challenging global, interdependent world of the 21st century it is more important than ever before. Getting a primary curriculum right is more difficult today than it's ever been because it has to meet multiple goals. Of all those goals, the most essential ones are:
Engaging children
For a start, we all know that children learn best when they want to learn. That's why the IPC has over 80 different thematic units of learning; all child-friendly, modern-day topics appealing to all ages of primary children. Themes such as Time Detectives, Airports, I'm Alive, Inventions and Machines and Global Swapshop. Teachers use the theme as the hook, the learning platform and the ‘wrapping paper' in order to excite and engage children. The theme enables young children to remain motivated through the learning of science, geography, history and so on. It also allows them to make purposeful links and connections throughout their learning and to see how their subject learning is related to the world they live in. Within each theme, the IPC suggests many ideas for collaborative learning, for active learning, for learning outside the classroom, for role play, and for children learning from each other. For example, in the IPC Rainforest unit children, through role play, debate the impact of slash and burn from all perspectives; from those of the indigenous forest dwellers to the prospectors. The IPC's engaging approach also encourages parental involvement as children, inspired by their learning, talk freely to parents and family members about what they've done at school and often choose to continue their learning at home. Parental involvement is also promoted through learning-focused letters, extended learning ideas, and end of unit ‘Exit Point' events.
Rigorous learning
Each IPC unit incorporates most of the core subjects including science, history, geography, ICT, Art and PE and provides many opportunities to incorporate literacy and numeracy. Subjects are only included into each theme if there is a direct link between the required learning and the ideas behind the theme. Each subject then has a number of learning tasks to help teachers to help their children meet a range of learning goals set out in the curriculum. Take, for example, the IPC Chocolate unit. In history, children explore the discovery of chocolate, the period it was discovered, the motivation for discovery and the changing attitude to chocolate through the ages. In geography they look at the countries that grow cacao and how particular localities have been affected by its production and by slash and burn. They look at the links between countries that grow cacao and countries that produce chocolate. In art children look at how chocolate is sold and how packaging is designed. In science, children use the Chocolate unit to look at the energy values in foodstuff and to explore the effects of heating and cooling.
Intercultural awareness
Each IPC unit has embedded within it, learning-focused activities that help young children start developing a global awareness and gain an increasing sense of the ‘other'. Every unit creates opportunities to look at learning of the theme through a local perspective, a national perspective and an international perspective. With schools in over 63 countries learning with the IPC, opportunities abound for children to share their local experiences related to an IPC unit with children in dramatically different environments.
Developing personal dispositions
The personal dispositions we form as individuals do not come from reading about them in a book or discovering them spontaneously. But rather, they are established over time with constant use and that's how the IPC views children's learning of personal skills.
So instead of ‘add-on' lessons about such elusive personal skills as morality or respect, the opportunities to experience and practise very specific personal dispositions are built into the learning tasks within each thematic unit. In addition, many of these tasks are group activities which encourage children to consider each others' ideas and opinions, share responsibilities, respect other people's views and communicate effectively. For example, in the IPC Water unit, a group of children have to make a water turbine. They start by creating if from cardboard and, through their own research and development -- along with gentle guidance from the teacher -- work out how to improve their design to make it more resilient and effective. Not only are they learning about the power of water, but at the same time these children are developing the skills of cooperation, enquiry, communication and adaptability.
Supporting teachers
Each IPC unit has a very structured, yet flexible, teaching framework providing teachers with a series of learning tasks. These are designed to achieve the learning goals through creative, meaningful and memorable learning activities that appeal to all learning styles and are relevant for all children of all abilities. However, the learning tasks are purely a guide and provide plenty of scope for creative teaching, personalisation to the class and the locality, and development on the theme.
Supporting schools
The IPC was originally designed purely as a curriculum. But ten years of growth and development have resulted in a vibrant, global IPC community of over 1,300 schools in over 63 countries as diverse as Swaziland, Malaysia, Qatar, Japan, Russia and Brazil.
The Early Years multiage program at St George International School was for children ages 3 and 4. This program was built on a foundation of understanding the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of young children. We understood that the whole child must be nurtured. This was done by providing an environment that is child centered, experiential, stimulating, creative, and flexible. Activities are designed to offer children opportunities to explore, experiment and discover with hands-on materials. The multiage learning environment, climate, and activities encourage students to develop confidence, skills, and attitudes that will benefit them throughout their lives. Because children are active learners with innate curiosity, the program ensures that learning objectives are relevant to students and set in a joyful and playful atmosphere. This includes language development, self expression and creativity approached through puppetry, drama, literature, songs, dance, poetry, and games. Listening and speaking in English is a large component of the Early Years program. The rich language environment that is grounded in play, drama, music and stories, and that is beneficial to young native English speakers, is the same environment especially critical for second language learners. Vocabulary and grammar are developed in natural and authentic ways as students engage in the varied experiences of the classroom. While providing developmentally appropriate activities, SGIS Early Years teachers understand that every child is on a unique path of growth, and also has a unique personality and learning style.Therefore, objectives and outcome goals are child specific while aligning with appropriate age-level school standards. By the time students enter Kindergarten, they will have worked on learning letter names and sounds, conveying ideas on paper with pictures and letters, counting and recognizing numerals to 20, sorting, and patterning. Students enter Milepost One (Kindergarten-Grade 1) with a solid foundation in those concepts, plus further work with math and problem solving and having engaged in early literacy activities including beginning reading. Children are given the opportunity to learn, grow and develop according to their own path, each in their own time and unique way. While many children in the multiage classroom may seem to be engaged in a similar activity, the teachers understand that each student may be taking different learning from the experience. A positive self image as well as a core of knowledge results from the opportunity to grow and be nurtured individually in this type of rich and stimulating environment.
Above all, the Early Years experience strives to ensure that the children are happy and eager to come to school.
Elementary instruction at St George International School follows the IPC (International Primary Curriculum). The IPC was developed in 2000 as a cross-curricular thematic curriculum to meet the needs of international schools around the world. The central purpose of everything connected with the IPC is student learning. Helping children develop academically, socially and emotionally through a focus on learning is the core goal of this curriculum. The curriculum takes into account the most recent research on the brain and how children learn. IPC has been designed with a particular focus to help children develop an international mindset in connection with an awareness of their own nationality. Children are encouraged to develop the skills they need to take an active part in the world around them. The subjects of geography, history, science and society are taught in integrated units. These units will also include some art, ICT (Information and Communication Technology), music and PE. Each unit contains an international element to raise children's awareness of the world around them. Each subject, in addition to being integrated into a unit, has clearly defined goals for knowledge, skills and understanding, which the children are expected to meet at the end of a milepost. The goals differ according to the age group of the children. The three and four year olds at SGIS use the Early Years Program. It is a separate part of the IPC and leads into the study of the elementary mileposts. For the elementary years, there are three mileposts. Milepost One includes study for Grades K and 1. Milepost Two includes study for Grades 2 and 3. Milepost Three includes study for Grades 4 and 5.
Milepost One (Grades K & 1)
At Milepost One, there are two multiage classes of kindergarten - grade one students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction. For the 2012 - 2013 academic year, students at Milepost One will be studying the following units from the IPC:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST ONE UNITS
Insects and Flowers
Places People Go
The Things People Do: Jobs
The Magic Toy Maker: Toys and Games
Food
Milepost Two (Grades 2 & 3)
At Milepost Two, there are two multiage classes of grade two - grade three students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST TWO UNITS
Explorers and Adventurers: Discovering the World
Clean Water Dirty Water & new Science Unit on Electricity
Entrepreneur: Money and Trade
Do you live around here? Habitats
Time and Space, Earth and Place: Time Zones
Milepost Three (Grades 4 & 5)
At Milepost Three, there are two multiage classes of grade four - grade five students. Each classroom teacher maintains separate classrooms for their children, however, teachers collaborate on curricular planning and instruction, frequently bringing their classroom students together to share in leaning experiences. Instruction of Language Arts and math are taught within the classroom to meet the developmental needs of each individual. Teachers make use large group, small group or individual instruction to make sure all students are making progress in each subject area. Like other milepost levels, students also receive instruction in physical education, art, second language (Japanese) and music from specialist teachers. The IPC (social studies & science) strongly emphasizes collaborative learning and supports multiage learning and instruction.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MILEPOST THREE UNITS
Brainwave: The Learning Brain
Time Tunnel
Investigator: Scientific Inquiry
Express your Feelings
Go With the Flow: Rivers
For more information on the IPC please visit their website at: International Primary Curriculum.
What is the International Primary Curriculum (IPC)?
The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is a comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum for 3-12 year olds, with a clear process of learning and with specific learning goals for every subject, for international mindedness and for personal learning. The IPC is an exciting curriculum for Primary schools, currently used by 1600 schools in 87 Countries, The IPC has been designed to ensure rigorous learning but also to help teachers make all learning exciting, active and meaningful for children. Learning with the IPC takes a global approach; helping children to connect their learning to where they are living now as well as looking at the learning from the perspective of other people in other countries. The IPC is used by schools in more than 90 countries around the world.It is designed to help children:
- Learn the essential knowledge, skills and understanding of a broad range of curriculum subjects.
- Engage with their learning so that they remain committed to learning throughout their school careers and beyond.
- Develop the personal qualities they need to be good citizens in an ever-changing world.
- Develop a sense of their own nationality and culture at the same time as developing a profound respect for the nationalities and cultures of others.
The IPC covers the following national curriculum subjects:
History, Art, Geography, Science, Music , Design & Technology
Subjects are linked together within Units (topics) but taught discretely.
How is it structured?
The IPC is split into 3 phases which cover:
Years 1 & 2
Years 3 & 4
Years 5 & 6
During each phase pupils will study a variety of Units each usually lasting for a half term but occasionally a whole term. Each unit has a major subject focus e.g. History and covers other subjects to a lesser degree. At Penwortham we have selected Units for each phase that give pupils an exciting variety of themes, whilst ensuring full coverage in each subject by the end of that phase.
How does it work?
- Pupils will be made aware of their new IPC Unit just prior to a holiday and invited to contribute ideas.
- Across each Unit, subjects to be covered are blocked into weeks, e.g. pupils may have an Art focus week, followed by a history focus week, etc.
- Each unit kicks off with an ‘entry point’ activity to capture the pupils’ interest and imagination.
- Each unit culminates in an exciting ‘exit point’ activity which pupils will have been working towards
What is it about the IPC that has gained the commitment of over 1,300 schools in over 63 countries around the world in just 10 years?It has always been important for children to receive a great education. In the challenging global, interdependent world of the 21st century it is more important than ever before. Getting a primary curriculum right is more difficult today than it's ever been because it has to meet multiple goals. Of all those goals, the most essential ones are:
- Rigorous learning:
- Paying attention to essential and transformational knowledge, to the development of key skills, and to the slow, steady progress towards deep understanding across a broad range of subjects.
- High levels of children's engagement:
- Making sure that this rigorous learning can win the battle against superficially more exciting out-of-school activities so that a) children enjoy it and stick to it and b) come to like learning enough to want to continue throughout their lives. Incorporating easy, accessible opportunities for parents to get involved in order to encourage and support their kids.
- International, global and intercultural awareness:
- So many of our problems at local and global levels are caused by different groups not knowing or respecting each other. Many of the key problems we face today will only be solved through local and global cooperation. Many of the opportunities open to our current generation of children will be in countries and cultures different from the one in which they are growing up.
- The development of personal dispositions:
- Creating opportunities for children to develop qualities that will help them on their journey through life as individuals, citizens and partners. Qualities such as adaptability, morality, respect, resilience, enquiry, cooperation, communication and thoughtfulness.
- Supporting teachers:
- Providing teachers with everything they might need to make the curriculum work to its very best for every single child.
- Supporting schools:
- Providing all that a school requires to be confident in delivering good practice
Engaging children
For a start, we all know that children learn best when they want to learn. That's why the IPC has over 80 different thematic units of learning; all child-friendly, modern-day topics appealing to all ages of primary children. Themes such as Time Detectives, Airports, I'm Alive, Inventions and Machines and Global Swapshop. Teachers use the theme as the hook, the learning platform and the ‘wrapping paper' in order to excite and engage children. The theme enables young children to remain motivated through the learning of science, geography, history and so on. It also allows them to make purposeful links and connections throughout their learning and to see how their subject learning is related to the world they live in. Within each theme, the IPC suggests many ideas for collaborative learning, for active learning, for learning outside the classroom, for role play, and for children learning from each other. For example, in the IPC Rainforest unit children, through role play, debate the impact of slash and burn from all perspectives; from those of the indigenous forest dwellers to the prospectors. The IPC's engaging approach also encourages parental involvement as children, inspired by their learning, talk freely to parents and family members about what they've done at school and often choose to continue their learning at home. Parental involvement is also promoted through learning-focused letters, extended learning ideas, and end of unit ‘Exit Point' events.
Rigorous learning
Each IPC unit incorporates most of the core subjects including science, history, geography, ICT, Art and PE and provides many opportunities to incorporate literacy and numeracy. Subjects are only included into each theme if there is a direct link between the required learning and the ideas behind the theme. Each subject then has a number of learning tasks to help teachers to help their children meet a range of learning goals set out in the curriculum. Take, for example, the IPC Chocolate unit. In history, children explore the discovery of chocolate, the period it was discovered, the motivation for discovery and the changing attitude to chocolate through the ages. In geography they look at the countries that grow cacao and how particular localities have been affected by its production and by slash and burn. They look at the links between countries that grow cacao and countries that produce chocolate. In art children look at how chocolate is sold and how packaging is designed. In science, children use the Chocolate unit to look at the energy values in foodstuff and to explore the effects of heating and cooling.
Intercultural awareness
Each IPC unit has embedded within it, learning-focused activities that help young children start developing a global awareness and gain an increasing sense of the ‘other'. Every unit creates opportunities to look at learning of the theme through a local perspective, a national perspective and an international perspective. With schools in over 63 countries learning with the IPC, opportunities abound for children to share their local experiences related to an IPC unit with children in dramatically different environments.
Developing personal dispositions
The personal dispositions we form as individuals do not come from reading about them in a book or discovering them spontaneously. But rather, they are established over time with constant use and that's how the IPC views children's learning of personal skills.
So instead of ‘add-on' lessons about such elusive personal skills as morality or respect, the opportunities to experience and practise very specific personal dispositions are built into the learning tasks within each thematic unit. In addition, many of these tasks are group activities which encourage children to consider each others' ideas and opinions, share responsibilities, respect other people's views and communicate effectively. For example, in the IPC Water unit, a group of children have to make a water turbine. They start by creating if from cardboard and, through their own research and development -- along with gentle guidance from the teacher -- work out how to improve their design to make it more resilient and effective. Not only are they learning about the power of water, but at the same time these children are developing the skills of cooperation, enquiry, communication and adaptability.
Supporting teachers
Each IPC unit has a very structured, yet flexible, teaching framework providing teachers with a series of learning tasks. These are designed to achieve the learning goals through creative, meaningful and memorable learning activities that appeal to all learning styles and are relevant for all children of all abilities. However, the learning tasks are purely a guide and provide plenty of scope for creative teaching, personalisation to the class and the locality, and development on the theme.
Supporting schools
The IPC was originally designed purely as a curriculum. But ten years of growth and development have resulted in a vibrant, global IPC community of over 1,300 schools in over 63 countries as diverse as Swaziland, Malaysia, Qatar, Japan, Russia and Brazil.
The IPC Learning Goals
define what children might be expected to know, what they might be able to do and the understandings they might develop as they move through school. Well written learning goals guide teaching and learning and help to focus assessment and evaluation. We believe that the IPC Learning Goals are equal to or exceed those of any curriculum in the world.
The subject goals
cover the knowledge (the facts and information children might learn), the skills (those practical abilities children need to be able to do) and the understandings (the deeper awareness of key concepts which develops over time). There are subject Learning Goals for Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Information Technology, Design Technology, History, Geography, Music, Physical Education, Art and Society.
The personal goals
refer to those individual qualities and dispositions we believe children will find essential in the 21st century. They help to develop those qualities that will enable children to be at ease with the continually changing context of their lives. There are personal goals for enquiry, resilience, morality, communication, thoughtfulness, cooperation, respect and adaptability.
The international goals
The International Primary Curriculum is unique in defining learning goals that help young children begin the move towards an increasingly sophisticated national and international perspective.
Knowledge, skills and understanding
All the IPC learning goals include the development of knowledge, skills and understanding; an essential combination to ensure the most effective learning experience. The learning tasks within each IPC unit guide teachers through the process of helping children develop their knowledge, skills and understanding.
The IPC Learning Process
There is a distinct learning process with every IPC unit, providing a structured approach to make sure that children’s learning experiences are as stimulating and rigorous as possible.
Assessment for Learning
How do we know children have learned?
The IPC is a learning-focused curriculum; designed to help children learn and to enjoy what they are learning. To be learning-focused means that we have to be assessment and evaluation-focused too. Both assessment and evaluation matter because they are ways in which we find out whether children are learning.
Knowledge, skills and understanding are learned differently, therefore taught differently and assessed or evaluated differently:
Units of Work
We know that children learn best when they want to learn.
That’s why the IPC has over 130 different thematic units of learning; all child-friendly, modern-day topics appealing to all ages of primary children; themes include Time Detectives, Airports, I’m Alive, Inventions and Machines, and Global Swapshop.
The theme enables young children to remain motivated through the Learning of Science, Geography, History and so on. It also allows them to make purposeful links and connections throughout their learning and to see how their subject learning is related to the world they live in. Within each theme, the IPC suggests many ideas for collaborative learning, for active learning, for learning outside the classroom, for role play, and for children learning from each other. Each IPC unit incorporates a range of subjects including Science, History, Geography, ICT, Art and PE and provides many opportunities to link literacy and numeracy. Each subject then has a number of learning tasks to help teachers to help children achieve a range of IPC learning goals. Each unit is appropriate for one of three different age-groups: five to seven year olds, seven to nine year olds, and nine to twelve year olds. The IPC calls these age-groups Mileposts.
To view the descriptions and learning goals for each unit by Milepost, please visit the IPC website.
How do we know children have learned?
The IPC is a learning-focused curriculum; designed to help children learn and to enjoy what they are learning. To be learning-focused means that we have to be assessment and evaluation-focused too. Both assessment and evaluation matter because they are ways in which we find out whether children are learning.
Knowledge, skills and understanding are learned differently, therefore taught differently and assessed or evaluated differently:
- Knowledge is about facts. Facts are right or wrong. The easiest way to find out whether children have learned facts is a regular test – we all know how to do that.
- Skills are practical and experiential. Skills aren’t right or wrong; they are developmental and so the IPC talks about beginning, developing and mastering when it comes to skills learning. The boundaries between these three levels are not clear-cut and different people have different ideas of what each stage looks like. That’s why the IPC Assessment for Learning Programme is created the way that it is – built around rubrics.
- Understanding is personal and fluid; it comes and goes. Finding out about children’s developing understandings is almost entirely a matter or judgment.
Units of Work
We know that children learn best when they want to learn.
That’s why the IPC has over 130 different thematic units of learning; all child-friendly, modern-day topics appealing to all ages of primary children; themes include Time Detectives, Airports, I’m Alive, Inventions and Machines, and Global Swapshop.
The theme enables young children to remain motivated through the Learning of Science, Geography, History and so on. It also allows them to make purposeful links and connections throughout their learning and to see how their subject learning is related to the world they live in. Within each theme, the IPC suggests many ideas for collaborative learning, for active learning, for learning outside the classroom, for role play, and for children learning from each other. Each IPC unit incorporates a range of subjects including Science, History, Geography, ICT, Art and PE and provides many opportunities to link literacy and numeracy. Each subject then has a number of learning tasks to help teachers to help children achieve a range of IPC learning goals. Each unit is appropriate for one of three different age-groups: five to seven year olds, seven to nine year olds, and nine to twelve year olds. The IPC calls these age-groups Mileposts.
To view the descriptions and learning goals for each unit by Milepost, please visit the IPC website.