Available for the 2027 - 2028 Academic Year
PYP Exhibitions
A Year-Long Inquiry by Grade 6 Students at American Pacific International School
As a Grade 6 Homeroom Teacher at an I.B. Primary Years Program school, it was my responsibility to support my students in their own year-long inquiry. I collaborated with the IB Coordinator, my Grade 6 teaching team and other colleagues who served as mentors to my students.
The students decided on their exhibition Unit of Inquiry, SDGs, topics, lines of inquiry and concepts. In the first year, projects were independent, and in the second year, students worked in collaborative groups. We showcased their transdisciplinary learning through the PYP Exhibition event at two campuses. Components included a research paper, an action project, and math, mother tongue, and science.
Student PYPX Action Projects
My student planned Red Hand Day at our school to raise awareness of children in war zones. As part of the activities for the day, all primary students in the school created a red handprint. Together, we turned the handprints into a chandelier on PYPX Day.
Students collected money to create healthy lunch boxes for the poor across Chiang Mai. They shopped for all the food, put together the lunch boxes and distributed them.
Our students interviewed a children's book author and then collaboratively wrote their own children's book about two friends in a war zone. On exhibition day, they read their book to the Grade 1 and 2 students as seen in the photo.
Students designed and handcrafted custom keychains to support LGBTQ+ youth. The proceeds from these sales were donated to The Trevor Project, providing essential crisis intervention services.
My student wanted to raise money for The Trevor Project so she created handmade keychains to encourage her peers to show support for the LGBTQ+ community and help donate to the cause.
Students collected waste from the International Fair, cleaned it, and created paper from it.
Topics Explored By My Students
Food Waste
Children in War Zones
Deforestation
Child Marriages
Ocean Pollution
Streaming
Space Junk
Homelessness
Hunger
Health and Wellbeing
Budding and Blossom Day Exhibitions
Two parent-facing exhibitions per year. One at the beginning and one at the end of the academic year. Students featured their learning across Literacy, Maths, and the Unit of Inquiry. These exhibitions demonstrated their growth over the year.
Budding Day Exhibition
Term 1 (November)
Blossom Day Exhibition
Term 2 (June)
"Fascinating Forces" for Blossom Day
Students followed the inquiry cycle in this unit, which culminated in designing their own arcade games using forces and simple machines. Their inquiries integrated science (forces), maths (measurement, perimeter, area), persuasive writing, art, drama, and music.
Misty Paterson's Pop-Up Studio-Inspired
"Growing and Thriving" for Blossom Day
We began the day with a performance by our students made possible through collaboration with our Drama and Music teachers.
We displayed all the Harvard Thinking Routines we used throughout the year and the unit for parents and students to discuss and ponder.
They collected data in photographs, then used SEE-THINK-WONDER to investigate how students were eating. The conclusion was that we need more colour on our plates.
Kids taught parents about the Be Well plate, and parents had to 'balance' a shared 'plate' with air-dry clay as a collaborative artwork.
Kids created a school-wide campaign to help students learn how to eat more balanced and healthy meals.
My students role-played as nutritionists for their parents, advising parents on how healthier alternatives when looking at their meals.
Kids coded games to teach students how to eat healthy after concluding the Lettuce Be Colourful campaign.
Students also wrote a persuasive advice column for primary students based on the See-Think-Wonder activity using photographs of their lunches. This integrated literacy and writing standards within our Integrated unit.
Students wrote book reports, designed covers, and parents were invited into our atelier space to create a piece of art based on the characters or themes revealed through the students' book reports. Children asked parents:
"If you could create a piece of art about the most important character you met in my book report, what would it show?"
Children collected data from their parents' experience by taking photos of the artwork generated and finding themes.
For one week, students tracked:
- screen time
- reading
- meditation
- physical activity
They created line graphs and reflected on their habits.
Parents and students analysed the graphs and used the Thinking Routine Tug for Truth to answer the question, "Can we be healthy with high screen times?"
Reflection Thinking Routine for Parents
Find, Capture, Explain, Wonder
Building Thinking Classrooms
Maths Experience for Budding Day
During our Budding Day Exhibition, students became the teachers, inviting their parents into a dynamic mathematical journey that challenged traditional learning boundaries.
The Four 4s Challenge
Kids guided their parents through the Four 4s challenge, building the numbers 1 to 20 using only four 4s and any operation. It was a mastersclass in creative problem-solving and numerical fluency.
Vertical Thinking Spaces
The classroom was transformed with vertical spaces and whiteboards, allowing parents to stand and experience firsthand how their children engage with mathematical concepts through collaboration and movement.
