Discussion:
Maarium requested that the meeting time be used to discuss the arrangements for the Bake Sale as she is leading a PD on the Inquiry Cycle at this week's PD and wants to save the sharing of learning activities for that. Ms Nicola made a list of delegated tasks.
Ms Patricia invited the KG1 teachers to visit the G3 market day on Tuesday 10th March to expose them to the idea of money being used as a system of exchange in relation to the HWOO unit.
Teachers are to contact Mr Steven to arrange a time if interested.
Compiling all information onto the HWOO unit planner including formative and summative assessment descriptions.
Leanne & Denitra used the time to create the formative 1 graphic organizer.
Provocation changed to teachers presenting the children with a mystery bag of mixed currencies to provoke a reaction. Field trip will be during the 1st/2nd week of unit.
Learning activity idea: to create a class currency to be used to enter the different play areas/pay for snack etc.
Action:
Research and add learning activities to the unit planner (all)
Discussion: Create assessments for new unit based on aligned standards
F1: Where money comes from: graphic organizer with four boxes to show-earning through work, gifts (Eid), the mint, ?
F2: Different forms of money: Pictures of money from the UAE, USA & other countries relating to individual classes-students match them and state their value
F3: How money is used: Student picture in the centre of the page, surrounded by empty circles to draw how they will use their money
Summative assessment task: flow chart to show the system of exchanging money in preparation for the cake sale and afterwards, possibly scaffolded by picture cards
Completed possible student-initiated actions, teacher questions, provocation-field trip to Mini Kidzania in Nation Towers mall
Pre-assessment: students draw what they think money is, wheer it comes from and how we use it
Discussion:
HWOO next unit
Decision reached on new central idea and lines of inquiry-see below Ideas for summative based around flow chart to show how money is a system of exchange-this would be based on real life experience as the student would buy cake ingredients, make the cake, sell the cake and then buy something else from the money.
Central Idea: Money is used as a system of exchange around the world.
Lines of Inquiry: People work for money Different forms of money How money is used.
Formative Assessments
People work for money
Different forms of money
How money is used.
a.Explain that people work (produce) for an income c.
a.Recognize coins and currency as money
b.Discuss that money is used to buy items that the student or family wants
c.Give examples to distinguish spending from saving c.Discuss why we need money
b.Identify how money is used as a medium of exchange
Action:
Create assessments for new unit based on aligned standards
Research inquiry based learning activities for HWOO
Reflections on STP Investigate holding a cake sale (Nicola)
Next meeting: Location: Maarium's room
Jan 19th, 2014 Teachers requested to cancel meeting due to flooding
Working meeting.
Team divided into four groups;
Group 1: HWEO-Nicola & Rasha
Group 2: HWOO-Gina, Lesley & Denitra
Group 3: HTWW-Aoife, Maarium & Patrice
Group 4: STP Planner- Elmarie & Leanne
Groups 1-3 worked on refining/researching new central ideas and lines of inquiry for the above units. Conceptual basis to be loyal to the aligned standards.
Group 4 to add greater detail to the descriptions of the learning activities added into the inquiry cycle.
All work completed and saved in the following folder:
Q:\Curriculum\PYP\Programme of Inquiry\Standards Alignment\Assessments & standards alignment 2014-15
Meeting time used by dividing into working groups to complete the following tasks;
-Adding formative assessments to Managebac for the previous unit
-Creating the resources and graphic organizers for the present unit's formative assessment tasks;1. Sorting living and non-living things-venn diagram, 2.Matching living things with their needs, 3.Flow chart with three stages of growth for lifecycles.
-Completing standards and assessment alignment document for an overall view of all 5 units and researching for HWOO central idea and lines of inquiry
Discussion:
Summative assessment task: students choose materials to create a habitat including its' basic needs . they explain how it grows and changes verbally.
Central idea could use a little wordsmithing to polish it
Scope and sequence, standards not uploaded yet?
Creation of rubric for summative assessment task addressing two standards;a. Identify the common needs such as food, air, and water of familiar living things
(c.) Make and record by drawing, acting out, or describing observations of living things and how they change over time.
SA rubric to be added to Managebac
Action:
Update unit planner on MB and upload SA rubric
Discussion: -New unit STP,
Formative asessments: line 1: Matching of living thing and need with section 4 open for the student to create their own, Line 2: Flow chart x 3, Line 3: Sorting living and non-living
Discussion:
-Unit planner: possible student-initiated action and resources to be completed.
Also finding out activities in the learning experiences tab: behavior wall, friendship dolls, feelings collage-details need to be given so that all teachers can easily follow.
Discussion:
Formative assessments:
Line 1: How to interact well: brick drawing activity
Line 2: Who do we have relationships with: mind map/spidergram
Line 3: Roles & behavior: interview children-list of questions
-Groups specified as family, neighborhood, school, team in standards-this is what will be assessed in the summative
Action:
-Update unit planner on MB (Aoife & Denitra)
Discussion:
-New unit: summative assessment-group activity to
-Pre-assessment: pictures of children interacting in different relationships,. Student circles a smiley face or a sad face to save if the behavior affects the relationship positively or negatively
-Provocation: Show the children photographs of who we (teachers) have relationships with (family, friends,co-workers). Discuss who they think these people are and the type of relationships we have with them.
Oct 13th, 2014 -Explanation of new standard alignments-possible new units;
Who we are
Central idea:
The way we behave affects our relationships with others
Central idea:
Central idea:
How the world works
Central idea:
Our senses help us to understand (the Earth’s) materials
Ho we organize ourselves
Central idea:
Sharing the planet
Central idea:
Living things need certain things to grow and (change)stay healthy
Lines of inquiry:
-Who we have relationships with
--How to interact well with others
-Roles and behaviors within relationships
Lines of inquiry:
Lines of inquiry:
Lines of inquiry:
-Our senses
-Use of our senses
-Exploring materials
Lines of inquiry:
Lines of inquiry: -The needs of living things - How living things grow and change -Our responsibility towards living things
-Creation of rubric with new social studies standards embedded
Action:
Begin to research ideas for WWA unit.
Next meeting: -Collaborative planning of Who we are unit Oct 6th, 2014
Eid Holiday
Discussion:
Group divided into subject groups to align new Colorado Pre-KG standards under the transdisciplinary themes.
Action:
Type up standard alignment document (Trish)
Next meeting:
Review this year's units under new standards
Sept 8th, 2014 Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina Discussion:
-Provocation video-children just settling into school so there was no time to prepare for the beginning of the unit
-Summative assessment rubric-need to double check standards before creating rubric-High Scope and CC merge on MB
-Summative assessment task changed to playing Duck Duck Goose cooperatively as teachers feel at this stage their students would be unable to complete the original task.
-Pre-assessment: teachers to observe children playing the above game in PE and make anecdotal notes
Action:
-Add all teachers as authors to each unit on MB (Trish) Done
-Collaborate with PE teachers about the SA (Nicola/all)
-Check standard alignment (Trish)
Next meeting:
-Create SA rubric
-Review formative assessments
May 26th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela Discussion; -Revision of central idea for WWA
-Provocation: make a video of children playing uncooperatively
-Teacher questions created
-Summative assessment: PE fully integrated-they will set a group challenge to the children to use equipment to cross the blue playground without their feet touching the floor
-Formative assessment: games that require teamwork e.g assembling a train track
-Pre-assessment: photo and anecdotal notes of the children playing in a group
-Activities added to the tuning in and sorting out sections of the inquiry cycle
Action:
-Create the provocation video (Angela)
-Research inquiry based activities (all)
May 19th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela Discussion;
Meeting time used to reflect on the final unit of the year HWEO.
-Teachers mentioned that not enough time was spent on exploring the concept of imagination and encouraging the children to express their thoughts and ideas through play, art etc.
-They also felt that the assessment rubric needed refining and didn't quite match the task
Action:
To complete reflections (all)
Next meeting:
To begin collaboratively planning the first new unit for next year WWA
May 12th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela Discussion;
Meeting time used to discuss creation of new units-settling in play based unit: Who we are, shape & colour unit for How we express ourselves
Apr 21st, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela Discussion; -Units for next year-play, daily routines,
-Transdiscilinary theme descriptions-science
-Provocations: what are they, what is the purpose, examples of provocations to inspire
Action:
-Research MBZ & Al Ain units (Trish)
Next meeting: TBD
Apr 14th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela Discussion;
Creating summative assessment tool based on KDI descriptors
Comments for each level; developing, progressing, meeting, exceeding
Next meeting:
Provocations-how to excite and motivate the students
Mar 24th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry Absent: Angela (Sick leave) Discussion; -Formative assessment 1-language of nursery rhymes line of inquiry, activity based on rhyming words-matching or creating their own for the more able
-Formative assessment 2-writing prompt, retelling the story of the rhyme
-Adding the pre-assessment description to the unit planner
-Creating summative assessment rubric
Action;
Create summative assessment rubric based on KDIs
Next meeting;
Sharing of assessment tool
Mar 17th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry Absent: Patricia (Covering for Ms Sarah in Grade 1) Discussion: -Provocation ideas; pass the parcel, unwrap the nursery rhyme and sing the song in a circle. Story: Harold and the purple crayon-using imaginations -Formative assessment: students will sequence the events of a nursery rhyme and create an ending using their imagination -Summative/concert: students use their imagination to re-create a known rhyme changing the character/setting and then express a response through art/drama/writing etc.
Action; -Summative assessment tool
Next meeting; TBD
Mar 10th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Absent: Kerry Discussion: -Timeline of units-possibility of adding a fifth unit next year-play based unit at the start of the year for children to settle in
-HWEO: nursery rhymes topic, central idea decided on "Nursery rhymes help our imagination grow"
-Lines of inquiry; 1) The language of nursery rhymes, 2) Sequencing of events (draft), 3) Ways we express our imagination/ourselves
-Pre-assessment: students presented with characters and settings from nursery rhyme and they choose a variety to re-tell a known rhyme
-Summative assessment: students will use their imagination to re-create a known rhyme changing the characters/setting and then express a response through art/drama/writing etc.
-KG1 concert will be on June 4th, it will tie in with this unit
Action:
-Find available nursery rhyme resources felt characters) in the PS (Trish)
-Update MB unit planner (Rasha/Nicola/all)
-FInd out if possible to add a fifth unit (Trish)
-Confirm lines of inquiry (all)
Next meeting:
Formative assessments
Mar 3rd, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry Discussion:
-Summative assessment tool
-Summative assessment format
-Reflections process
Feb 24th, 2014
Meeting cancelled (Trish teaching in Grade)
Feb 17th, 2014
Parent Teacher Meetings
Feb 10th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion: -Updates on unit planner
-Assessment tool for summative assessment: checklist, photo, teacher observations/student's comments -Reflections from previous unit not quite finished yet, recommendation to complete individually/in pairs as it is more thorough and everyone's opinion is recorded
Feb 3rd, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion:
Possible provocation: zoo field trip, mild videos of animals being mistreated to stir up thoughts of why this is unfair etc.
Summative assessment: art project/creative construction with blocks-children create a home for an animal and provide what it needs and talks about their responsibility
Action:
Need to create assessment tool (KG1 team)
Jan 27th, 2014
No meeting scheduled (Trish teaching in Grade 1)
Jan 20th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion: -Responses to questions from previous compiled list;
-OCC-demonstration of how to find resources
-English as a second language strategies for teaching inquiry
-Learner Profile -focus on "teaching" only stipulated attributes per unit, read books/watch video clips related to that attribute but intermingle the vocabulary of the attitudes throughout the day so that the students are exposed to the terminology
-Emilio Reggio approach to KG-focus on exploration and discovery based on the interests of the children
Action:
-Brainstorm ways to help support each other during whole group time with distracted kids who do not listen (all)
Next meeting:
Looking ahead at the next unit STP
Jan 13th, 2014
Ms Nicola requested the meeting to be cancelled as team were up to date
Jan 6th, 2014 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion: -Format of summative assessment task for HWOO
-Assessment tool-questionnaire and rubric
Action:
-Completion of assessment tool and add onto Managebac (Angela & Elmarie)
Next meeting:
-Review of inquiry cycle learning tasks
-Teaching the transdisciplinary skills with KG children
Dec 2nd, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion: -Summative assessment task-dress up and role-play activity
-Formative assessment: matching pictures of people in the community and what their roles are
Next meeting:
-Creating assessment tool for summative assessment
Nov 25th, 2013
Ms Nicola requested that meeting be cancelled in preparation for National Day
Nov 18th, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion:
-Backward by Design-Conceptual understanding versus thematic activities
-Understanding of the central idea to be directly related to the summative assessment
-Learning tasks to be inquiry based related to the concepts, avoiding "hands on without being minds on"
-How to use the Key Concepts as a tool for teaching Action:
-Research inquiry based KG learning tasks relating to the next two units (all) Next meeting:
-Incorporating quality inquiry tasks into planner and reviewing Classroom Connections teaching strategies
Nov 11th, 2013
Meeting cancelled due to Parent Teacher Meetings
Nov 4th, 2013
Holiday: Hijra New Year
Oct 28th, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion:
-Whole grade reflections for the entire meeting.
Oct 21st, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion:
-How to do reflections on Managebac
-Weekly planning for current unit
Action: -Begin reflections individually on current planner (all) -Update WWA planner by adding all teacher names, pre-assessment results and list resources (Maarium)
Oct 7th, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Discussion:
-Inquiry based activities for next week after holiday
Sept 23rd, 2013 Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley Absent: Angela Discussion: -Reading Street will be implemented in KG1, following a modified version focusing on letter sounds and blending
-All learning tasks are to be included in the Tuning In section of the unit planner
-Weekly planning documents to be saved on the q drive
Action:
Update pre-assessment findings in section 3 of the unit planner (Maarium)
Next meeting:
Review inquiry cycle Sept 19, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley Discussion:
-Summative assessment-activity needs to be specified on the planner
-Pre-assessment needs to be updated to the new selected activity
-Responsibility for updating planners on Managebac: Unit 1: Maarium, Unit 2: Elmarie, Unit 3: Angela, Unit 4: Nicola
Action:
-Inquire into implementation of Reading Street in KG1 (Trish/Sarah G/Saher)
-Locate US standards appropriate to KG1 (Trish/Mary)
Next meeting:
Inquiry activities
NEW ACADEMIC YEAR April 18, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Reviewed planner progress from this week: great stuff!
- Section 3: reorganization so as to more accurately reflect formative tasks
Action:
- Continue to develop sorting out/going further activities
Next Meeting:
- Further develop summative task descriptor
- Review progress
April 18, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Sara B took the chair (Yay Sara!)
- Completed reflection section of STP unit
Action:
- Continue to develop HWEO
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and continue to devlop HWEO
March 7, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Development of HWEO unit: realized that our focus for this unit does not really align with the organizing theme. Brainstormed and looked for other possibilities.
- Reviewed the organizing theme descriptor with a view to finding which aspects are not covered within the POI: only 'discovery of nature' was (not) evident.
Action:
- Find sample planners and present ideas to KG2 team (Glenn)
- Look for possiblities on the OCC or other places (KG1 team) Next Meeting:
- Decide on and develop new unit
February 21, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Developed KG1 POI planning document for 2013-2014 February 21, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Reviewed outcomes and transferred them across to the standards alignment (KG1 POI) document
- KG1 concert date: needs to be rescheduled
- Sara B attacked by a rabbit
- No need for the KG1 POI to change for the 2013-2014 school year
Action:
- Continue to complete KG1 planning document (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
February 14, 2013 *Meeting held off campus
February 7, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Nicola, Glenn (Apologies: Sharon) Discussion:
- Reviewed progress made since last session: all complete! (and more..)
- Chose transdisciplinary skills and developed LP activities section
- Reviewed skills/concepts etc checklist
Action:
- Continue with tuning in and finding out
Next Meeting:
- Off campus..
January 31, 2013 Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Nicola, Glenn (Apologies: Sharon) Discussion:
- Developed summative task description
- Continued to populate inquiry cycle
- reviewed activities from previous year and placed some into inquiry cycle
- Discussed assessment tasks
Action:
- Develop assessment tools for developed tasks (KG1 team)
- Develop assessment task/tools for other outcome in section 3 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
January 24, 2013 *No school: Prophet Mohamed's birthday
January 17, 2012 Present: Anissa, Angela, Rasha, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Nicola, Glenn Discussion:
- Review (and renaming) of assessment tools for STP
- Reflection section of HWOO
- Assessment tools for STP: developed
- As Thursday is a holiday next week there will be no unit planning meeting
Action:
- Population of inquiry cycle for STP: specifically tuning in, finding and sorting out (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and continue to develop inquiry cycle
January 9, 2013 Present: Sarah B, Sarah W, Nicola, Beverly, Angela, Elmarie, Anissa, Glenn Discussion:
- Review of progress since last meeting
- Assessment tasks and tools
- What needs to be done in order to complete the unit
- STP planner: process by which we need to go in order to develop assessmentt asks and tools before the unit has begun
Action:
- Look at STP planner and think of possible assessment tasks (KG1 team)
- Develop ELA outcomes for (at least) writing and Speaking and Listening (KG2 team)
Next Meeting:
- Develop assessment tasks for STP
- Delegate assessment tool development
December 13, 2012 *Team met off campus
December 6, 2012 *Team met independently (Glenn absent)
November 22, 2012 Present: Sarah B, Sarah W, Nicola, Beverly, Angela, Anissa, Glenn Discussion:
- ENS standards vs. COR: ENSS contain the outcomes that we use across grades K-5, COR are indicators and are provide the structure for the system that we report out on (online COR). Science and Social Science standards are embedded within our units, next steps as we move forward will involve us in embedding ELA and Math standards: we do not have 3 sets of standards....
- Tidying up of planner for unit #2: developed assessment tasks in section 3 and chose transdisciplinary skills focus for the unit
Action:
- Document COR items with aligned assessment tasks and ENSS (Sarah w?)
- Develop assessment tasks for remaining oputcomes in section 3 (KG1 team)
- Develop assessment tools for assessment tasks (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
November 20, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Maria, Glenn Discussion: *Meeting with IB Consultant regarding progress since last visit, challenges, and most urgent needs
November 8, 2012 *Meeting held without Glenn due to Application for Authorization needs
November 1, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn Discussion:
- Sharing and documenting ideas for HWOO unit
Action:
-
Next Meeting:
- Population of the inquiry cycle for unit #2
- Development of assessment tasks and tools
October 18, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn Discussion:
- Discussion of student developmental level: reality check..
- Teacher scribing
- Review progress with action items from last week: great job!
- Documentation of experiences related to the development of the LP attributes
- Exploration/discussion of the aligned COR/KDI/ENS standards: difficult to work out in this format
- Possibly: use KG2 ELA outcomes, document in section 3 with aligned tasks, use Highscope alignment document to find aligned COR items
Action:
- Ask Mary about whether our ideas on how to use the aligned standards is correct (Glenn)
- Select ELA outcomes for unit #1 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review review review
- Look at unit #2
October 11, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn Discussion:
- Q drive directory: navigation, Team Planning folders, Pics and videos etc..
- Unit #1: format of aligned COR items; to do's
- Learner Profile Assemblies v. strategies to develop LP within class/grade
- Off campus meetings
- Changes: doing it right the first time. Would be nice, in a perfect world. Fact is the "changes" that are happening are the things that are helping us to grow and improve. Without them we would become static, and that's not an option.
Action:
- Reorganize COR assessment items to resemble KG2s (Sarah W)
- Create (LP aligned) reflection template (Sarah B)
- Document LP activities in section 4 of planner (KG1 team)
- Choose Transdisciplinary skills for section 4 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
- Begin pre-planning for unit #2
October 4, 2012 * Meeting held off campus
September 27, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Beverly, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Glenn Discussion:
- Planner - assessment tasks and inquiry cycle: reviewed progress with current planner, discussed formatting and content placement.
- Development of assessment tools/tasks: tasks for unit #1 done
- Pre-planning for unit #2: Went through planner and 'de-yellowed' bits that were good/deleted bits that shouldn't be there. Discussed summative assessment task
Action: - Paste summative rubric onto page 6 of the planner (Sarah Cindy B)
- Develop activities for the development of the Learner Profile and Attitudes - document in section 4 (KG1 team)
- Choose transdisciplinary skills and document in section 4 (KG1 team)
Next meeting:
- Revisit WWA planner and review the above
September 20, 2012 Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Beverly, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Glenn Discussion:
- Assessment: aligning content standards with areas of the COR will be key in ensuring that the process of reporting to parents runs smoothly
- Inquiry cycles: second main focus is to look at incorporating the stages of the KM inquiry cycle
- COR anecdotals:
- COR training for new teachers:
Action:
- Develop assessment (tasks and tools) that are aligned with the proposed SS outcomes for the first unit (KG1 team)
- Take (the above) and rewrite into section 3 of the planner (Glenn)
- Start to plot out learning engagements into inquiry cycle stages on 5th page of the planner (KG1 team/Glenn)
- Speak with Saher about Highscope/COR unpack sessions for new KG2 teachers - bi-weekly Tuesday afternoons? (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress with planner
September 16, 2012 Present: Sharon, Angela, Nicola, Elmarie, Maarium, Sarah W, Sarah B, Beverly, James, Glenn Discussion:
- Unit progress: still very much settling in, starting with some pre-assessment activities
- Planner: need to ensure that we keep on top of this this year. Next steps will be to link assessment tasks to elements of COR and place into section 3
- Assessment: Need to work on aligning elements of the COR with unit assessment tasks and make them explicit in documentation. This will be a big focus for the year, but will help to tie everything together when it comes time to report out to parents.
- Issues: computers taking up too much space - communicate this to Mr Gustav
- Portfolio files also cumbersome - look at using A3 plastic pocket folders for next year?
- Saving files locally for the next couple of weeks until all data has been tranferred across tot he new (common drive) directory
Action:
- Send planner for first unit to Glenn/Saher (Sharon)
- Look at proposed assessment tasks, align them elements of the COR and embed them in section 3 of the planner (Beverly, Sarah)
Next Meeting:
- Review assessment tasks
- Review planner development
June 13, 2012 Present: All of KG1, Glenn Discussion:
- Moving stuff
- Continued to develop and refine KG1 POI for 2012-2013: specifically with regards to CI refinement and development of core assessments
- Assessments vs. activities: tools (with common criteria) are the key
- Next steps
Action:
- Continue to develop assessment ideas (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and check vertical alignment
June 12, 2012 Present: All of KG1, Arabic teachers, Glenn Discussion:
- Continued to develop and refine KG1 POI for 2012-2013
Action:
- Look at LP, Attitudes, and Assessments (KG2 team)
- Develop whole school POI draft (Glenn)
Next Meeting: - Review progress - Discuss assessment ideas
June 11, 2012 Present: Anju, Sharon Rasha, Glenn Discussion:
- Continued to develop POI with particular consideration to vertical alignment
February 27, 2012
*Team planning (without Coordinator)
February 20, 2012 Present: Sharon, Elmarie, Maarium, Nicola, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn Discussion:
- Meeting notes from last week
- Causation line of inquiry: picture card activity - develop vocab and sentence structure
- Field trip
- Passports
- Question chart: progress with developing questioning skills within the classroom
- Ways to assess within the lines of inquiry: matching up unit assessment tasks with specific parts of the COR
- How to get reflection sections done: now or later
- KG1 Concert ideas
Action:
- Causation activity idea onto planner (Glenn)
- Think about ways to link specific COR assessment components to unit activities (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Reflection sections of planners?
- Look ahead to CI and LOI of final unit?
February 6, 2012 *Meeting cancelled due to COR assessment deadlines
January 30, 2012 Present: Sharon, Elmarie, Maarium, Nicola, Beverly, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn Discussion:
- Summative assessment ideas: ways that they could easily be transferrable to HighScope
- Make My Child Love School: Materials/Manipulatives/Choice/Language/Support
- Email...
- Lines of Inquiry: The different purposes for going on a Journey - does it necessitate a depth of thinking?
- HighScope friendly ideas for Journeys
- Field Trip to Khalifa Park
Action:
- Continue to come up with activity/assessment ideas (KG1 Team)
- Transfer activity ideas to planner (Glenn)
- Develop criteria tool for summative assessment task(s) (KG1 Team)
- Develop ideas for 'Reasons why we go ona Journey' - or rethink it.. (All)
Next Meeting:
- Review classroom/planner alignment
- Review progress with planner
- Assessment tasks for Lines of Inquiry
January 16, 2012 Present: Sharon, Elmarie, James, Trish, James, Maarium, Nicola, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn Discussion:
- OCC access and orientation; Sharon didn't receive the email - - Which unit to do next: Journeys decided upon as the CI is less complex (and hence demanding)
- International day activities could be incorporated into this unit
- Journeys Central Idea modified to: We go on journeys in different ways and for different purposes
- Lines of inquiry generally fine (re-ordered)
- 'What defines a journey?' Going to school/the mall; going to Dubai; going to Oman; going to Grandma's; going to France etc. can going to the bathroom be a journey? Yes if we decide that it is!
Action:
- Generate/create Highscope friendly activities (that relate to the development of the understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry) - be ready to share at next week's planning meeting (KG1 team)
- Resend OCC access information (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Share assessment and activity ideas
January 9, 2012 *Meeting cancelled due to Highscope COR Assessment training
Team to look at Animalia and Transport units and decide which way they would like to go (for the next unit)
December 5, 2011 Discussion:
- Review of where we are at: Tell me a Story
- Challenges faced with regards to language development: discussion around taking them from where they are at - as opposed to perceived expectations
- Unit focus may need to be changed
- Went through proposed learning engagements and deleted irrelevant/developmentally innapropriate ones
Action: - Visit KG classrooms to get a better idea of where students are at (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Week's progress
- Looking forward
October 31, 2011 Due to reporting commitments, the team was unable to complete the action tasks set out in last week's meeting so the meeting was postponed until later in the week
October 24, 2011 Discussion:
- Establishment of guidelines for effective meetings: Glenn to provide agenda guideline with meeting invitation and meeting follow up with link to overview (wiki page), teachers to read through unit planner (or recommended resource/text) before meeting, questions/discussion to be kept on-topic (as much as possible), bring stuff to write on, one team member to take notes throughout meeting on what needs to be done and who will do it
- Unit one progress
- General review about key elements of unit planner (central idea, lines of inquiry, formative/summative assessment tasks and section 4 activities)
- Priorities: Units need to be at the forefront of the daily structure. Teachers need to be referencing unit vocab (central idea, lines of inquiry, learner profile etc..)
- Ways that the unit can open up: Book week activities
Action:
- Read reflections of teachers from last year (Teachers)
- Review suggested activities and check to see if they fit in with the key concept they are listed under (Teachers)
- Teachers to creat unit displays in preparation for new unit (KG 1 teachers with assistance from Coordinators)
Next Week:
- Review planner - discuss ideas for section 4 activities
- Propose any assessment activities
- Discuss progress with unit displays
October 17, 2011 Meeting with Coordinators to discuss team/unit progress and how most effectively proceed
October 10, 2011 Meeting with Coordinators to discuss team/unit progress and how most effectively proceed
Feb 23rd, 2015
Present: Elmarie, Patrice, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish, Nicola
Location: Nicola's room
Discussion:
Maarium requested that the meeting time be used to discuss the arrangements for the Bake Sale as she is leading a PD on the Inquiry Cycle at this week's PD and wants to save the sharing of learning activities for that. Ms Nicola made a list of delegated tasks.
Ms Patricia invited the KG1 teachers to visit the G3 market day on Tuesday 10th March to expose them to the idea of money being used as a system of exchange in relation to the HWOO unit.
Teachers are to contact Mr Steven to arrange a time if interested.
Next meeting:
Location: Patrice's room
Feb 16th, 2015
Present: Elmarie, Patrice, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish, Nicola
Location: Lesley's room
Compiling all information onto the HWOO unit planner including formative and summative assessment descriptions.
Leanne & Denitra used the time to create the formative 1 graphic organizer.
Provocation changed to teachers presenting the children with a mystery bag of mixed currencies to provoke a reaction. Field trip will be during the 1st/2nd week of unit.
Learning activity idea: to create a class currency to be used to enter the different play areas/pay for snack etc.
Action:
Research and add learning activities to the unit planner (all)
Next meeting;
Location: Patrice's room
Feb 9th, 2015
Parent teacher Conferences
Feb 2nd, 2015
Present: Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish Absent: Nicola
Location: Maarium's room
Discussion:
Create assessments for new unit based on aligned standards
F1: Where money comes from: graphic organizer with four boxes to show-earning through work, gifts (Eid), the mint, ?
F2: Different forms of money: Pictures of money from the UAE, USA & other countries relating to individual classes-students match them and state their value
F3: How money is used: Student picture in the centre of the page, surrounded by empty circles to draw how they will use their money
Summative assessment task: flow chart to show the system of exchanging money in preparation for the cake sale and afterwards, possibly scaffolded by picture cards
Completed possible student-initiated actions, teacher questions, provocation-field trip to Mini Kidzania in Nation Towers mall
Pre-assessment: students draw what they think money is, wheer it comes from and how we use it
Action:
F1: Denitra & Leanne
F2: Aoife
F3: Lesley & Gina
SA task & rubric: Maarium & Patrice
Pre-A: Elmarie
Update planner: Rasha & Patrice
Next meeting:
Location:
Jan 26th , 2015
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Gina's room
Discussion:
HWOO next unit
Decision reached on new central idea and lines of inquiry-see below
Ideas for summative based around flow chart to show how money is a system of exchange-this would be based on real life experience as the student would buy cake ingredients, make the cake, sell the cake and then buy something else from the money.
Money is used as a system of exchange around the world.
People work for money
Different forms of money
How money is used.
c.
c.Give examples to distinguish spending from saving
c.Discuss why we need money
b.Identify how money is used as a medium of exchange
Create assessments for new unit based on aligned standards
Research inquiry based learning activities for HWOO
Reflections on STP
Investigate holding a cake sale (Nicola)
Next meeting: Location: Maarium's room
Jan 19th, 2014
Teachers requested to cancel meeting due to flooding
Jan 12th, 2015
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Elmarie 's room
Working meeting.
Team divided into four groups;
Group 1: HWEO-Nicola & Rasha
Group 2: HWOO-Gina, Lesley & Denitra
Group 3: HTWW-Aoife, Maarium & Patrice
Group 4: STP Planner- Elmarie & Leanne
Groups 1-3 worked on refining/researching new central ideas and lines of inquiry for the above units. Conceptual basis to be loyal to the aligned standards.
Group 4 to add greater detail to the descriptions of the learning activities added into the inquiry cycle.
All work completed and saved in the following folder:
Q:\Curriculum\PYP\Programme of Inquiry\Standards Alignment\Assessments & standards alignment 2014-15
Dec 22nd -Jan 12th Winter Holiday
Dec 8th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Leanne 's room
Meeting time used by dividing into working groups to complete the following tasks;
-Adding formative assessments to Managebac for the previous unit
-Creating the resources and graphic organizers for the present unit's formative assessment tasks;1. Sorting living and non-living things-venn diagram, 2.Matching living things with their needs, 3.Flow chart with three stages of growth for lifecycles.
-Completing standards and assessment alignment document for an overall view of all 5 units and researching for HWOO central idea and lines of inquiry
Action:
As above
Next meeting;
Location: Denitra's room
Dec 1st, 2014 No meeting-National Day Holiday
Nov 24th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Aoife's room
Discussion:
Summative assessment task: students choose materials to create a habitat including its' basic needs . they explain how it grows and changes verbally.
Central idea could use a little wordsmithing to polish it
Scope and sequence, standards not uploaded yet?
Creation of rubric for summative assessment task addressing two standards;a. Identify the common needs such as food, air, and water of familiar living things
(c.) Make and record by drawing, acting out, or describing observations of living things and how they change over time.
SA rubric to be added to Managebac
Action:
Update unit planner on MB and upload SA rubric
Next meeting:
Location: Denitra's room
Nov 16th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Nicola's room
Discussion:
-New unit STP,
Formative asessments: line 1: Matching of living thing and need with section 4 open for the student to create their own, Line 2: Flow chart x 3, Line 3: Sorting living and non-living
Nov 10th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Rasha's room
Discussion:
-Unit planner: possible student-initiated action and resources to be completed.
Also finding out activities in the learning experiences tab: behavior wall, friendship dolls, feelings collage-details need to be given so that all teachers can easily follow.
Nov 3rd, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Location: Elmarie's room
Discussion:
Formative assessments:
Line 1: How to interact well: brick drawing activity
Line 2: Who do we have relationships with: mind map/spidergram
Line 3: Roles & behavior: interview children-list of questions
-Groups specified as family, neighborhood, school, team in standards-this is what will be assessed in the summative
Action:
-Update unit planner on MB (Aoife & Denitra)
Next meeting: Location:
Oct 27th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina Absent: Trish
Discussion:
Nicola to forward minutes
Oct 20th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina, Trish
Discussion:
-New unit: summative assessment-group activity to
-Pre-assessment: pictures of children interacting in different relationships,. Student circles a smiley face or a sad face to save if the behavior affects the relationship positively or negatively
-Provocation: Show the children photographs of who we (teachers) have relationships with (family, friends,co-workers). Discuss who they think these people are and the type of relationships we have with them.
Oct 13th, 2014
-Explanation of new standard alignments-possible new units;
Central idea:
The way we behave affects our relationships with others
Central idea:
Our senses help us to understand (the Earth’s) materials
Central idea:
Central idea:
Living things need certain things to grow and (change)stay healthy
-Who we have relationships with
--How to interact well with others
-Roles and behaviors within relationships
-Our senses
-Use of our senses
-Exploring materials
-The needs of living things
- How living things grow and change
-Our responsibility towards living things
Action:
Begin to research ideas for WWA unit.
Next meeting:
-Collaborative planning of Who we are unit
Oct 6th, 2014
Eid Holiday
Sept 29th, 2014
Sept 22nd, 2014
Sept 15th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina
Discussion:
Group divided into subject groups to align new Colorado Pre-KG standards under the transdisciplinary themes.
Action:
Type up standard alignment document (Trish)
Next meeting:
Review this year's units under new standards
Sept 8th, 2014
Present: Nicola, Elmarie, Angela, Lesley, Denitra, Leanne, Rasha, Maarium, Aoife, Gina
Discussion:
-Provocation video-children just settling into school so there was no time to prepare for the beginning of the unit
-Summative assessment rubric-need to double check standards before creating rubric-High Scope and CC merge on MB
-Summative assessment task changed to playing Duck Duck Goose cooperatively as teachers feel at this stage their students would be unable to complete the original task.
-Pre-assessment: teachers to observe children playing the above game in PE and make anecdotal notes
Action:
-Add all teachers as authors to each unit on MB (Trish) Done
-Collaborate with PE teachers about the SA (Nicola/all)
-Check standard alignment (Trish)
Next meeting:
-Create SA rubric
-Review formative assessments
June 2nd, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
May 26th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
-Revision of central idea for WWA
-Provocation: make a video of children playing uncooperatively
-Teacher questions created
-Summative assessment: PE fully integrated-they will set a group challenge to the children to use equipment to cross the blue playground without their feet touching the floor
-Formative assessment: games that require teamwork e.g assembling a train track
-Pre-assessment: photo and anecdotal notes of the children playing in a group
-Activities added to the tuning in and sorting out sections of the inquiry cycle
Action:
-Create the provocation video (Angela)
-Research inquiry based activities (all)
May 19th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
Meeting time used to reflect on the final unit of the year HWEO.
-Teachers mentioned that not enough time was spent on exploring the concept of imagination and encouraging the children to express their thoughts and ideas through play, art etc.
-They also felt that the assessment rubric needed refining and didn't quite match the task
Action:
To complete reflections (all)
Next meeting:
To begin collaboratively planning the first new unit for next year WWA
May 12th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
Meeting time used to discuss creation of new units-settling in play based unit: Who we are, shape & colour unit for How we express ourselves
May 5th, 2014
Weekly planning meeting: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Absent: Trish (Unwell)
Apr 28th, 2014
Parent Teacher Meetings
Apr 21st, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
-Units for next year-play, daily routines,
-Transdiscilinary theme descriptions-science
-Provocations: what are they, what is the purpose, examples of provocations to inspire
Action:
-Research MBZ & Al Ain units (Trish)
Next meeting:
TBD
Apr 14th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry, Angela
Discussion;
Creating summative assessment tool based on KDI descriptors
Comments for each level; developing, progressing, meeting, exceeding
Next meeting:
Provocations-how to excite and motivate the students
Mar 24th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry Absent: Angela (Sick leave)
Discussion;
-Formative assessment 1-language of nursery rhymes line of inquiry, activity based on rhyming words-matching or creating their own for the more able
-Formative assessment 2-writing prompt, retelling the story of the rhyme
-Adding the pre-assessment description to the unit planner
-Creating summative assessment rubric
Action;
Create summative assessment rubric based on KDIs
Next meeting;
Sharing of assessment tool
Mar 17th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry Absent: Patricia (Covering for Ms Sarah in Grade 1)
Discussion:
-Provocation ideas; pass the parcel, unwrap the nursery rhyme and sing the song in a circle. Story: Harold and the purple crayon-using imaginations
-Formative assessment: students will sequence the events of a nursery rhyme and create an ending using their imagination
-Summative/concert: students use their imagination to re-create a known rhyme changing the character/setting and then express a response through art/drama/writing etc.
Action;
-Summative assessment tool
Next meeting;
TBD
Mar 10th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela Absent: Kerry
Discussion:
-Timeline of units-possibility of adding a fifth unit next year-play based unit at the start of the year for children to settle in
-HWEO: nursery rhymes topic, central idea decided on "Nursery rhymes help our imagination grow"
-Lines of inquiry; 1) The language of nursery rhymes, 2) Sequencing of events (draft), 3) Ways we express our imagination/ourselves
-Pre-assessment: students presented with characters and settings from nursery rhyme and they choose a variety to re-tell a known rhyme
-Summative assessment: students will use their imagination to re-create a known rhyme changing the characters/setting and then express a response through art/drama/writing etc.
-KG1 concert will be on June 4th, it will tie in with this unit
Action:
-Find available nursery rhyme resources felt characters) in the PS (Trish)
-Update MB unit planner (Rasha/Nicola/all)
-FInd out if possible to add a fifth unit (Trish)
-Confirm lines of inquiry (all)
Next meeting:
Formative assessments
Mar 3rd, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela, Kerry
Discussion:
-Summative assessment tool
-Summative assessment format
-Reflections process
Feb 24th, 2014
Meeting cancelled (Trish teaching in Grade)
Feb 17th, 2014
Parent Teacher Meetings
Feb 10th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Updates on unit planner
-Assessment tool for summative assessment: checklist, photo, teacher observations/student's comments
-Reflections from previous unit not quite finished yet, recommendation to complete individually/in pairs as it is more thorough and everyone's opinion is recorded
Action:
-Complete reflections (all)
-Upload assessment tool onto Managebac (Nicola)
Feb 3rd, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
Possible provocation: zoo field trip, mild videos of animals being mistreated to stir up thoughts of why this is unfair etc.
Summative assessment: art project/creative construction with blocks-children create a home for an animal and provide what it needs and talks about their responsibility
Action:
Need to create assessment tool (KG1 team)
Jan 27th, 2014
No meeting scheduled (Trish teaching in Grade 1)
Jan 20th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Responses to questions from previous compiled list;
-OCC-demonstration of how to find resources
-English as a second language strategies for teaching inquiry
-Learner Profile -focus on "teaching" only stipulated attributes per unit, read books/watch video clips related to that attribute but intermingle the vocabulary of the attitudes throughout the day so that the students are exposed to the terminology
-Emilio Reggio approach to KG-focus on exploration and discovery based on the interests of the children
Action:
-Brainstorm ways to help support each other during whole group time with distracted kids who do not listen (all)
Next meeting:
Looking ahead at the next unit STP
Jan 13th, 2014
Ms Nicola requested the meeting to be cancelled as team were up to date
Jan 6th, 2014
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Format of summative assessment task for HWOO
-Assessment tool-questionnaire and rubric
Action:
-Completion of assessment tool and add onto Managebac (Angela & Elmarie)
Next meeting:
-Review of inquiry cycle learning tasks
-Teaching the transdisciplinary skills with KG children
Dec 2nd, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Summative assessment task-dress up and role-play activity
-Formative assessment: matching pictures of people in the community and what their roles are
Next meeting:
-Creating assessment tool for summative assessment
Nov 25th, 2013
Ms Nicola requested that meeting be cancelled in preparation for National Day
Nov 18th, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Backward by Design-Conceptual understanding versus thematic activities
-Understanding of the central idea to be directly related to the summative assessment
-Learning tasks to be inquiry based related to the concepts, avoiding "hands on without being minds on"
-How to use the Key Concepts as a tool for teaching
Action:
-Research inquiry based KG learning tasks relating to the next two units (all)
Next meeting:
-Incorporating quality inquiry tasks into planner and reviewing Classroom Connections teaching strategies
Nov 11th, 2013
Meeting cancelled due to Parent Teacher Meetings
Nov 4th, 2013
Holiday: Hijra New Year
Oct 28th, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Whole grade reflections for the entire meeting.
Oct 21st, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Rasha, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-How to do reflections on Managebac
-Weekly planning for current unit
Action:
-Begin reflections individually on current planner (all)
-Update WWA planner by adding all teacher names, pre-assessment results and list resources (Maarium)
Oct 7th, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Inquiry based activities for next week after holiday
Sept 30th, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley, Angela
Discussion:
-Review inquiry cycle
-Discuss assessment pieces
-Clarification of November Cluster workshops
Sept 23rd, 2013
Present: Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley Absent: Angela
Discussion:
-Reading Street will be implemented in KG1, following a modified version focusing on letter sounds and blending
-All learning tasks are to be included in the Tuning In section of the unit planner
-Weekly planning documents to be saved on the q drive
Action:
Update pre-assessment findings in section 3 of the unit planner (Maarium)
Next meeting:
Review inquiry cycle
Sept 19, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Elmarie, Nicola, Shivania, Denitra, Kerry, Aoife, Gina, Lesley
Discussion:
-Summative assessment-activity needs to be specified on the planner
-Pre-assessment needs to be updated to the new selected activity
-Responsibility for updating planners on Managebac: Unit 1: Maarium, Unit 2: Elmarie, Unit 3: Angela, Unit 4: Nicola
Action:
-Inquire into implementation of Reading Street in KG1 (Trish/Sarah G/Saher)
-Locate US standards appropriate to KG1 (Trish/Mary)
Next meeting:
Inquiry activities
NEW ACADEMIC YEAR
April 18, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Reviewed planner progress from this week: great stuff!
- Section 3: reorganization so as to more accurately reflect formative tasks
Action:
- Continue to develop sorting out/going further activities
Next Meeting:
- Further develop summative task descriptor
- Review progress
April 18, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Sara B took the chair (Yay Sara!)
- Completed reflection section of STP unit
Action:
- Continue to develop HWEO
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and continue to devlop HWEO
March 7, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Development of HWEO unit: realized that our focus for this unit does not really align with the organizing theme. Brainstormed and looked for other possibilities.
- Reviewed the organizing theme descriptor with a view to finding which aspects are not covered within the POI: only 'discovery of nature' was (not) evident.
Action:
- Find sample planners and present ideas to KG2 team (Glenn)
- Look for possiblities on the OCC or other places (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Decide on and develop new unit
February 21, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Developed KG1 POI planning document for 2013-2014
February 21, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Beverly, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Reviewed outcomes and transferred them across to the standards alignment (KG1 POI) document
- KG1 concert date: needs to be rescheduled
- Sara B attacked by a rabbit
- No need for the KG1 POI to change for the 2013-2014 school year
Action:
- Continue to complete KG1 planning document (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
February 14, 2013
*Meeting held off campus
February 7, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Nicola, Glenn (Apologies: Sharon)
Discussion:
- Reviewed progress made since last session: all complete! (and more..)
- Chose transdisciplinary skills and developed LP activities section
- Reviewed skills/concepts etc checklist
Action:
- Continue with tuning in and finding out
Next Meeting:
- Off campus..
January 31, 2013
Present: Angela, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Nicola, Glenn (Apologies: Sharon)
Discussion:
- Developed summative task description
- Continued to populate inquiry cycle
- reviewed activities from previous year and placed some into inquiry cycle
- Discussed assessment tasks
Action:
- Develop assessment tools for developed tasks (KG1 team)
- Develop assessment task/tools for other outcome in section 3 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
January 24, 2013
*No school: Prophet Mohamed's birthday
January 17, 2012
Present: Anissa, Angela, Rasha, Maarium, Sarah B, Sarah W, ElMarie, Sharon, Nicola, Glenn
Discussion:
- Review (and renaming) of assessment tools for STP
- Reflection section of HWOO
- Assessment tools for STP: developed
- As Thursday is a holiday next week there will be no unit planning meeting
Action:
- Population of inquiry cycle for STP: specifically tuning in, finding and sorting out (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and continue to develop inquiry cycle
January 9, 2013
Present: Sarah B, Sarah W, Nicola, Beverly, Angela, Elmarie, Anissa, Glenn
Discussion:
- Review of progress since last meeting
- Assessment tasks and tools
- What needs to be done in order to complete the unit
- STP planner: process by which we need to go in order to develop assessmentt asks and tools before the unit has begun
Action:
- Look at STP planner and think of possible assessment tasks (KG1 team)
- Develop ELA outcomes for (at least) writing and Speaking and Listening (KG2 team)
Next Meeting:
- Develop assessment tasks for STP
- Delegate assessment tool development
December 13, 2012
*Team met off campus
December 6, 2012
*Team met independently (Glenn absent)
November 22, 2012
Present: Sarah B, Sarah W, Nicola, Beverly, Angela, Anissa, Glenn
Discussion:
- ENS standards vs. COR: ENSS contain the outcomes that we use across grades K-5, COR are indicators and are provide the structure for the system that we report out on (online COR). Science and Social Science standards are embedded within our units, next steps as we move forward will involve us in embedding ELA and Math standards: we do not have 3 sets of standards....
- Tidying up of planner for unit #2: developed assessment tasks in section 3 and chose transdisciplinary skills focus for the unit
Action:
- Document COR items with aligned assessment tasks and ENSS (Sarah w?)
- Develop assessment tasks for remaining oputcomes in section 3 (KG1 team)
- Develop assessment tools for assessment tasks (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
November 20, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Maria, Glenn
Discussion:
*Meeting with IB Consultant regarding progress since last visit, challenges, and most urgent needs
November 8, 2012
*Meeting held without Glenn due to Application for Authorization needs
November 1, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn
Discussion:
- Sharing and documenting ideas for HWOO unit
Action:
-
Next Meeting:
- Population of the inquiry cycle for unit #2
- Development of assessment tasks and tools
October 18, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn
Discussion:
- Discussion of student developmental level: reality check..
- Teacher scribing
- Review progress with action items from last week: great job!
- Documentation of experiences related to the development of the LP attributes
- Exploration/discussion of the aligned COR/KDI/ENS standards: difficult to work out in this format
- Possibly: use KG2 ELA outcomes, document in section 3 with aligned tasks, use Highscope alignment document to find aligned COR items
Action:
- Ask Mary about whether our ideas on how to use the aligned standards is correct (Glenn)
- Select ELA outcomes for unit #1 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review review review
- Look at unit #2
October 11, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Rasha, Glenn
Discussion:
- Q drive directory: navigation, Team Planning folders, Pics and videos etc..
- Unit #1: format of aligned COR items; to do's
- Learner Profile Assemblies v. strategies to develop LP within class/grade
- Off campus meetings
- Changes: doing it right the first time. Would be nice, in a perfect world. Fact is the "changes" that are happening are the things that are helping us to grow and improve. Without them we would become static, and that's not an option.
Action:
- Reorganize COR assessment items to resemble KG2s (Sarah W)
- Create (LP aligned) reflection template (Sarah B)
- Document LP activities in section 4 of planner (KG1 team)
- Choose Transdisciplinary skills for section 4 (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress
- Begin pre-planning for unit #2
October 4, 2012
* Meeting held off campus
September 27, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Beverly, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Glenn
Discussion:
- Planner - assessment tasks and inquiry cycle: reviewed progress with current planner, discussed formatting and content placement.
- Development of assessment tools/tasks: tasks for unit #1 done
- Pre-planning for unit #2: Went through planner and 'de-yellowed' bits that were good/deleted bits that shouldn't be there. Discussed summative assessment task
Action:
- Paste summative rubric onto page 6 of the planner (Sarah Cindy B)
- Develop activities for the development of the Learner Profile and Attitudes - document in section 4 (KG1 team)
- Choose transdisciplinary skills and document in section 4 (KG1 team)
Next meeting:
- Revisit WWA planner and review the above
September 20, 2012
Present: Sharon, Sarah W, Sara B, Beverly, Elmarie, Nicola, Maarium, Angela, Glenn
Discussion:
- Assessment: aligning content standards with areas of the COR will be key in ensuring that the process of reporting to parents runs smoothly
- Inquiry cycles: second main focus is to look at incorporating the stages of the KM inquiry cycle
- COR anecdotals:
- COR training for new teachers:
Action:
- Develop assessment (tasks and tools) that are aligned with the proposed SS outcomes for the first unit (KG1 team)
- Take (the above) and rewrite into section 3 of the planner (Glenn)
- Start to plot out learning engagements into inquiry cycle stages on 5th page of the planner (KG1 team/Glenn)
- Speak with Saher about Highscope/COR unpack sessions for new KG2 teachers - bi-weekly Tuesday afternoons? (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress with planner
September 16, 2012
Present: Sharon, Angela, Nicola, Elmarie, Maarium, Sarah W, Sarah B, Beverly, James, Glenn
Discussion:
- Unit progress: still very much settling in, starting with some pre-assessment activities
- Planner: need to ensure that we keep on top of this this year. Next steps will be to link assessment tasks to elements of COR and place into section 3
- Assessment: Need to work on aligning elements of the COR with unit assessment tasks and make them explicit in documentation. This will be a big focus for the year, but will help to tie everything together when it comes time to report out to parents.
- Issues: computers taking up too much space - communicate this to Mr Gustav
- Portfolio files also cumbersome - look at using A3 plastic pocket folders for next year?
- Saving files locally for the next couple of weeks until all data has been tranferred across tot he new (common drive) directory
Action:
- Send planner for first unit to Glenn/Saher (Sharon)
- Look at proposed assessment tasks, align them elements of the COR and embed them in section 3 of the planner (Beverly, Sarah)
Next Meeting:
- Review assessment tasks
- Review planner development
June 13, 2012
Present: All of KG1, Glenn
Discussion:
- Moving stuff
- Continued to develop and refine KG1 POI for 2012-2013: specifically with regards to CI refinement and development of core assessments
- Assessments vs. activities: tools (with common criteria) are the key
- Next steps
Action:
- Continue to develop assessment ideas (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Review progress and check vertical alignment
June 12, 2012
Present: All of KG1, Arabic teachers, Glenn
Discussion:
- Continued to develop and refine KG1 POI for 2012-2013
Action:
- Look at LP, Attitudes, and Assessments (KG2 team)
- Develop whole school POI draft (Glenn)
Next Meeting: - Review progress - Discuss assessment ideas
June 11, 2012
Present: Anju, Sharon Rasha, Glenn
Discussion:
- Continued to develop POI with particular consideration to vertical alignment
February 27, 2012
*Team planning (without Coordinator)
February 20, 2012
Present: Sharon, Elmarie, Maarium, Nicola, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn
Discussion:
- Meeting notes from last week
- Causation line of inquiry: picture card activity - develop vocab and sentence structure
- Field trip
- Passports
- Question chart: progress with developing questioning skills within the classroom
- Ways to assess within the lines of inquiry: matching up unit assessment tasks with specific parts of the COR
- How to get reflection sections done: now or later
- KG1 Concert ideas
Action:
- Causation activity idea onto planner (Glenn)
- Think about ways to link specific COR assessment components to unit activities (KG1 team)
Next Meeting:
- Reflection sections of planners?
- Look ahead to CI and LOI of final unit?
February 6, 2012
*Meeting cancelled due to COR assessment deadlines
January 30, 2012
Present: Sharon, Elmarie, Maarium, Nicola, Beverly, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn
Discussion:
- Summative assessment ideas: ways that they could easily be transferrable to HighScope
- Make My Child Love School: Materials/Manipulatives/Choice/Language/Support
- Email...
- Lines of Inquiry: The different purposes for going on a Journey - does it necessitate a depth of thinking?
- HighScope friendly ideas for Journeys
- Field Trip to Khalifa Park
Action:
- Continue to come up with activity/assessment ideas (KG1 Team)
- Transfer activity ideas to planner (Glenn)
- Develop criteria tool for summative assessment task(s) (KG1 Team)
- Develop ideas for 'Reasons why we go ona Journey' - or rethink it.. (All)
Next Meeting:
- Review classroom/planner alignment
- Review progress with planner
- Assessment tasks for Lines of Inquiry
January 16, 2012
Present: Sharon, Elmarie, James, Trish, James, Maarium, Nicola, Sarah B, Sarah W, Glenn
Discussion:
- OCC access and orientation; Sharon didn't receive the email - - Which unit to do next: Journeys decided upon as the CI is less complex (and hence demanding)
- International day activities could be incorporated into this unit
- Journeys Central Idea modified to:
We go on journeys in different ways and for different purposes
- Lines of inquiry generally fine (re-ordered)
- 'What defines a journey?' Going to school/the mall; going to Dubai; going to Oman; going to Grandma's; going to France etc. can going to the bathroom be a journey? Yes if we decide that it is!
Action:
- Generate/create Highscope friendly activities (that relate to the development of the understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry) - be ready to share at next week's planning meeting (KG1 team)
- Resend OCC access information (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Share assessment and activity ideas
January 9, 2012
*Meeting cancelled due to Highscope COR Assessment training
Team to look at Animalia and Transport units and decide which way they would like to go (for the next unit)
December 5, 2011
Discussion:
- Review of where we are at: Tell me a Story
- Challenges faced with regards to language development: discussion around taking them from where they are at - as opposed to perceived expectations
- Unit focus may need to be changed
- Went through proposed learning engagements and deleted irrelevant/developmentally innapropriate ones
Action:
- Visit KG classrooms to get a better idea of where students are at (Glenn)
Next Meeting:
- Week's progress
- Looking forward
October 31, 2011
Due to reporting commitments, the team was unable to complete the action tasks set out in last week's meeting so the meeting was postponed until later in the week
October 24, 2011
Discussion:
- Establishment of guidelines for effective meetings: Glenn to provide agenda guideline with meeting invitation and meeting follow up with link to overview (wiki page), teachers to read through unit planner (or recommended resource/text) before meeting, questions/discussion to be kept on-topic (as much as possible), bring stuff to write on, one team member to take notes throughout meeting on what needs to be done and who will do it
- Unit one progress
- General review about key elements of unit planner (central idea, lines of inquiry, formative/summative assessment tasks and section 4 activities)
- Priorities: Units need to be at the forefront of the daily structure. Teachers need to be referencing unit vocab (central idea, lines of inquiry, learner profile etc..)
- Ways that the unit can open up: Book week activities
Action:
- Read reflections of teachers from last year (Teachers)
- Review suggested activities and check to see if they fit in with the key concept they are listed under (Teachers)
- Teachers to creat unit displays in preparation for new unit (KG 1 teachers with assistance from Coordinators)
Next Week:
- Review planner - discuss ideas for section 4 activities
- Propose any assessment activities
- Discuss progress with unit displays
October 17, 2011
Meeting with Coordinators to discuss team/unit progress and how most effectively proceed
October 10, 2011
Meeting with Coordinators to discuss team/unit progress and how most effectively proceed