My 6th grade students from Mesa and Chandler are part of an International Baccalaureate program. This program teaches them to use Learner Profiles to develop character by becoming balanced, caring, communicators, thinkers, principled, open-minded, inquirers, reflective, responsible, and risk-taking. By following these traits, they learn to work in a global community by showing empathy, stewardship, and by having compassion for others.
My students question why and how things work and how to make the world a better place.
Students in my class work collaboratively in order to study and conduct research in six different units of learning. In the last unit that they complete, they determine and complete research about a problem occurring in the world. After researching the problem, they volunteer for 8-10 hours to do their part in making the world better. Upon completion of their hours, they write an essay and complete a display board to present and teach the community.
My Project
We will be studying how people express values and beliefs through culture. With all of the units, students read literature in order to gain background information related to the unit. This year I have selected a new book, The Refugee, that provides a solid background for my students.
The Refugee teaches about different cultures during historical time periods through the eyes of a child refugee.
Josef is escaping Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Isabel is escaping Cuba in 1994, and Mahmoud is escaping Syria in 2015.
This all leads to students researching a country of their choice in depth to create an informative brochure about their country’s geography and culture. Within this unit, students also write a creative story set in the country they researched. The unit culminates in an International Festival where student work is displayed, a cultural food dish is shared, and the community is invited to attend.
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