These past few weeks, our Kindergarten stu-dents have been inquiring into Imagination and Art under the theme How We Express Ourselves. Throughout this inquiry they have explored how we can communicate through art, how different materials can be used to help with creativity as well as finding the links between literature and art. To start off their unit, they explored different colors and read the short story Glad Monster, Sad Monster. Sometimes it's hard to tell someone that you are sad, happy, lonely, or glad. This joyful book guides children to discuss feelings in an easy and nonthreatening way. After reading this book, students had to create their own Feeling Monster. They also explored famous Artists such as Jim Dine and recreated some of his masterpieces which linked perfectly with their unit of inquiry.

We Are Communicators

Grade 2 students will have the opportunity to introduce last month's IB learner profile: Communicator. They have begun cre-ating a presentation in which the students will showcase what it means to be a communicator and how we can develop this skill as we grow. Students will be using their background knowledge and personal experiences to create an informative presentation for our Holy Cross community of learners.

HOLY CROSS ACADEMIE INTERNATIONALE

PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME (PYP)

March 2017 Volume 2 Issue 5

PYP EXPRESS

IB Learner Profile of the Month

Principled

We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communi-ties. We take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.

Imagination and Art

Exhibition

Date: May 4, 2017

Time: 6:30

Who: Grade 5 families Please join us in celebrating our Grade 5 PYP Exhibition happening May 4th , 2017. Students will showcase their projects at this time. A formal invitation will be sent shortly.

Grade 5 Exhibition Process

Our Grade 5 Exhibition is well underway! Following many presentations last month, students have begun thinking of their actions and how they will contribute, as a team, to their commu-nity under the theme Sharing The Planet. Students have also been developing their communi-cation, social and self-management skills this month while working with Robotics under the supervision of Edmonton Catholic’s technology consultant, Mr. John Korassa. Last month, parent mentors had an initial meeting with Mme Labossière, Mme Shipka and Mlle Smith during which they received additional information about their roles as mentors. During this brief meeting, parent mentors also had the opportunity to have a first meeting with their group. A big thank you to our volunteers! Students were more than inspired when brain storming ideas! We can’t wait to see what they learn and what directions their projects take!

How the world works

Grade 4 students are finishing up their unit How the World Works. During this theme, students developed their innovation by constructing and using simple machines. They inquired about different device designs as well as different energy sources used to pro-pel their machines. Students then con-structed their own devices and devel-oped the following skills: planning, testing, reflecting and self-evaluation. The students communicated their un-derstandings using the scientific vo-cabulary from concepts learned. Dur-ing construction, students had the op-portunity to apply prior knowledge from past concepts studied in Science. Students also welcomed a guest speaker from ASN to further develop their learning during hands-on experi-ences.

Celebration of Learning!

We are excited to see you all on March 16th for our Celebration of Learning. During this celebration, stu-dents will have the opportunity to show you what they have been learning at school. This will also be the per-fect time to go through your child’s portfolio. The portfolio is a collection of your child’s work completed throughout units of inquiry, as well as regular tasks. This is also a place for self-reflection on some of the IB essential elements covered within the past two terms. This year, we will also have a fun treasure hunt on our main floor and réseau which will allow you to discover more about our PYP and MYP Programmes. The Scavenger Hunt Map