The Learning Hub is a shared space for all members of the YIS community to learn — a place to share resources, display projects, communicate ideas and help others by viewing and commenting on each others’ posts. Student, teacher and class blogs are at the heart of the Learning Hub, providing timely, first-hand views of the myriad learning experiences taking place in the classroom and beyond.
Recent Posts
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Focus on VISUAL COMMUNICATION: Making choices about emotions, actions, and setting in conveying a key moment in our stories - Grade 2 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram https://ift.tt/2NelQOs
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Inter-Cultural Communication, GCD Post 4[audio m4a="https://blogs.yis.ac.jp/19schuhmacherl/files/2019/02/GCD-4-Intercultural-27u5qlq.m4a"]
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Focus on PERSPECTIVE: Describing what we made from trash (“creative materials”) and explaining how our perception of garbage has changed - Grade 3 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2GymIgC
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Class 4: Exploring & researching portrait artists, discovering what artworks they made, wondering why they made them - Grade 6B Visual Art #art #MYP #yislearning #middleschoolart #arteducation #teachersofinstagramView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2TQtvFf
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Focus on PRACTICE: Working our MY FAVORITE THINGS illustrations before drawing them in our hand-made books - Kindergarten Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2XcnmFE
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GCD - WellnessGCD Criteria: That you have knowledge of what makes a person well physically, mentally/emotionally, socially, and spiritually, and that you have developed practices for keeping yourself well. You provide evidence of a regular practice you engage in to support your wellness in two of physical, mental/emotional, social or spiritual wellness and reflect on how these practices have benefited you. From years of sports including basketball, I know that I have a weakness in stamina and it deteriorates when it is offseason. To make myself more physically fit for the season, I started jumping 5 minutes of jump rope every day. This made me ready in stamina and also increased my height in jumping. I also dance outside of school and there I do a lot of muscle training to strengthen my core. I noticed that strengthening my core could help me get more power when I am in the air which is important in blocking and spiking. Core muscle also helps me stand up quickly after I dive....
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Focus on IDEATION: Thinking ahead to our next visiting artist, formulating an idea for our urushi lacquerware projects - Grade 5 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Ih2xFh
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InS 10: Disorder research question in Stigma and treatmentNow that you have a good understanding of a disorder, its prevalence and its symptoms, it is time to look at stigma and treatment. Researching Psychology. A message from Ms Vance:"YIS has JSTOR, which you can browse by subject, as well as basic and advanced searches of course. Here's a link to the Psychology section of JSTOR, which you can search within exclusively. You've got access at school by IP address, but to use it at home, you have to create a personal account while you're at school first. EbscoHost - Science Reference Center database also has psychology resources, although they are likely easier to access if you look at the subject terms SRC uses before you start searching. Working with databases, as you know, can be frustrating when encountering them for more or less the first time. I would be DELIGHTED to come into your classes and train kids how to use them. 🙂 Same goes for History, economics and geography. They've been exposed to these databases as part of their PP but subject specific training on how to use them on a DP level would be very helpful for them.See also Exploring Databases for Psych Research"Summative assessment: In groups, you will create a short video on a disorder, answering a research question that you will create about either stigma, treatment or bothYour research question question must be:...
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InS 8: Quoting and ParaphrasingQuotations and paraphrasing Note taking: Cornell Notes VEEC...
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Welcome!Here are my top five posts that reflect my journey to receiving the Global Citizens Diploma with Distinction. © Background found on Pinterest.
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Global Understanding: Hope CambodiaTo understand more about the events happening all around the world, I joined the Hope Service Group. This group, in particular, focused on the rural areas of Cambodia, and what is occurring. We meet every Day 10 on our ten-day schedule to discuss different ways to raise money to build schools and wells and other things that are useful for the citizens living in rural areas. When I first joined the group they told us our goal was to raise ¥2,750,000. To do this successfully, we were divided into groups of 3-5 people each, and each group came up with different ways of fundraising. For my group, we sold snacks at several school events, we held some bake sales, started a go-fund-me page and many other things. They also organized a trip every year for 20 people to visit the previous projects and help build the current project. Unfortunately, due to some family business, I wasn’t able to join the trip. Nevertheless, we are still raising money....
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Community Engagement: Sustainability ProjectIn this world, the biggest problem is Global Climate change. The reason why I do not say Global Warming is because not every country is heating up, some heat up and some cool down. To stop this issues there are many solutions. Two of them being recycling and upcycling. Therefore my friend started this club at my school, the “Sustainability Project”. It aims for people to reuse their clothing and upcycle so you want to wear recycled clothing. Since an abundance of people does not realize the consequences of throwing their garbage in the sea or even drinking out of a PET bottle, it is my, and others who partake in this service groups, responsibility to raise awareness....
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Advanced Academics: AISA Math OsakaAISA Math Osaka is a Math competition that Seisen Osaka International School hosted from Feb. 01 2018 to Feb. 03 2018. At this competition, the sole purpose was to strengthen your problem-solving skills, collaboration and deepen your math knowledge. It consisted of many 2-hour long individual tests, many group work activities and lastly a boat competition, to relieve some stress from the math....
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Public Communication: Model United NationsModels United Nations (MUN) is a club at my school, and many other schools, where we practice debating about current events. We write and present position papers, that is an introduction to where you stand on the topic, then you find other students who have the same point of view and write for/against speeches. The first official event I attended was KMUN, which was a MUN conference at K International School Tokyo (KIST). The topic of debate was: Forestalling the acquisition of nuclear weapons by rogue states and sub-national groups...
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Artistic Expression: PhotographyWhen I was younger my sister was so good at photography, and I always wanted to be good at photography too, however, I never was. So I became very demotivated, per contra, a few years ago I wanted to try it again. Turns out, I had developed an eye for amazing shots! I continued to evolve my skill and grew passionate. I asked tips from a few photographers and they gave me advice and a website (creativelive.com), where I got further advice on photography. Now, I am thinking of making a blog where you can buy my artworks. This changed my view of the world. I realized you can monetize any hobby you have, of course, only if you want to, and you can dive into any passion and surround yourself with happiness. Photography is very important in my life because it allows me to express myself, how I am feeling at that point, in one picture, and if I apply filters, it amplifies my feelings. I do this through the use of color, usually, when I am feeling happy and excited I use pink hues, or augment the sunlight to make the picture radiate. As seen below:...
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ATL portfolios!!!Please update these for homework. I will check these next lesson
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Focus on FORM: What is the difference between 2D and 3D? - Grade 1 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2BzZa6K
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Focus on COMMUNICATION: Incorporating facial expression, body movement, & setting into illustrations to express a moment from our original stories - Grade 2 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2tjqOjO
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Class 3: Practicing peer-critiques, refining the value & gradation scales, and discussing why humans are expressive creatures - Grade 6B Visual Art #art #MYP #yislearning #middleschoolart #arteducation #teachersofinstagramView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2GCo5d7
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Focus on PERSISTENCE: Staying focused & solving problems as we work to complete the trash (“creative materials”) artworks- Grade 3 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2N1ssQf
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Focus on COMMUNICATION: Using drawn images to convey things that are important to us - Kindergarten Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Sq01Bs
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InS10: Stigma towards Mental DisordersNow that you have a good understanding of a disorder, its prevalence and its symptoms, it is time to look at stigma and treatment. What has surprised you in your research or in the posters you have looked at What are some misconceptions that people have about mental disorders? Can mental disorders be treated? How? What are some misconceptions that people have about treating mental disorders? Source: New York Times, 2017/2/14...
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Focus on ENVISIONING: Sketching & labeling a plan that indicates the eventual colors, patterns, and/or imagery for our clay vessels - Grade 5 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2N6jFwB
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Focus on PROCESS: Planning & creating simple stop-motion animations with limited materials - Grade 4 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2TrVMBM
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Focus on ABSTRACT: Using lines, shapes, and colors to create pictures that are ‘not realistic’ - Kindergarten Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2G8vCB7
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Class 2: Discussing approaches to learning, improvement (not perfection), and creating value & gradation scales - Grade 6B Visual Art #art #MYP #yislearning #middleschoolart #arteducation #teachersofinstagramView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2GjOLze
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Focus on RESPECT: Working with others in a supportive, positive manner - Grade 1 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2SqRKwf
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Focus on EXPRESSION: Practice using facial expression, body movement, and setting to convey a scene from an original story - Grade 2 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2DNpxYw
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GCD Global UnderstandingEver since I was young, my family have moved around because of my fathers work. Because of this, we also travel to multiple nearby countries to where we live, and I have gotten to experience multiple different cultures. In this post, I will be looking at the power and privilege through the environment and political aspect in Sweden and Japan. To start, I will look at the environmental differences between Sweden and Japan. Since both countries are well off economically, they have the ability to change their environments, however, as there are multiple differences in aspects such as geographical location and culture, the environments differ greatly. In Sweden, there are big cities, however, the majority of the country is vastly surrounded by nature, such as rivers, forests, and farmland. However, where I live in Japan, it is a concrete jungle of big cities and shopping experiences. As Japan is heavily influenced by American culture, there are many shopping opportunities, and unfortunately, not much nature, as I am used to, being from Europe. Of course, having a good tourist destination is also useful as it makes countries well off economically, so since Japanese culture differs greatly from European culture, many people choose Japan as a vacation destination in order to experience the country. Due to this, it makes Japan well off economically as tourism brings in a lot of money. This is also the case for Sweden, big cities, such as Stockholm, get a lot of tourists as the city is widely known. Sweden also gets a lot of visitors due to natural phenomenon in the environment. One instance of this is the northern lights that can be seen up in the north. So, even though the two countries have great differences in environment, both are well off economically in term of tourism, but for different reasons. In Sweden, there is high importance on protecting the environment (image 2)....
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Focus on TOOLS & MATERIALS: How can we combine & use found materials to create new artworks? - Grade 3 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2HFwaA3
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Focus on PERSISTENCE: Making a second effort in glazing our clay creature sculptures with realistic details - Kindergarten Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2SfLW8H
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Class 1: Introduction to art class & drawing self-portraits - Grade 6B Visual Art #art #MYP #yislearning #middleschoolart #arteducation #teachersofinstagramView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2BbtioO
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GCD - Global UnderstandingDuring summer break, I had the opportunity to study in New York for a month. It was my first time in the mainland of US although I have been to Hawaii several times. During the visit, I took courses such as politics and human rights, and speech and debate. We had unlimited train passes and were free to go to almost anywhere we wanted, however, there were some boundaries to where we were allowed to travel. I could tell that the boundaries were not chosen due to the distance from the school, as I stayed in a dorm at a university on 116th street but 125th street was off boundaries....
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Skills obtained through schoolThe bad thing about IB is that it gives the students a heap of work which induces chronic stress daily. The good thing is, it encourages critical thinking and other academic skills such as research and inquiry. I was able to practice some of these skills through the IB courses. RESEARCH...
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Rugby Team CaptainAs a child I hated all sports with a passion; competitive for no apparent reason, it induces physical fatigue and potential injuries. Soccer was especially popular among my schoolmates, but I didn't like it as I wasn't good at it. So I went through middle school without participating in sports, taking no interest in collaboration or leadership opportunities. My friends started getting interested bodybuilding, and little by little I did too: by the start of high school I sailed on weekends and went to the gym available at school at least 3 times a week. This is when at a new school, I befriended this Australian-South African boy. He invited me to join a fitness session with his rugby team; I wasn't so keen at first but through pressure from my mother and politeness I decided to attend....
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GCD - Artistic Expression - Becoming A MusicianI started to take piano lessons in 3rd grade, following the steps of my brother. I then had violin classes in school in 4th grade and continued in middle school. Now in high school, I have taken up the flute in the school Symphonic Band, joined the school choir at times, and consistently been a part of the school Jazz Combo. I have also been passionate about composing music, starting from 9th grade, and am looking to pursue composition in my future studies. Like this, music has been one of the main driving factors of my life, and I suspect that it will continue being that way....
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GCD - Intercultural Communication - Bilingualism and CambodiaBeing Bilingual: From when I was a child, I was already exposed to bilingualism. I lived in Australia for the first half of my life speaking and learning English in school, while I spoke Japanese at home. To be completely honest, I didn't think of much as a small child, of the opportunities I had of speaking two languages. (with the exception of course, of speaking with one Japanese friend about things that I wanted to keep private, as all kids do.) Growing up however, I have come to realize these opportunities. Online, I have come to realize how fortunate I am to be able to understand articles and tutorial videos about many topics in two different languages. This has often helped me in my tasks in school, such as my Extend Essay (EE). In my EE, I looked at a Japanese composer, and although there were papers and articles done about him in English, many of his own words were only in Japanese. Thus, by being able to understand such words, I was able to have a deeper understanding of who he is, and how his life has influenced his music....
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GCD - Community Engagement- Varsity VolleyballMy volleyball team was a small but important community I was able to be a part of during my years of playing volleyball in the Varsity team. My volleyball endeavours as a school activity started in 11th grade when I already loved volleyball. I was unable to join the team in the prior year, most likely because of an injury during tryouts. My 11th-grade year was when I could finally be a part of the team. The team consisted of 3 seniors, 6 sophomores, 1 freshman player, and a few of my friends as juniors, and I hadn't talked to the people outside of my grade as much before. As an introvert like myself, I didn't feel confident in fitting in with the team, even though I was determined to perform well and become a starting member. As volleyball is about teamwork and being vocal on and off the court, I had to force myself to be vocal, encourage each other with our plays, and work together as a team in order to win. Unfortunately, before the crucial tournaments of the season, I injured myself and had to play handicapped throughout the tournament matches. This meant that I would be on the bench a lot of the times, and only put on the court in times of need. Fighting through the pain, I taped my fingers and tried as hard as I could in the matches I played so that I could boost my team's chances of winning even if by a small amount....
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GCD - Global Understanding - Cambodia TripThe Cambodia service trip allowed me to understand the difference in living conditions between Cambodia and Japan, and was able to educate me in terms of the various perspectives on connecting with other cultures, and helping developing countries. Through the HOPE Cambodia service group, in collaboration with the HOPE International Development Agency, I was able to gather funds, fly over to Pursat Cambodia, and experience first hand on what kind of development is being made in the area. The trip allowed me to understand my relationship between Power/Privilege, and the following: Firstly, the trip allowed me to understand both a global and local perspective on the economic situations seen in a developing nation such as Cambodia. It was already evident that there was a large economic difference in power between Cambodia and Japan, when I set foot into Phnom Penh. Although the city was full of touristy buildings and quirks, the roads weren't as developed, and the streets weren't as sanitary. All of this was to be expected, however, having visited other South-East Asian countries that are still in the developing process. What shocked me more was when I visited families who were on the wait-list to receive a well for their daily needs. These families lived off of only $2 a day and had to walk miles to receive water from a river. One family had a member with a disease on their throat, which they could not afford to treat properly, and had to survive on communal supplies of small medicine. This visit to these families was when I most certainly realized our privileges of living in a developed nation, and the power our help can create in other members of society. For these people, a well was going to make their lives a lot easier, as they could afford time and water to grow sustainable crops for income or time to go work outside for sustained income. It could also provide safety for those with disabilities, without them needing to suffer from needed labour of going out to retrieve water....
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Focus on FORM: Using 3D modeling skills to create small sculptures based on Japanese ‘netsuke’ (using clay instead of the traditional wood or ivory)- Grade 5 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Ti9s21
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International Student AwardAs part of the LGBTQ+ Human Rights Group, I was honoured to receive the International Student Award "in recognition of their contributions to the promotion of global citizenship and the development of international awareness in the community" from the Council of International Schools (CIS). Why would the CIS award us? One event that particularly concerns us every year is the Rainbow Parade in Tokyo. It takes a lot of effort in planning and advertising. In our case, we signed up to the event via TELL -a counselling organization we work with- so that was easy, but we had to advertise and advocate for the parade which is a little more tricky. We created posters and messages in the daily. I personally gave a little speech in one of the DP assemblies. We kept talking about it, and why it is important to go to try to get more people coming. I think it worked....
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Personal Goal: There is No Wrong or Right... Only WRITE (Starting a personal writing blog to spark joy and promote skill)From infancy up until the start of high school, I was raised with books as a part of my identity. This passion for stories and words eventually progressed towards me synthesizing my own material. Since I began, creative writing has become an important artistic medium of communication for me. When I moved to South Africa, I realised I had a talent and passion for words went beyond reading. I was pushed to write, analyse, and work creatively by my English teacher, who placed me in class that (though challenging and far from my comfort zone) expanded my appreciation for literature and its analysis on a thematic and technical level I hadn’t experienced before. I applied what I was inspired by through writing prose as means of catharsis. Later, through the inspiration of a writer friend I realised stories weren’t something I just had to read....
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GCD(Inter-cultural communication)In Grade 9, I was fortunate enough to participate in a week exchange trip to Cartagena Spain from my international school in London. I had been taking Spanish over the years so it was a great learning opportunity to absorb Hispanic tradition as a part of my learning. When we arrived in Cartagena, I was introduced to my host family and it was a great way for us to exchange names and get to know each other more. Expect the biggest challenge was for me to convey my expression in Spanish which was a touch challenge I faced. It was a struggle at first, seeing that my conjugations and verb choices were quite off to what I intended to say, however I had managed to learn different expressions and verb uses from my host family so it was a experience for me to learn new vocabulary that was out of our classroom, thus I had been able to expand my knowledge across my potential. Attending classes in the mornings to learn Spanish, I had encountered the way that Spanish was taught in a authentic Spanish like environment instead of learning it in an IB school, and the main differences I encountered were the pace at which the teachers spoke. Simultaneously, it was a lesson for me to really understand the true, authentic ways that Spanish was being taught from a Spanish teacher. The word use and vocabulary was way beyond what I had learnt at school, hence it was very difficult to catch along. Yet, I was able to practice my speaking ability over and over again, to the point where I was able to comprehend vocabulary at a faster rate. My conjugation techniques were well enhanced, thanks to this Spanish teacher who had taught me different effective approaches to learn new vocabulary. Eventually, my sentence structure was more coherent and I was able to communicate it a more smoother tone. Day by day, I grew more confident to the point where I had realised that I had started to think in Spanish on a daily basis! it was incredible to see that just in a week time, so much could be accomplished and gradually flow through in my thinking system....
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Focus on REFLECTION: Explaining the source of our ideas, how nature inspires imagination, and in what ways our thinking has changed - Grade 4 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2MC72ZH
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Class 30: Final class of the semester, focus on assembling the prints into a completed interlocking pattern - Grade 6E Visual Art #art #MYP #yislearning #middleschoolart #arteducation #teachersofinstagramView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2HBs2RH
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Focus on ENVIRONMENT: What materials & tools can we use to make our creatures’ settings look real? - Grade 1 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2S5R0fZ
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HomeworkYou have no written homework this week but you will have your end of topic test on Unit 2 Core on Feb 12th so please spend this weekend and next revising for this.
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DISORDERS CAUSES, TREATMENTS AND STIGMADISORDERS – Causes, treatments and stigma Now that you have a good understanding of a disorder, its prevalence and its symptoms, it is time to look at stigma and treatment. ...
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Focus on PRACTICE: Learning to draw action & body movement, making mistakes and trying to improve - Grade 2 Visual Art #art #PYP #elementaryart #yislearning #teachersofinstagram #arteducationView on Instagram http://bit.ly/2WdVjF6
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InS 9: Circular Economy SummativeWe have been discussing the different aspects and questions related to the circular economy."A framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design" to go from linear to circular, like an ecosystem Now is time to look at some specific examples:...