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Please write down  one or two essential takeaways from this engagement as well as all of today’s sessions that you want to remember for tomorrow and moving forward with curriculum designer plans.

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SUCCESS CRITERIA PERSONAL REFLECTION DOCUMENT FOR OUR WORKSHOP

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SUCCESS CRITERIA PERSONAL REFLECTION DOCUMENT FOR OUR WORKSHOP

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Please make your own copy of this reflective document

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Handy for learners to know

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Transdisciplinary Learning from Principles into Practice

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Transdisciplinary Learning from Principles into Practice

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Capabilities for curriculum design survey

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SELF-ASSESSMENT ON THE IB TEACHER CAPABILITIES MATCHED TO OUR WORKSHOP

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SELF-ASSESSMENT ON THE IB TEACHER CAPABILITIES MATCHED TO OUR WORKSHOP

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Please make your own copy of this reflective document

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Capabilities for curriculum design survey

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Please surface some key points we will take forward into this session and add them to the comment box below
Keep in mind, we are trying to find out:

1) Why is it important to involve teachers in curriculum design? (the benefits)

2) What concerns or questions might there be? (the challenges)

3) Are there opportunities that you hadn’t considered previously?

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Creating a Curriculum for Transdisciplinary Learning

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Each participant selects a different section from PYP: From principles into practice to skim and scan for connections between teacher agency and curriculum design. The aim is to find something from:

a. The learner

b. Learning and teaching

c. The learning community

Look for a paragraph or subsection that makes strong connections between  teacher agency and curriculum design. Share this with our group along with any  examples of this in action in your setting.

You could also choose to view the three  videos that support each of the three pillars of The learner, Learning and teaching, the Learning community instead.

Sum up the findings of your reading by generating/ creating/ or searching for an image that is a visual representation of your thinking for sharing. Please post it on our padlet in this column, labelling with a 'word' or a 'phrase' that also helps to sum up your thinking.

Please comment on at least one of the other group member's visual representation

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Learning and Teaching- from Principles into Practice

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Learning and Teaching- from Principles into Practice

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Skim and scan

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The Learner from Principles into Practice

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The Learner from Principles into Practice

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Skim and scan

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The learning community from Principles into Practice

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The learning community from Principles into Practice

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Skim and scan

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The Learner support video from Principles into Practice

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The Learner support video from Principles into Practice

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You might choose to view a video instead, it's up to you

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Learning and Teaching support video from Principles into Practice

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Learning and Teaching support video from Principles into Practice

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You might choose to view a video instead, it's up to you

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The Learning Community support video from Principles into Practice

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The Learning Community support video from Principles into Practice

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You might choose to view a video instead, it's up to you

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Experiencing agency for curriculum design

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Experiencing agency for curriculum design

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Please share your thinking on the numbered statement that best matches your experience of curriculum design:

1- Very involved in all areas of curriculum design and development
2- Somewhat involved in parts of curriculum design and development
3- Others develop/design curriculum and seek our feedback

4- Curriculum is handed to us to implement

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Engaging with the perspectives of different stakeholders

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Engaging with the perspectives of different stakeholders

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Considering the viewpoint of particular stakeholders, eg leaders, support staff,  teachers, parents, and students.   Please “Wear the shoes” of one of these stakeholders and imagine how they might respond to these 3 questions.

It’s important that we keep these perspectives in mind as we go into the  next stages of design thinking process.

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Transdisciplinary Learning from Principles into Practice

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Transdisciplinary Learning from Principles into Practice

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There are two readings for this session – How can we reduce the reading load?  I suggested in the comment box how you might do that, focussing on certain pages

Please use the thinking routine 4C to make connections between the two readings.

o CONNECTION - What connections can you draw between the two  readings?

o CHALLENGE - What ideas, positions or assumptions do you want to  challenge in either of the readings?

o CONCEPTS - What concepts or ideas do you think are worth holding  on to from one or both readings?
o CHANGE - What changes in attitude, thinking, or action are  suggested in the readings, either for you or for learning

organizations?

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o CONNECTION - What connections can you draw between the two  readings?

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o CHALLENGE - What ideas, positions or assumptions do you want to  challenge (or that you feel challenged by) in either of the readings?

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o CONCEPTS - What concepts or ideas do you think are worth holding  on to from one or both readings?

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o CHANGE - What changes in attitude, thinking, or action are  suggested in the readings, either for you or for learning

organisations?

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Surfacing some variables connected to designing transdisciplinary curriculum

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Are there any sparks of interest so far stimulating ideas for curriculum design in your school?

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Are there any sparks of interest so far stimulating ideas for curriculum design in your school?

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Please take 5 minutes to note them down as comments below, they will provide food for thought in the next session

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Briefly explain the relevance of this strategy to your context
As a group we help you to identify initial opportunities and challenges you see in the development of these strategies
We will begin to develop ideas in the learning engagement that follows  and then, over the course of the next few sessions, you will develop one or two  in more depth

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Individual Reading - PYP: From principles into practice/Learning  community/Collaboration

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Individual Reading - PYP: From principles into practice/Learning  community/Collaboration

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When reading please keep in mind the stakeholders listed below.
What has been (or could be) tried to give voice, choice and  ownership to this stakeholder in your learning community?
• homeroom teacher

• subject specialist

• head of school

• parent

• student

• PYP coordinator

• someone else?

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please create a headline based on your reading for this stakeholder group and add it to the comment box

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Please list who they are and share a headline

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Please refer to this chart to monitor the process

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Make a copy of this Planning Conversation Notes document and add your thinking to it 

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Make a copy of this Planning Conversation Notes document and add your thinking to it 

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wVzNRL49ccNSPvfgEYoOQ2CyadsUbudqeDLp0c5Qkbs/edit?usp=sharing

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Success Criteria generated through a planning conversation

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Success Criteria generated through a planning conversation

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Please allow yourselves to think further about a range of possibilities as we begin to work on a curriculum design plan to enhance transdisciplinary practices

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Curriculum design plan to enhance transdisciplinary practices.docx

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Please read and consider the curriculum design plan and/or  prototype for each participant.

Each of us complete the four steps on the ladder - clarify, value, state concerns and suggest for each plan

Discuss the feedback for each plan

Consider how you might revise your curriculum design plan or  prototype based on this feedback

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Dean's Revised 3 Day Agenda CCforTDL.pdf

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Now's your chance, this data will inform a future session

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Creating a Curriculum for Transdisciplinary Learning

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Please take a little time to complete our pre-workshop survey

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Please park any challenges you have so far in the comment section below here that might inform our future learning together

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Many hands make lighter, more inspiring work

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Please write down one thing you learned today and one thing you thought was useful in terms of the processes we followed

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SUCCESS CRITERIA PERSONAL REFLECTION DOCUMENT FOR OUR WORKSHOP

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SUCCESS CRITERIA PERSONAL REFLECTION DOCUMENT FOR OUR WORKSHOP

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Please go back to your copy of this document, 'How did you go and how do you know?' and 'SO WHAT? (What next?)

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Lately I've been thinking a lot about the Studio Habits of Mind and how students' understanding of these thinking dispositions might develop throughout their years in our primary school visual art classroom. I've been asking myself questions like, "What might envision look like in kindergarten? In grade three? In grade five?" How does a learner's mindset grow through stretch and explore? For example, stretch and explore in kindergarten might sound like, "I can try different ways to make art." By grade five, it might sound like, "I can start to make intentional choices about how I want to take my art making further."

In my curriculum planning, I'm mapping out how I imagine students might progress in their understanding of the Studio Habits from one year level to the next (see PDF below). To create the mapping, I've used my own observations of students and my specific curriculum. For example in grade two, I know that we are planning an integrated project with the homeroom teachers and this project will involve a lot of student collaboration. Therefore, I expect this project to support students in the "communities" domain of understand art worlds and how people connect through collaboration. I've mapped that into grade two.

Students within the same grade level will have varying depths of (and constantly changing) understanding regarding these thinking dispositions. The purpose of the mapping is to be more intentional in my lesson planning, demonstrations and reflections, using specific language to name the learning and to have an idea of where we might be going next in our understanding.

I thought I would share my thoughts so far in the process. Thank you for taking a look. Comments, questions and feedback are welcome and helpful!

If you're not very familiar with the Studio Habits of Mind, I highly recommend:

Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sheridan, K.M. (2013). Studio Thinking 2: The real benefits of visual arts education. New York: Teachers College Press

Hogan, J., Hetland, L., Jaquith, D.B., Winner, E., (2018). Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Art Educator's Handbook. New York: Teachers College Press

The Studio Thinking website: https://www.studiothinking.org/
The Studio Thinking Project: https://pz.harvard.edu/projects/the-studio-thinking-project

When the book Studio Thinking was published in 2007, it had a profound effect on art education. One of the benefits of the research was the naming of the Studio Habits of Mind. Art teachers began to organize around a common language to describe the thinking dispositions that students develop in visual art. As Ron Ritchhart says in Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform our Schools, noticing and naming our students' thinking encourages them to exhibit more of those behaviors.

Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Art Educator's Handbook brought the Studio Habits of Mind to the elementary art classroom. My copy of that book is marked with so many notes from cover to cover. One of my favorite sections in the book is about the art teacher Demetrius Fuller and how he created HoMies (from Habits of Mind). The word "homies" is slang for "our people". The book describes how he uses stories and songs about the HoMie characters to illustrate the Studio Habits of Mind for his elementary students. It made so much sense to me. Our people definitely think in those ways!

After reading that book, I immediately went to work creating my own HoMie characters (borrowing heavily from Fuller's characters) to help my students understand the different thinking dispositions in the Studio Habits of Mind. Since my school started online in August 2020, I decided to partner with the art assistant to create a video using the HoMies and explicitly teach the Studio Habits of Mind.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Tech used in the video: Apple Clips for my own Animoji head, Prisma to convert my colored pencil drawings of HoMies into paintings, Google Slides for text animation, Quicktime to screen record the Google Slides, iMovie for editing.

Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sharidan, K.M. (2013). Studio Thinking 2: The real benefits of visual arts education. New York: Teachers College Press

Hogan, J., Hetland, L., Jaquith, D.J., Winner, E., (2018). Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Art Educator's Handbook. New York: Teachers College Press

Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform our Schools. John Wiley & Sons

In a previous post, I explained how I made the decision to move to a choice-based approach to learning in my Visual Arts classroom, using the three-sentence curriculum of Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB). (Douglas & Jaquith, 2018):

After reading Choice without Chaos (Bedrick, 2012) and Engaging Learners Through Artmaking - Choice-based Art Education in the Classroom (Douglas & Jaquith, 2009), I attended the TAB Summer Institute in Boston in July 2017 at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I met dozens of Visual Arts educators who were interested in using a choice-based approach to teaching and learning.

Teaching for Artistic Behavior emphasizes the importance of students having studio time to do what artists do (to explore their ideas and use different media). A typical 60 minute TAB session might be structured like this:

Mini lessons, mini museums and skill builders are planned to satisfy the needs of the students, spark interests, develop craft, deepen artistic knowledge and discuss expectations.

Studio time is student driven with children exploring a range of ideas and materials as the teacher checks in with them individually to discuss their work. Students can work individually or collaboratively. Some students choose to follow up on something from the mini lesson, mini museum or skill builder, but it's not required. Students have access to a range of materials and are capable of getting their own supplies, setting up their workspace and cleaning up. Even kindergarteners can pour their own paint! (For Pre-K students I set up different centers on the tables.)

Reflections have a very important role in the classroom, as students have a chance to discuss their work, artistic intentions and next steps. Reflections can be done as a group activity, with partners, by writing artist statements, gallery walk or by posting to Seesaw.

One of the most striking benefits of using a choice-based approach to art is that the students are passionate about their work and eager to share it with their peers. Many students request that there will be time for sharing at the end!

Integrating TAB into the PYP Visual Arts Classroom

After doing my research and attending the TAB Summer Institute in Boston, I developed a plan to integrate the approach into my PYP Visual Arts classroom. This year, with the help of our Curriculum Coordinator, I planned four stand-alone units. The units emphasize key elements of both TAB and the PYP Scope and Sequence. These are my four stand-alone units:

Like any PYP stand-alone unit, I have key concepts, related concepts, learner profiles, attitudes, skills and teacher questions. To keep things as simple as possible, I use the same stand-alone units with all grade levels, differentiating by development, skills, etc.

At our school, the specialist teachers collaborate with homeroom teachers on one Unit of Inquiry per school year. This year, during those collaborative units, we temporarily stopped/changed our stand-alone units and worked on collaborative pieces or pieces that related to the homeroom UOI summative assessments.

Overall, I believe that our choice-based approach to the Visual Arts this year has been a huge success. Most students come to class with a project or idea already in mind and they are eager to explore it. Mistakes or challenges are usually seen as something to figure out. Collaboration and peer teaching occurs naturally. Most importantly, students are experiencing the entire creative thinking cycle and are able to articulate the benefits. As one second grade student put it, "Mr. Ron, now that we design our own projects, we make more mistakes and that's good!"

References:

Bedrick, Anne (2012). Choice Without Chaos. (n.p.): Author.

Douglas, K. M. & Jaquith, D. B. (2018). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art education in the classroom.Second Edition. New York: Teachers College Press.

Douglas, K.M. & Jaquith, D.B. (2009). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art Education in the Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Creativity has been identified as one of the most important skills for the 21st century (Soffel, 2016).

As a Visual Arts teacher, I've always been interested in creativity. A couple of years ago, I decided to dig deeper into my own understanding of the creative thinking cycle so that I could apply that understanding to the teaching and learning in my classroom. Among the first things that struck me were the similarities between the creative thinking cycle, the inquiry cycle and the design thinking cycle. (See figure 1)

At the time I started digging deeper into the creative thinking cycle, my Visual Arts classroom operated in ways that were very similar to traditional Visual Arts classrooms around the world. I researched and came up with a project that focused on some important learning outcomes and that fit within a unit that I was teaching. I presented a lesson or series of lessons with the goal of having the students produce some artwork that was similar in style or theme to what we were discussing in the lesson. Often, I wanted to make some display out of the artwork.

The more I researched about creative thinking, the more I began to question how my own students were experiencing the creative thinking cycle in my classroom. If I was the person coming up with the idea for the projects, choosing the materials, scaffolding the steps to create something, helping them sort out mistakes and challenges so that we would end up with a collection of work that was worthy of a nice display in the hallway, then how much creative thinking were my students experiencing?

Just as I was having these questions and realizations, I found out about an approach to the Visual Arts that focuses on students taking responsibility for their own thinking and learning (agency), students expressing their own ideas (voice), and students making their own choices about what to make and how to make it (choice). This approach is called Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB).

TAB was first developed through the groundbreaking work of Katherine Douglas and other Visual Arts teachers in Massachusetts classrooms starting in the early 1970s. It's an understatement to say that these teachers were ahead of their time in relation to their approaches that centered on student choice in the classroom.

Teaching for Artistic Behavior has a three-sentence curriculum (Douglas & Jaquith, 2018):

The curriculum might sound simplistic, but the ramifications in the application of it are profound. Here are just a few thoughts about how this three-sentence curriculum impacts student thinking, learning and behavior.

Make observations about the world around them

Synthesize those observations and make connections to other things they know

Envision how they could express their observations and connections

Experiment and choose materials to realize their vision

Create works that have personal meaning

Make mistakes and persist to find solutions to problems

Reflect on their progress by talking about it and making judgements about their own work

Share their work with others

Connect with other artists and people in the art world

Makes their own decisions about the work they want to make, using available materials.

Decides which materials to use.

Drives their own project (deciding when to start and when to stop).

The art room is the child's studio.

The art room...

Is a shared creative space.

Is set up in such a way that the child can manage their own supplies, tools, workspace and cleanup.

The more I read about TAB, the more convinced I was that this approach would provide my students with the opportunities that they needed in order to fully experience the creative thinking cycle. In a future post, I'll outline how I implemented TAB into our PYP Visual Arts classroom.

In the meantime, if you are interested to know more about Teaching for Artistic Behavior, I encourage you to take a look at the following resources:

Douglas, K. M. & Jaquith, D. B. (2018). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art education in the classroom.Second Edition. New York: Teachers College Press.

www.teachingforartisticbehavior.org

References:

Douglas, K. M. & Jaquith, D. B. (2018). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art education in the classroom.Second Edition. New York: Teachers College Press.

Soffel, Jenny (2016 March 10). What are the 21st-century skills every student needs? Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/21st-century-skills-future-jobs-students/.

The curriculum might sound simplistic, but the ramifications in the application of it are profound.

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creative thinking * learner agency * personalized learning * teaching for artistic behavior * visual arts

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Thanks for putting your ideas on the table, many minds made the work lighter

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Best librarian in the world (but I am biased)

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Time just flies by when you are having fun, right? It is hard to believe that this will be the last week of the summer holidays for teachers, and just two more weeks for you, the students, before everyone is back at school with new adventures on the horizon: a new grade, a new class with some familiar and some unknown faces; for some of you a new school, maybe even a new country, a new home. New adventures are always bittersweet as it means something familiar has come to an end to make way for exciting new beginnings. Let's celebrate both, the memories we made and the adventures we are looking forward to. Create a scrapbook or summer memory box, filling it with artefacts you collected over the summer (for example pictures, postcards, tickets, a pebble or seashell).Write a letter to your new teachers (even if you don't yet who they are), telling them a bit about you.
Here is how you could go about celebrating the summer memories made...

​ Make a list of your Top 10 summer memories.
Write or draw a Thank you letter to summer. What have the summer holidays given you that you are grateful for?
Organise an end-of-summer picnic with family and/or friends.
Here is how you could go about celebrating the exciting new adventures ahead...
Make a wish list for the new school year. What are your hopes and dreams for the year ahead?

Make sure to enjoy lots of special reading time while you can. Here are some book ideas:

When you are reading this post, I will have reached my new destination (my current view is shown in the picture above), ready for a new adventure to begin. I wanted to thank you all again for the many beautiful (reading) memories we made together over the past 11 years. We connected through stories and I have no doubt we will remain connected through reading and books. Whenever I pick up one of our favourite read-alouds, I will think of you all and the wonderful times we shared. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your passion, enthusiasm, and smiles. Until we meet again...

This week's post comes all the way from Singapore for you :) If you are in Pre-K to G2, you will recognise the picture books in the image below. I bought a whole new set of books by Quek Hong Shin, and guess what? I missed him just by two minutes! He had been in the bookshop signing copies just before I arrived. It would have been so much fun to finally meet him in person.

This one is new... well, not really, but to summer reading. Of course, librarians love anything connected to libraries, but for some reason, I have never included this as a summer reading theme, despite the amazing stories about libraries that exist. Since many are mysteries, I promise you an exciting (reading) week. I have two main activity suggestions for you; one involves visiting a public library; the other one is making your own library. You could also do both!

​Public Library Scavenger Hunt Did you solve all tasks? Awesome! Then find a cosy spot and enjoy some reading time.Organise the books on a shelf or in baskets.
Go to a public library near you and solve the following tasks:
Find a book by an author you already know through our HKA library. Write down the author and title or draw the cover of the book.
Find a book by an author you have not heard of yet. Write down the author and title or draw the cover of the book.
Find a book on a favourite topic in the nonfiction area. Take a close look at the call number. Does this library also use the Dewey Decimal Classification system (numbers representing topics)?
Find out whether the library has books in Chinese and other languages. If they do, how many different languages are represented?
Find out where the comic books/graphic novels are. Do you discover a favourite title you know from HKA? Write down the author and title of the book.

Organising a personal library
Gather all the books you have available for your personal library.
Sort them into fiction and nonfiction books.
​
Explore the books and think of categories you could sort the books into. Are there specific topics? Multiple books by the same author? What might be the best way to group your books? There is no wrong answer; whatever works best for you is most important. I, for example, have organised my books in baskets, grouping books by countries.

Create some bookmarks to share with visitors.
Take a picture of your personal library and post it on the Summer Reading Padlet.

Image source: Awesome Women of Singapore, edited by Margaret Thomas, 2021.

Here are a few suggestions of library-themed books you might like reading this week: (William Joyce) (Jeanette Winter)(Chris Grabenstein) (Zeno Alexander)
Picture Books:
The Library (Nikki Giovanni)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore Library Lion (Michelle Knudsen)
The Book of Gold
(Bob Staake)
This is a Story (John Schu)
Biblioburro
Chapter Books and Novels for the Middle Grades:
Book Uncle and Me (Uma Krishnaswami)
The Ninja Librarians (Jen Swann Downey)
Ban this Book (Allan Gratz)

A Place to Hang the Moon (Kate Albus)
Escape from Mr Lemoncello's Library The Library of Ever
I wonder how many of you might be considering becoming a librarian after this week. From experience, I can tell you it is the best job in the world ;) Have a fantastic week in the wonderful world of libraries!

​

​To tune into this week, I did a day trip to Cheung Chau, and had lots of yummy treats :)

I bet you have been waiting for this one as there is always a week in my summer reading programs that is dedicated to food - making, eating and reading about it. I just love food-themed books and I hope you do too! Usually, I give you some activity ideas around the theme and then a selection of reading suggestions. This week, I would like to do it the other way round because I find that when it comes to food-themed books, they always inspire me to prepare something as well. So, reading must come first! Choose from the following suggestions or any other food- themed books you come across and read one or more title.

... and if you are up for a culinary journey around the world, you might like to explore these title suggestions (click ).

Has the reading inspired you to do some cooking and baking yourself? Here are some ideas of what you could do - if you don't already have some amazing ideas:Think of one of the books you read and a dish that was mentioned. Find a recipe and prepare it.Find a recipe by exploring your book shelves at home, visiting a public library or looking for recipes online.
​

Make a cake that matches the cover of your book, under the motto, Books2Eat. ( are some images of what that might look like.)

If you have access to a pubic library, you could also check out a cookbook companion to the story you read. are some examples of cookbooks inspired by children's books. Or check out these . 31 Recipes Inspired by Popular Children's Books
Because food always tastes better when eaten in company, you could also plan a tea party, picnic, lunch or dinner under a theme that matches a favourite book. ... and of course, you could also invite friends to a book club, preparing some snacks that match the book you are chatting about.

Have a great week, tasting, cooking, reading!

When it comes to fantasy, it is especially mythology-inspired fiction that keeps gaining popularity among readers, not just at HKA. I have noticed how more and more awesome mythology-inspired series are being released. Especially exciting to me is seeing that the focus is not solely on Greek mythology anymore and authors draw from many different cultures. I hope that through this week's activities and reading suggestions, you learn about myths from a culture that was unfamiliar to you. How about exploring this list of
from Imagination Soup and selecting one of the titles to read. The book that opened the door to my own reading of mythology-inspired fantasy is Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon ​. As you might know, it was on our BoB list this school year. If you haven't read it yet, you might like to check it out. It is magical!

After reading a mythology-inspired fantasy book, use our Primary Hub resources such as World Book Online to find out more about the mythology that inspired this particular book. I would love for you to share a post on our Summer Reading Padlet: what did you like about the book? What did you learn about this particular mythology?

Of course, there is so much more to Fantasy than mythology-inspired stories; for example, fantasy involving wizards and witches, people with superpowers, and talking animals. I recently read Katherine Applegate's Odder which I absolutely loved.

One of the hardest tasks for a fantasy writer is world building and the best make it sound like it could almost be real. Have you ever tried to write a fantasy story? How about thinking about one this week? You don't have to write the entire story, just build the fantasy world in your imagination. You might also like to sketch and/or draw it or even build it (for the Minecraft and Lego enthusiast). If you are happy to share, feel free to post a picture of it on our Summer Reading Padlet.

​
Here are some Fantasy reading suggestions you might enjoy exploring this week:
Picture Books:
The Night Dragon (Naomi Howarth)
Real to Me (Minh Lê)
How to Catch a Mermaid (Adam Wallace)
Once Upon a Book (Grace Lin)
The Only Child (Goujing)

Chapter Books and Novels for the Middle Grades: The Kingdom Over the Sea (Zohra Nabi)(Erika Lewis)
The Fabled Stables (Jonathan Auxier)
Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend (Katie Zhao)
Gunhild ( Fred Toranger)

Kelsie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows (Ryan Calejo)
Pahua and the Soul Stealer
Book of Stolen Dreams (David Farr)
Have a wonderful week!
​

This week, I invite you to make a U-turn: from our journeys to the past, we are now heading towards the future. It can be the near future, like considering next school year, or fifty years ahead (or even further in the future like in the book above when people have settled on Mars!):What would you wish for the future? Special gadgets that help you with homework? Flying scooters to take you to school? Clean drinking water for all?Draw an illustration of your future home... or Sai Kung 100 years from now.
​
What do you think life might look like then?
Make a list of your top 10 wishes.
Will we be all be able to travel into space, maybe even live there?
It would be awesome if you would post your list and/or drawing on our Summer Reading Padlet.

Here are a few books about the future which you might enjoy reading:

Picture Books:
What We'll Build (Oliver Jeffers)
There's Nothing to Do on Mars (Chris Gall)
Interstellar Cinderella (Deborah Underwood)
The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot (Margaret McNamara)
June 29, 1999 (David Wiesner)

Chapter Books and Novels for the Middle Grades: (Rick Riordan).
Zita the Spacegirl (Ben Hatke)
The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (Mac Barnett)
Your Pal Fred (Michael Rex)
Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation (Sylvia Liu)
The Last Gate of the Emperor (Kwame Mbalia)
Daughter of the Deep

Personally, I am currently trying my best to live in the moment, enjoying lots of quality time with my family. I am so grateful for extended meal times, long conversations, walks outside... and extra reading time! I hope you are having an amazing summer too!

Have a great week traveling to the future... (while making sure you are enjoying every moment of this wonderful summer ;)

I hope you had a relaxing first week. Ms. Katie and I, as you can see from the pictures included in this post, had lots of fun unpacking and processing new books. We can't wait for you to explore them when you return to school in August!
Are you ready for some excitement this second week of summer reading? How about a journey into the past? The past can be close - like highlights of this past school year - or thousands of years away. Where exactly the present ends and history begins can be a mystery in itself. I have been pondering about this a lot lately, especially as new books about the pandemic have been released. Now that the pandemic is over, would we consider events from that time history? Or not yet? What do you think?
I invite you to keep pondering about this as you engage in some of the suggested activities and read from our historical fiction list this week:

Make a list of highlights of the past school year. Try to put them in a chronological order.

If you would like to take on a bigger history project, you could consider exploring how you and your family ended up being in Hong Kong, no matter whether you were born here or moved to Hong Kong only recently. You could speak with family members and record in any format that works for you what you are finding out.

Is there a historic event you have always been curious about? Maybe the sinking of the Titanic or the first moon landing? Decide on one and then do some research, using the kid-friendly and safe resources on our Primary Hub page.​​

Here are some books you might like to consider for journeys to the past:
Picture Books
The Extraordinary Amazing Incredible Unbelievable Walled City of Kowloon (Fiona Hawthorne)
And The People Stayed Home (Kitty O'Meara)
Meanwhile Back on Earth (Oliver Jeffers)
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear (Lindsay Mattick)

Chapter Books and Novels for the Middle Grades
Skunked! Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet (Jaqueline Kelly)
Breaking Stalin's Nose (Eugene Yelchin)
Morning Sun in Wuhan (Ying Chang Compestine)
Journey of the Pale Bear (Susan Fletcher)
Dactyl Hill Squad (Daniel José Older)
New From Here (Kelly Yang)

... and of course any title of the following two series, which are very popular among our HKA students: (Kate Messner)
Ranger in Time I Survived (Lauren Tarshis).
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Have a great week traveling into the past!

The holidays are here! Hooray! I hope you are ready to go places this summer, in person and through the pages of amazing stories. As always, before embarking on exciting adventures, it is important to check whether we have everything we need to have a successful and enjoyable trip. Therefore, during this first week, we'll focus on looking through and/or preparing our summer (reading) bags or PRKs, Personal Reading Kit (thank you for the inspiration, Alvin Ho! I have learned a lot from your PDKs - Personal Disaster Kits).Books (all kinds of genres and formats) Favourite pens and post-its

​ Tanja's Personal Summer Reading Kit includes...

​Reading devices (iPad, phone, computer)
Headphones
Sunglasses
Lots of (mostly healthy) snacks
​Hiking gear.
Summer journal/scrapbook

So now that you have made sure you have your PRK ready, think about what you might enjoy doing this summer. What will go on your summer wish list? Here is mine:

Tanja's Summer Wish List Reading all day long!Cooking, baking and enjoying special meals and trying out new recipesExploring book shops and libraries.

Slow starts to the day, with tea/coffee in bed
Spending quality time with family and friends

Being active: hiking, climbing, running, swimming, bike riding
Journaling to capture my summer highlights

Some of it I have actually already begun doing. Since the weather has been rainy and grey, I have enjoyed indoors activities like journaling, reading, visiting the fantastic Museum of Modern Art, and enjoying mealtimes without any rush.
Learning something new... who knows what that might be

Of course, I also have a wish list of books I might want to read. From past experiences, I know I might read some of these, all of these or just a few. Nevertheless, I love putting a list together and drawing inspiration for my reading from it throughout the summer. What might you put on your summer reading list?

Tanja's Summer Reading Wish List (Christina Li) (Elaine Vickers) (Sarah Mlynowski & Christina Soontornvat) (Debbi Michiko Florence)
(... just a small selection of children's books and middle grade novels to begin with. I also have some books for grown ups and professional reading lined up, and of course hope to discover many wonderful new books while visiting public libraries and book stores.)
Ruby Lost and Found Half Moon Summer
A Rover's Story (Jasmine Warga)

In the Tunnel (Julie Lee)
Grounded - A Novel (Aisha Saeed et al.)
Turtle Bread (Kim-Joy)
Chinese Stories (Hong Kong Foundation)
Time After Time The Universe in You (Jason Chin)
Jasmine Toguchi: Bridge Builder Berliners (Vesper Stamper)
Family Style (Thien Pham)
Journey of the Pale Bear (Susan Fletcher)

​

Alright, I think we are ready! Let the summer reading fun begin! Here are some title suggestions to get you excited about the upcoming long break and all the wonderful things you might be doing and reading.(D.J. Steinberg) Kelly Jordan)
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Picture Books:
Summer Vacation, Here I Come! The Little Blue Cottage (

'Ohana Means Family
Sari-Sari Summers (Lynnor Bontigao) (Ilima Loomis)
Sandcastle (Einat Tsarfati)
Seashells: More Than a Home (Melissa Stewart)

Chapter Books and Novels for the Middle Grades: (Lenore Look) (Kristi Wientge)(Maria Parr).
Fish Finelli: Seagulls Don't Eat Pickles (E.S. Faber)
Charlie & Mouse Outdoors (Laurel Snyder)
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters Any Day With You (Mae Respicio)
Sweet & Sour (Debbie Mitchiko Florence)

Best Friends, Bikinis and Other Catastrophes
... and of course, I have to mention the following two books just as I have done in past years because they remain two of my all-time favourite summer family read- aloud:
The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall)
Adventures With Waffles
​

Have a great start to the long break from school and summer reading!

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of the school year 2022-23... where has the time gone? Looking back, it was a busy year, many special memories made to treasure. As we are heading into the long break, we wanted to make sure that you are ready for summer reading - Ms. Katie and I definitely are: books stacked and happily waiting to be read. All of the summer reading resources we have prepared for you are now available through our HKA PL Summer Reading 2023 Padlet. We hope you enjoy the activities and get ideas on what to read from our summer reading lists.

We encourage you to continue checking into this blog as there will be a new post with additional activities each Monday morning (HKT).

​ Have a lovely summer break - and HAPPY SUMMER READING!

Over the past two weeks, our fourth and fifth graders, just like our younger students have been reflecting on their reading journey and where it has taken them this past year. It is important to us that we make time for our students to reflect on who they are as readers and how reading is going for them in our efforts to nurture lifelong readers. If you read this blog regularly, you will have come across other posts about reader identity and reader reflections as we allow students to work on these throughout the year.

As a first step, providing students with some concrete data on their reading choices, they were given their check out history of the year to tally up the genres read. Next, students created a bar graph and reactions were instant! Surprise over a certain genre read, excitement over an increased overall check out and smiles all around as they were looking over titles and remembering favourite stories. It warmed our librarians' hearts!

The following week, students spent time adding on to their reader identity web before putting together a short reflection using the following prompts:
BOOKS

Looking at my genre bar graph, I noticed that...

A specific book that comes to mind thinking about last year is... because...

My most memorable book this year was... because...

A book that has shaped me as a reader this past year was... because...

READING EXPERIENCES

A reading experience that shaped me as a reader was... because...

Possible examples: book clubs, Battle of the Books, author visit, read-alouds...
NEW DISCOVERIES

Something I discovered about myself as a reader is...

Now I know about myself as a reader that...

HOW I FEEL ABOUT READING

This year, I felt ... about reading because...

Reading is a great experience for me when...

At the end of this school year, I wish for myself as a reader...

Students posted pictures of their bar graphs and reader identity webs as well as their reflection in Toddle. I hope you had a chance to see it and talk more with your child about it. All in all, the reflections showed how well our students know themselves as readers, which is so important in developing a love for lifelong reading since it means they will be able to create an environment that makes reading an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Happy reading!

Kindly follow to Vidigami to see more snapshots of g4's library time and to pictures from G5's library time.

Our Pre-K inquirers have been busy recently, learning about a living thing of their choice in different ways while following Kath Murdoch's inquiry cycle. While we had a group interested in plants, the majority of students were curious to find out more about an animal; we had pets (dogs and cats) and a wide range of wild animals from sharks, crocodiles, and snakes to chimpanzees, monkeys, tigers and gorillas, even chameleons, kangaroos and capybaras.

TUNING IN: After expressing what animal they would like to learn more about, students shared with each other in small groups, facilitated by a teacher/librarian, what they thought they already knew about their particular animal and what they were curious to find out.

FINDING OUT & SORTING OUT: Next, students explored nonfiction books and online resources (in particular PebbleGo and World Book Online) to find out about their animal of interest and match their learning with the respective question it answers. They enthusiastically participated in recording their learning on post-it notes.

GOING FURTHER: This week, our Pre-K inquirers got to speak to an expert to ask further questions. My nephew Nolan, who graduated from an IB School last week and is knowledgeable about animals, had kindly agreed to answer our students' questions via Google Meet. Amongst others, students wanted to know how crocodiles can survive without eating for two years, why kangaroos jump, why snails make slime, how plants breathe, what dogs aren't allowed to eat and whether rainforests are a kind of jungle. (Are you curious about the answers? You might like to ask your Pre-K student as they were an attentive audience.)

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS & PREPARING TO SHARE: Further this week, students identified something they learned and were especially excited about sharing with the rest of the class. They searched for a picture on Photos For Class to help them in presenting their learning. We look forward to having our Pre-K students share some of their learning with each other next week and will share video footage with you via SeeSaw. Stay tuned!

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Time just flies by when you are having fun, right? It is hard to believe that this will be the last week of the summer holidays for teachers, and just two more weeks for you, the students, before...

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At youcubed, we inspire, educate and empower teachers of mathematics, transforming the latest research on mathematics learning into accessible and practical forms.

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Visible thinking routines straight off Google

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Feedback to others so they can feed it forward

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How did it go and how do we know?

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Capabilities for curriculum design survey

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SELF-ASSESSMENT ON THE IB TEACHER CAPABILITIES MATCHED TO OUR WORKSHOP

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Capabilities for curriculum design survey

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Please allow yourselves to think about a range of possibilities as we work on a curriculum design plan to enhance transdisciplinary practices in your schools

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Curriculum design plan to enhance transdisciplinary practices.docx