“Fishies!” “Fishies!” “Fishies!” shout over a dozen gleeful kindergarten children, as they run around the classroom with colorful paper fish attached to Popsicle sticks.
The students, at the private Soundview School in Lynnwood, spent weeks learning about the classifications of different species of animals — including fish — and ended the unit with reading “The Rainbow Fish,” by Marcus Pfister.
Soundview is in the process of implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary and Middle Years Programme, a rigorous program of study. At the high school level, an IB program offers its own special diploma. It’s rare for a school to offer the program at the younger grades.
When Soundview becomes officially accredited (all the teachers have already gone through rigorous IB training, and are now upholding to the IB curriculum standards), it will be the only primary school in all of Washington, Oregon and Alaska to have the program.
“Education should be balanced between creative arts and academics,” said Inae Piercy, head of school at Soundview. “When kids are younger, it’s fun to learn, but how are you going to implement that joy at every stage?”
The IB Primary and Middle Years Programme, unlike other standardized educational programs, does not require teachers to teach to a specific curriculum. The teachers at Soundview will use their own materials and teach according to their own styles — as long as they meet the IB curriculum framework.
One of the most central parts of the program is the intense inquiry that goes on within the classrooms and amongst the students. Every teacher, at the beginning of each unit, asks the students if they have any questions about the subject material. The questions the students present then fall into six general organizing themes that all get posted up on a wall. As the unit progresses, the teacher refers to these questions again and again, making sure that they are all firmly answered by the time the unit concludes.
IB is expanding around the world: It is currently offered in 2,376 schools in 128 countries. The offering includes three IB programs (primary, middle and high school) to approximately 643,000 students.
According to Benjamin Lee, the educational director at Soundview, the process of becoming accredited for IB brought the teachers onto the same page and developed camaraderie.
“The teachers are wonderful,” Lee said. “It’s a very supportive environment for the children.”
Gwen Davis is a freelance writer.
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