Message from the Principals 1/31/2025

School Account

12 minutes ago3 min read

Today's Topics:

1: Important Reminders

2: Curriculum Focus - Knowledge Harvest

3: Student Highlight

4: Learning Highlight

5: House Points

6: Photos of the week

1: Important Reminders

Feb 9 - Friends of Hope: Beach Clean-up
Feb 17 - NO SCHOOL (Presidents' Day)
Feb 24 - Open School
Mar 14 - Hope Family Day

2: Curriculum Focus - Knowledge Harvest

In last week’s blog, we shared information about the Entry Point, which launches every new IPC and IMYC unit. This week, the focus is on the Knowledge Harvest, which follows the Entry Point in the structure of a unit (this is called the Process to Facilitate Learning)

The purpose of the Knowledge Harvest is to support teachers in planning an effective and relevant unit to their class. It is always designed in a way for the teacher to discover what the students in their class may already know about the upcoming topics, as well as finding out what they would like to know. This can happen in a number of ways such as games/activities, class discussion, visible thinking routines, individual questioning and many other methods. Based on the information that the teacher gathers in the Knowledge Harvest, they can then use this information to add to, further develop or even challenge the student’s existing knowledge.

It is hoped through the Knowledge Harvest, the teacher can identify the needs of their class and build their planning from this information.

IMYC Example of a recent Knowledge Harvest:

During our Knowledge Harvest in the Grade 8 unit "Community", we explored different ideas and concepts that we will study across various subjects. We began by reviewing the Big Idea of the unit: "A shared sense of belonging occurs when people are able to negotiate and appreciate their complex, often messy differences," and build connections with the concepts we are studying in the various subjects.

Several activities were facilitated in different subjects. For example, in Science, we watched the movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which gave learners insight into how electricity can be generated and how it can improve the lives of a community. In Social Studies (Geography and History), the class participated in a role play on how a parliament works by forming their own political parties, electing majority and minority leaders, and selecting a prime minister. This also introduced different ideologies, such as capitalism and communism, during the Cold War. Additionally, students explored the concept of globalization by researching various international organizations around the world.

3: Student Highlight

Recently 2 of our G5 students won 2nd place in the Okinawa regional programming contest! Ryosuke and Taeyun's team was called "MuruZ" - ムルZ. You can view more about the event and their project here: https://www.digilab.okinawa/

Congratulations!!

4: Learning Highlight

In Geography, the G6 students were learning about data and how researchers collect it. As an example, Ms. Anja explained the Gender Gap Index and how researchers create their data based on evidence from real-life investigations. The students looked at different types of data and was able to read and understand them. Students also realized that this class and the applied skills are also connected to science and math!