Primary Years Programme

At VIS, inquiry is our approach to teaching and learning, not something we simply “do” during unit time. We believe in inquiry that is thoughtful, purposeful, and rooted in development of conceptual understanding. We strive to bring an inquiry mindset to all we do, including to interactions with our colleagues, students, and parents. We use Kath Murdoch’s inquiry cycle in planning meetings and as a basis for talking about inquiry with students. On schedules in the classroom, we write inquiry questions related to the concept being taught that day in place of subjects such as “language” or “mathematics” and process and thinking are valued as a crucial part of the learning journey. The role of the PYP Coordinator is to support teachers in implementing our programme with fidelity. The PYP Coordinator recognizes that just as we differentiate for students, so to do we differentiate for teaching staff based on where they are in their understanding of concept based inquiry, the meaning of balanced literacy as it is implemented at VIS, and the PYP programme’s approaches to teaching in general.

At VIS, we follow the Everyday Mathematics program. This is a spiralling program that emphasizes conceptual understanding, real-life problem solving, and student communication of mathematical thinking. Our program is based on the US Common Core which means that in problems involving measurement including temperature, we need to adapt in order to give students ample opportunities to work with the metric system. Lessons or activities that are overly focused on US money or places should be substituted for something more relevant to our context. For example, you may choose to use maps of Europe or Vilnius in lieu of US maps, Euros may be substituted for US dollars in problems involving money, and the metric system should be used in place of the imperial system. Mindset Mathematics by Jo Boaler is one of the resources we use to supplement our mathematics programme with additional open-ended tasks to ensure students have extended practice that supports them in making connections between mathematical concepts.

The goal for our reading instruction is to ensure a balanced reading program that includes: Modelled, guided and independent reading that is both teacher and student led Flexible grouping that includes ability, mixed ability and student interest Whole class, small group and individual instruction We implement this through a variety of models and multiple modes of delivery, utilising a variety of different texts and strategies. Underpinning all these factors is that teachers engage their students in guided reading (at all grade levels). Guided reading is an instructional practice or approach where teachers support a small group of students to read a text at their instructional level. In the lower grades there is a stronger emphasis on decoding (including phonics instruction and phonemic awareness). As students develop these skills, we move more toward vocabulary acquisition and comprehension through teacher directed discussion and monitoring in the guided group. Fountas and Pinnell is used for more formal assessment purposes in the form of running records to benchmark reading levels across the grades, however teachers are encouraged to do running records with additional levelled readers to monitor reading growth and ensure that they are working with students at their instructional reading levels.

Writing at VIS also supports the notion of ‘balance’ in that we ensure our writing programs include both explicit instruction for writing for a purpose and also writing that is for enjoyment, experimentation and provides choice. The teaching and learning cycle for writing is a model that includes text deconstruction, joint construction and independent construction stages. During the year, each grade level must go through the complete cycle (text deconstruction, joint construction, and independent construction) for each purpose of writing (imaginative/narrative, informative/expository, and persuasive). These compositions should be linked to the 6+1 Traits of writing and give students many opportunities to explore the chosen trait(s) as well as the relevant text structure through the use of mentor texts. These writing pieces may be integrated or standalone. The 6+1 Traits rubric is used to assess specific pieces of writing and the BCH writing continuum is used for assessing growth over time.