Curriculum
WRITTEN, TAUGHT, AND ASSESSED CURRICULUM
In PYP, we talk about the Written, the Taught, and the Assessed curriculum.
The Written Curriculum, the WHAT to teach, is made of five Essential Elements:
Knowledge - disciplinary, e.g. math, science, and language, and transdisciplinary
Concepts - with relevance within and beyond subject areas
Skills – broad capabilities enabling learning and action
Attitudes – directly linked as describers for the Learner Profile Attributes
Action – the expectation that successful inquiry will lead to responsible, thoughtful, and appropriate action
The Taught Curriculum identifies HOW to teach the written curriculum. In PYP, teaching and learning are inquiry-based. It draws upon students’ prior knowledge, provokes thinking, inquiring and investigating, and provides opportunities to analyze, synthesize, and reflect on learning.
The Assessed Curriculum explains how teachers go about assessing prior knowledge, student learning, student performance, and student achievement. The purpose is for the teacher to be better informed about student strengths and needs and consequently use assessment data to plan and adapt the teaching to best suit the current student body.
Program of Inquiry
Each IB PYP school has its own PoI or Program of Inquiry. The PYP Program of Inquiry is defined by six Transdisciplinary Themes that are considered worthy of inquiry regardless of the student's age. In the PoI, the units of the academic year are laid out, and it allows the teacher, student, parent, and others involved to get a vertical and horizontal view of the content offered. Each school will determine their PoI depending on various facts such as location, national requirements, adopted curricula, and the school’s Scope and Sequence. Each year the PYP coordinator, along with the teachers, will analyze the PoI to ensure there is depth and breadth to it and that all other PYP aspects are covered within. The PoI should always be a work in progress as the student body and other needs continuously change.
For ASOY’s POI for the academic year 2023-2024, click this link.
Scope and Sequence
IB publishes its subject-specific Scope and Sequence with Learner Outcomes and Conceptual Understanding outlined. The Scopes and Sequences are split in phases, not grade-level expectations. A school can choose to adapt the scope and sequence to fit other curricula, in ASOY’s case, AERO Common Core. The Common Core documents can be found in the right-hand side menu. After a teacher has assessed students and knows what phase they are currently in, they can better cater instruction to suit the student’s specific learning needs.
French Scope and Sequence
ASOY has developed its Scope and Sequence for French in Primary. Taking ASOY's unique body of students into consideration, it is influenced, developed and based directly and indirectly on IB, PYP’s Language Scope and Sequence, and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and assessment (CEFR).
Please read the ASOY French Scope and Sequence document on this page's right-hand side menu for more information.
Unit Letters
Please click on the Grade level below to see what your child is learning in their Units of Inquiry, Math and Language.
| Grade 5. | Grade 4. | Grade 3. | ||
| Grade 2. | Grade 1. | |||
| Pre K. |
Transdisciplinary Themes
There are six Transdisciplinary Themes that will reoccur every year in PYP. (Students aged 3 to 6 engage with a minimum of four of the themes each year.) The Transdisciplinary Themes last several weeks and incorporate six subject areas: language, math, social studies, science, PSPE, and the arts. The Transdisciplinary Themes allow local and global issues to be incorporated into the curriculum.
- Who we are - Inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; person, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human
- Where we are in place and time - Inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations, and migrations of humankind; the relationship between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives
- How we express ourselves - Inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs, and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic
- How the world works - Inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans understand scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and the environment.
- How we organize ourselves - Inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment
- Sharing the planet - Inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and other living things; communities and the relationship within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.
Source (ibo.org)
One method of assessment in the Elementary school at ASOY is the Northwest Evaluation Association’s (NWEA) computerized MAP tests. These tests provide teachers, students, and parents with an accurate assessment of a student’s ability, accurately measuring what a child knows and needs to learn against the Common Core standards.
At ASOY, we test twice a year, one in September and another in May/June; with two tests, it is possible to find out whether an individual student or an entire grade level is making satisfactory progress in Mathematics, written Language and Reading. MAP testing is conducted in Grades 3, 4 and 5 and across to Grade 6, 7 and 8. Our teachers can use this assessment information for instructional planning for individual students or an entire class.
For more information and FAQs, please read the Parent Guide to MAP on this page's right-hand side menu.