Grade 5s Take on Local & Global Issues in PYPX

Environmental protection. Human rights. Access to education. Cyber security.

These are some of the issues Grade 5 students at ICS sought to tackle in the projects which mark the end of their Elementary School journey. Celebrating the culmination of their months-long investigations, students presented their research, actions, and impacts to the school community on May 11.

“Our Grade 5 global citizens demonstrated an immense amount of critical thinking and empathy in their research and actions,” Elementary School Principal Calley Connelly said. “Students, parents, school leadership, and community members have contributed to impactful, personalized learning experiences, and we could not be more grateful for and proud of everyone who played a part in this journey.”

For Grade 5 student Tsega T., his PYPX exploration into plastic pollution is just the beginning. During his commute home each day from school, Tsega saw plastic littered throughout the roads and was inspired to take action to make a change. As a result of seeing the positive impact his actions had on a local community, he’s been inspired to think bigger in the future.

“As I get older, I wish to achieve greater actions by finding out how to turn plastic back into the oil it was made from and go more global,” Tsega said. “I learned that if you put your mind to something you can do the task that is at hand.”

Through the exhibition projects, Tsega and other students agreed that they learned more than just about their topic. They also developed skills that will serve them as they transition into middle school, high school, and life outside of the classroom.

Inspired by the amazing murals she saw at a neighboring school to ICS, Grade 5 student Anna W. decided to host a talent show to raise money to support the school’s specialty subjects, like art, music PE, and languages. In an effort to reach as large of an audience as possible and raise more money, she collaborated with the ICS Parent Teacher Organization to host the show during the monthly Community Market on campus.

Anna honed her email skills and interviewed teachers at the neighboring school to find out what supplies they needed. She developed her professional communication skills in contacting parents and organizers to set up her event. She also had to learn financial and logistical skills to manage the money she raised, purchase the products, and deliver them as part of her donations.

“I feel really lucky to be able to be in a PYP school,” Anna said. “My topic really depends on being a good citizen. We are all lucky students that have access to mostly every class. Special classes are very important to kids and their future, as people can change their future because of these classes. I saw that they were amazing at murals and they had a great passion. I was very inspired by them, and I feel like they have great opportunities of being artists.”

To learn more about the PYPX at ICS, take a tour of the exhibition using the video above. And visit the ICS Learn page on our website.