A fun-filled Saturday for Junior School students and parents
The first Super Saturday of the academic year on 11th August was dedicated to team building activities at Junior School. Keeping 21st century skills in mind, team building is an essential component for holistic development of students. PYP parents were invited to the Academy in the afternoon for an information session and to meet their child's teachers.
Classes were divided into eight groups of 16 students. Each group was made of students from every grade of PYP. Our learners worked together to complete tasks and play competitive team games. There were eight events in all: the caterpillar race, where students crawled in caterpillar formation, picking up toys along the way for points; human shapes, where they acrobatically created words and shapes in teams; cross the river; blowing the ball; dress up the scarecrow; house of cards and a treasure hunt.
Through these events, students recognized their own strengths and those of their team members. They learned to coordinate, communicate, and for our new students and grade 1s, they got to see the school and make new friends.
“I enjoyed all the activities and learnt how to work together with everyone,” said grade 3 student Anish. It rained all through our first Super Saturday, but students didn’t let the weather dampen their spirits. “I loved playing outside in the rain with my friends and teachers!”
Later in the day PYP parents collected at the Academy Building lecture theatre for an information session on the programme. The session was attended by 80 parents, some of whom were new or returning, and some prospective parents. PYP Coordinator, Chloe Hill and Junior School Principal, Latha Kumar, spoke to parents about the IB PYP, and how the Academy’s method of teaching PYP resonated with the IB’s goals. The Academy’s PYP is also unique because of the AKA Strands, which guide our instruction. Parents then went to PYP classrooms for introduction sessions with class teachers and facilitators. Here they played games to get a whiff of their child's day at the Academy.
Our young learners weren’t the only ones who thought about teamwork on Super Saturday. Teachers and parents agreed that to actualise their little one’s potential, they also have to work in tandem.
Contributor: Mita Mohapatra
publications
