Getting Started: 6th Grade Exhibition 2008

What an exciting year! Cassingham Elementary sixth graders are currently working on our very first annual International Baccalaureate Student Exhibition. This exhibition is intended to be a culminating experience, highlighting the best of what students have learned throughout their years in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. For this year's exhibition, the students are developing a unit under the theme of "Sharing the Planet".  Our process began with several brainstorming sessions involving all 50+ students in the sixth grade. Mr. Griffin, Mrs. Antle, Mrs. Hutchison, and Ms. Amspaugh facilitated group discussions in which students delved into possible topics for this unit. Together, we finally arrived at the very broad idea that what we do today can shape our world tomorrow. Specifically, students expressed a great deal of interest in issues of environmentalism (going green) and healthy living. With these topics in mind, we set out to determine a Central Idea for the unit that would unite all of our inquiries. Creating a Central Idea is no small task, and it took the involvement of every student to finally come up with a statement that truly represents what the students intend to learn throughout this unit. After long discussions about the subtle differences between different words and their meanings, this is the central idea that developed: "People's actions affect the future of our community (at home, in the world, and beyond)." With this big idea to guide us, we are now exploring the depths of our selected topics. Over the next several weeks, students will work individually and in small groups to develop and pursue inquiries that reflect their own interests and passions, always connecting back to our central idea. We will be calling on parents, teachers, and community members to serve as mentors and guides as we take on a project like this for the first time. Finally, the culmination of our efforts will be to TAKE ACTION. That is where this blog comes into play... our students have decided to think big and reach out to a large audience. Through blogs, websites, podcasting, and other media, they plan to spread their message far and wide in the hope of inspiring others to take actions that will help preserve our world for future generations. This blog will serve as a "front door" to the student-created messages that will be coming soon. We're excited to share this journey with you. Please stop back often to read about our progress as the sixth graders complete these final steps of their elementary school years.