Midvale Hosts 5th Grade IB Exhibition

Wednesday morning, hosted the the 5th grade International Baccalaureate (IB) exhibition, in which students presented collaborative projects on world disasters.  Teacher Hillery Hogan explained that the events (including earthquakes, tsunamis, and more) "have allowed them to reflect and become more global thinkers and learners, which is a big part of the IB curriculum."

According to Sue Levy, the IB coordinator at Midvale, "the exhibition is everything IB is supposed to be.  This project has made them better communicators...There's nothing harder than working in a group," but it's a skill that will be crucial as they grow up, she said.

For the projects, the students were grouped in threes.  They each covered one particular world disaster and learned how it came about, how it affected the population of the surrounding area, and how they, as students, could help.  Mentors were available for help, and they drew on many resources throughout the school. 

Eugenia Rucker, the art teacher at Midvale, said, "I had a hand in several of these.  They'd come up to me needing to borrow glue sticks or containers, etc., and we'd help them get what they needed in order to do a good job." 

The topics were global in scope and included Myanmar's Cyclone Giri; the Kenya drought; earthquakes in Italy, New Zealand, Haiti, Chile, and China; a volcano eruption in Iceland; cold temperatures in northern India; flooding in Queensland; California wildfires; and more.   The presentations included animated PowerPoint presentations (some with streaming video), skits, dioramas, science experiments, and more.  All had detailed project boards, as well.

As part of the IB program, students are exposed to the "Learner Profile," which includes the ten traits of an internationally minded person.  The Primary Years Program and Midvale hope these traits will characterize all members of a global community.  Words that describe these traits in the learner profile are: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective.  Each group chose two or three of these to highlight as really standing out for them in the process of developing their projects.

"The kids have become more independent through this process and have learned to communicate and work as a team," Ms. Hogan said.  The IB curriculum and projects have helped them realize "it's not just the knowledge to take the test that they need to learn, but the ability to apply it and think globally," she said.

Already, some students are applying that global knowledge to projects on their own time.  Alyssa Faye Nesmith has begun collecting used eyeglasses for needy children.  According to her mother, she's been collecting them independently and through senior centers.  At the end of the school year, she's planning to ask local schools if she can gather any eyeglasses from their "lost and found" boxes (most schools donate unclaimed items to charities after a certain amount of time).  She's working with her mom to decide whether to donate the glasses to the Lyons Club or to possibly start her own charity, geared toward gathering glasses specifically for children. 

After they graduate from Midvale next week, most of these outstanding fifth graders will continue to participate in the IB program as they track through and .  If they stick with the program, the students will have the opportunity to graduate from Tucker High with an IB diploma if they choose to, which, according to Ms. Hogan, is much harder and more demanding than an AP diploma, and could become more and more useful as getting into college is becoming more competitive every year.