This activity is connected to Kindergarten 1's Action as Service project, 'Notes of Gratitude'. The PYP philosophy encourages all students to reflect on their learning and make contributions to their local and global communities on issues related to people and the environment. This approach to service can range from small everyday actions like picking up garbage to wider reaching projects like a whole school recycling system. In Kindergarten 1, a simple way of developing a service mindset is to become aware of the people and things around us and how we are grateful for these things and our interactions with them. Throughout the year, we'll be engaging in our 'Notes of Gratitude' project in order to develop dispositions for valuation participation in service and our community.
Some of the curriculum connections and desired learning outcomes of this project include:
- encouragement of emergent and purposeful writing
- promotion of the Learner Profile and Attitudes
- teacher modelling of what it means to take action
- establishment of connections between learning & personal experiences
- cultivation of a disposition of gratitude
- sharing & accurate communication of feelings & experiences
- introduction of reflection as a routine and strategy to evaluate experiences and make decisions
- introduction to the concept of audience
- development of an awareness of self in relation to and as connected with others
Stay tuned for more ways that we are saying "Thank You!"