Dear Lawrence Families,
We are reaching out to seek your valuable support for our Grade 5 students' PYP Exhibition. As part of this important process, our students are conducting research on various topics and would greatly benefit from interviewing individuals with expertise in specific areas.
The PYP Exhibition is a significant milestone in our students' learning journey. It is the summative assessment of our IB programme in which students apply all the skills, attitudes, knowledge and conceptual understanding they have built from Kindergarten to Grade 5. It involves in-depth research using texts, online resources, and most importantly, interviews with subject matter experts. This experience helps our students develop crucial communication skills, including preparing thoughtful questions, active listening, note-taking, and practicing good conversational etiquette.
Last year, one of our experts from the National Institute of Mental Health was so impressed with one of our group's projects, he traveled from Maryland to attend our Exhibition in person. Our students have interviewed professors from Wesleyan, Northeastern, Lasell University and MIT, professional athletes, surgeons, therapists, nutritionists, and local business owners.
We kindly request your assistance in connecting our students with potential interviewees. If you, your family members, colleagues, or acquaintances have expertise in any of the topics our students are exploring, we would be grateful for your referrals.
To share information about potential interview subjects, please contact our Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinator, Denise Kraft, via Toddle or at kraftd@mpsct.org.
Your support in this endeavor is invaluable and greatly appreciated. We also invite you to save the date - May 1st - to visit our Exhibition during the day or evening hours. It's an excellent opportunity to witness the culmination of our students' hard work and research.
This year's topics include: fears/phobias, anxiety, creativity and imagination (through LEGOs), depression, parenting styles, the role of referees (in soccer/football), ocean pollution, radiation science (benefits/risks of nuclear power), animal health/rights, nutrition and healthy habits, oil spills, astigmatism/health of the eye, protecting sea animals, mental health (catastrophizing), self-confidence, cyberbullying in videogames/advocating for safe online spaces, making communities safer/mitigating conflict between countries/populations, how animation can effectively communicate a message to an audience.
Our students selected their own topics based on issues they are passionate about. At an IB school, students are expected to take action on their learning instead of simply acquiring knowledge, so their presentations at the May 1 Exhibition will include how they are taking action in a variety of ways based on what they learned.
Our first Lawrence cohort who went through the PYP Exhibition process are now in Grade 7 at Beman and some of them are requesting to continue working on their project in the Innovation Center two years later. There is something very magical that happens when you empower students to lead their own learning and we are very proud to be an authorized IB school (one of only 11 in the State of Connecticut) that provides this opportunity to our students.
Thank you for your continued support in enriching our students' educational experiences.
Warm regards,
Denise Kraft
Lawrence Elementary School