The International Primary Curriculum is a comprehensive, thematic, creative course of study with specific learning goals for the following areas: History, Geography, Science, Art, Technology, International Mindedness and Society. Each unit or topic varies in length and will focus on specific learning goals in Knowledge, Skills and Understanding. The IPC also supports and facilitates personal learning based on the eight IPC personal goals, for student to become: a Collaborator, a Communicator, a Thinker, Empathetic, Ethical, Resilient and Respectful.
Mark O´Brien, Assistant Head of Primary and IPC Lead at LCIS, explains: "What makes the IPC stand out from other curricula is the strong focus on developing students as global citizens and becoming internationally-minded. International learning goals are unique to the curriculum and help students to develop an increasingly sophisticated national, international and intercultural perspective."
Importantly, the IPC also helps to engage parents and the school community in their children's learning and emphasises the relevance of learning in the classroom and beyond. At LCIS, the school community is invited to the 'exit point' of each learning unit. These are celebrations of learning that promote students' understanding of their learning process and give them time to reflect both individually and as a group. This is an important part of the IPC learning process cycle.
Recently, our Year 2 students held their exit point assembly on the topic "Let's Celebrate". Our school assemblies provide invaluable opportunities for our children to revisit their learning, build their sense of togetherness and increase their confidence by giving them a platform to talk about their learning and ideas publicly. As part of this topic, which encompasses learning in the subjects of history, art and society, the pupils are exploring the idea that celebrations are an important part of human life. The IPC explains "Celebrations are one of the things that make us uniquely human. All peoples and cultures, from every part of the world, take part in and hold celebrations to mark special events and special times in someone’s life."
Please find below a general overview of the topics and learning in Year 2!
Our brain is special because it does lots of amazing things. Once we understand how our brain works and what we can do to make it work even better, then we can improve the way that we learn.
In this unit, students will be finding out:
How the brain works
About the personal goals that help us to become better learners
How to find out facts to prepare for a special challenge
How to learn and practise skills for a special challenge
How to record how well we are learning
How to use what we have learned to create our own special challenge
How to wake up our brain
How to look after our brain
Celebrations are an important part of human life. They are one of the things that make us uniquely human. All peoples and cultures, from every part of the world, take part in and hold celebrations to mark special events and special times in someone’s life.
In History, students will be finding out:
How people in our families celebrated in the recent past
How particular past events are still celebrated
In Art, students will be finding out:
How decoration is used in celebrations
▶ How to make artefacts and images that could be used in celebrations
In Technology, students will be finding out:
▶ How to design and make a product for a celebration
In Society, students will be finding out:
How different groups of people celebrate different events
How different groups of people have different rules
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
What is the same and what is different between the celebrations in the home countries of the differ- ent children in our class
Have you ever wondered how you can hear and how you can see? You can hear a dog barking and you can see it wag its tail. You can hear me talking and you can see me smiling at you. What makes hearing and seeing possible? Let’s find out!
In Science, students will be finding out:
Where sound and light come from
How we can make sounds
What sounds we can make sounds with objects
What happens when sounds enter our ears
How animals use their sense of sight and sound
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
How languages are made up of different sounds
How bright lights affect people and animals
Many of the stories that we enjoy today are influenced by the stories that have been passed down through the ages. By studying older stories, such as myths and legends, we can become storytellers too, writing and performing our own stories to entertain people today.
In History, students will be finding out:
About myths and legends from different times in the past
How to create our own legend about someone we know
In Geography, students will be finding out:
About stories from different countries and cultures
How we can make a map of our own imaginary land
In Art, students will be finding out:
How people in the past have represented stories and characters
How to create our own Greek plates
In Society, students will be finding out:
About fairytales and fables and the lessons that they teach us
How we can make a modern version of a fairytale
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
Your body is a bundle of bones, muscles, senses and nerves all connected together to make you a hu- man. But do you know how these parts of your body work with your brain? Let’s find out.
In Science, students will be finding out:
What the main external parts of the body are called
What the five human senses are
How we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch
How the brain connects to other body parts
How to eat healthily and get enough exercise
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
What malaria is and how we can prevent it
If we can improve the health of the world’s children
Toys come in many shapes and sizes. They are made of different materials but all are designed for us to have fun with, to learn new skills and to exercise our bodies and our imagination.
In History, students will be finding out:
About toys and games from the past
How to decide if a toy is new or old
In Technology, students will be finding out:
About ‘magic’ toys that fool our eyes
How to design and make our own toy
In Computing, students will be finding out:
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
What do living things such as animals and plants need in order to survive and grow? Do humans have the same needs? What is the difference between a living thing and something that has never been alive? We are going to find the answers to these key questions in this unit.
In Science students will be finding out:
What animals and humans need to survive and grow
How living and non-living things are different
How humans and animals grow and change
How to carry out a survey of living things
How to attract wildlife to our environment
In International Mindedness, students will be finding out:
About animals and plants from different countries
Why we need to look after all living species
