WEEK 38 1
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
MYP Newsletter
ISÄ Mission Statement
At the International School of Älmhult (ISA), we
are a community of mulitcultural, open minded
and hard-working individuals who are committed
to the International Baccalaureate Programme
and continuously work towards the sustainable
development of a better world.
We believe in lifelong learning experiences that
encourage natural curiosity, critical thinking,
confidence, cultural sensitivity and responsibility
to prepare our students for the demand of a
globalised world.
The MYP Areas of Interaction
The Areas of Interaction are just one way that we work
towards our Mission Statement. In every subject group,
and in every unit, there is a focus on one of the Areas of
Interaction. What are they? They are the lens through
which they learn the content of their subject. They are:





Approaches to Learning
Community and Service
Human Ingenuity
Environment
Health and Social Education
Here’s an example from an MYP 1 Humanities unit:
The topic is Maps. Students will learn the Swedish core
content for the topics of geography and history. But in
our MYP programme, we take it even one step further,
we learn about Maps while thinking about it through
the lens of HUMAN INGENUITY:
“Maps, as a human innovation, has had significant
impact on how individuals and societies view reality.
Students will be able to examine and understand how
this innovation has functioned as a way for humans to
understand the diverse realities around them.” (-David
Root, Humanities Teacher).
Isn’t that cool? And the result is a deeper, richer, more
conceptual understanding of the function of maps in
addition to the basic knowledge and understanding
students need to have about maps.
Whole School Assemblies
Another way will be supporting our Mission
Statement this year is through Whole School
(student-teacher) Assemblies.
The goal of our assemblies is to promote
cohesiveness throughout the school, while
also celebrating the diversity of our students
and staff. During this time, we can focus on a
Learner Profile attribute, since these are
attributes we all hope to strengthen in
ourselves.
The first Assembly will be on Friday, Sept
th
27 . PYP 3 class will lead the assembly and
will be focusing on the Learner Profile
attribute of “Communicator”.
MYP 1 Math





Unit – Sets and our number system
AOI – Human Ingenuity – creating ways of organizing and working with the information around us
Significant Concept – We are surrounded by things we count or measure that we organize in different ways.
Unit question - How can we organize grouped information to make it easily understandable?
Content summary
- Place value system
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals
- Set theory and notation
- Venn diagrams
- Set operations: union and intersection
MYP 2 Math
Unit Title: Whole Number, Patterns & Relationships
Unit question: How does identifying a pattern help us solve a problem?
Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity
Significant Concepts:
Key Concept: Systems, Logic
Related Concept: We can apply order of operations to solve problems involving multiple operations.
Unit summary:

Add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers

Use order of operations (PEMDAS) to simplify operations

Use exponents to express repeated multiplication

Evaluate powers by hand and with a calculator

Solve problems involving patterns
Next/First Assignment: Create-your-own number sequence with answer and pattern description.
Next Unit Title: Integers, decimals and fractions


Use algebraic representation.
Investigating graphs
Next/First Assignment: Compiling data from a simple graph into a table.
Next Unit Title: Triangles
MYP 3 Math
Unit Title: Reviewing Math Basics
Unit question: In what way has knowledge influenced mathematics?
Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity
Significant Concepts: Basic operations with whole numbers, fractions and decimals (a range of systems) are used to solve
problems in our everyday world.
Unit summary:

Add, subtract and multiply with whole numbers. Solve problems with one, two, three or four digit
components and with zeroes in a variety of places.

Divide with one or two digit divisors; generate quotients with remainders, terminating or repeating
decimals or rounded answers; justify the choice

Recognize and relate a variety of forms of fractions: proper, improper, mixed numbers, equivalent
fractions, simplest form, common denominators

Add, subtract, multiply and divide with fractions and mixed numbers, putting answers in simplest
form

Use order of operations to solve problems
Next/First Assignment: Converting between percentages, decimals and fractions.
Next Unit Title: Algebraic Representation
MYP 4 Math
Unit Title: Reviewing Numbers and Algebra
Unit question: How do we integrate the basic knowledge and skills we have for solving a variety of problems?
Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity - creating solution to solve my own problems
Significant Concepts: Basic operations with whole numbers, fractions and decimals (a range of systems) are used to
solve problems in our everyday world.
Unit summary:

Add, subtract, multiply and divide with whole numbers and decimals. Use a variety of numbers of digits and
relative sizes.

Generate quotients with remainders, terminating or repeating decimals or rounded answers. Justify the
choice.

Relate decimals, fractions and percent, including percent greater than 100 or less than 1

Add, subtract, multiply and divide with fractions and mixed numbers, putting answers in simplest form.

Use order of operations to solve problems.

Use algebraic representation.

Investigating graphs
Next/First Assignment: Compiling data from a simple graph into a table.
Next Unit Title: Triangles