Winter 2019, Vol. 5
Engaging with the Community: Service Learning at ISB Throughout our students’ time at ISB, they are asked to take action in various ways, both as part of the curriculum and through stand-alone initiatives. In the curriculum, the community service program builds as students advance through the Primary Years Programme (PYP, Pre-K 3’s through 5th Grade) and Middle Years Programme (MYP, 6th Grade-8th Grade), culminating in the MYP Community Service Project that each student completes in 8th Grade. In addition to classroom and individual service projects, ISB also organizes two school-wide service days - Local Day of Service and Global Service Day - to align with the goal of ensuring that our students become locally- and globally-minded.
This year, ISB celebrated its annual Local Day of Service on October 26. We believe it is important for our students to be present and active in our local community, and this day provides opportunities for them to engage in service in a meaningful way. Whenever possible, these service activities are tied to the curriculum and skill building. Under the IB framework, the concept of action is an important step of the inquiry cycle and is the culminating piece of every unit of inquiry, so our teachers are always looking for ways to tie their students’ classroom work into Day of Service.