The Vision of the Modern American School is to nurture lifelong learners and global thinkers to become responsible citizens with leadership qualities and universal values while instilling pride in one’s cultural identity.
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Modern American School is to provide learners with an engaging and challenging blended learning environment within a diverse community while focusing on international programs, catering for learners’ well-being, fostering international mindedness, and offering various opportunities and experiences that contribute to learners’ growth.
A Word from the Co-Founder / General Director Mrs. Omaya Zamel
Dear MAS Family,
As we embark on another exciting academic year, I am reminded of the remarkable journey we have shared and the milestones we have achieved together. Our commitment to nurturing wellrounded, responsible, and innovative young minds remains as steadfast as ever. The Modern American School has always been more than just a place of learning-it’s a community where dreams are nurtured and potential is realized.
Our educational philosophy is deeply rooted in the belief that learning extends beyond the classroom. Recognizing the rapid pace of change in our world, we are dedicated to equipping our students with the skills and mindset needed to thrive in a dynamic and interconnected global environment. This year, we are thrilled to introduce enhanced leadership, digital literacy, and global citizenship programs, aiming to inspire our students to become proactive, thoughtful, and impactful leaders.
At MAS, we continuously evolve our curriculum to meet the diverse needs of our learners, ensuring that it is both challenging and supportive. Our stateof-the-art facilities and interactive resources provide
a rich and stimulating environment where students can explore their interests, develop their talents, and pursue their passions. Our teachers remain committed to fostering a culture of curiosity, resilience, and lifelong learning, empowering students to reach their full potential.
We also recognize the importance of well-being in education. This year, we have reinforced our initiatives to support mental health and personal development, ensuring that every member of our community feels valued, heard, and supported. Together, we are creating an environment where everyone can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to our dedicated staff, supportive parents, and, most importantly, our incredible students. Your unwavering support and commitment to excellence make MAS an extraordinary place.
As we look forward to the new academic year, I am optimistic and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Let us continue to work together to inspire, innovate, and achieve excellence in all that we do.
Warm Regards,
Co-Founder/ General Director
Omaya Zamel
About Modern American School
MAS is more than just a school; it is an ecosystem dedicated to fostering learning and growth. Our mission is to guide learners on the path to becoming selfregulated, disciplinary thinkers, effective communicators, culturally conscious individuals, and community-oriented contributors. In our pursuit of knowledge, we encourage learners to discover their passions and explore transdisciplinary learning through field trips, engaging speakers, and a variety of academic and non-academic choices.
Transcending traditional boundaries, our approach integrates intra and inter-school sports, arts, literary and cultural events, and community service. We believe that encouraging learner initiative in leadership, service, inclusion, reading, writing, arts, and sports is essential to shaping a vibrant school culture that upholds our core values.
Central to our philosophy is the nurturing of reading as a fundamental habit for lifelong learning. We understand that a well-rounded education encompasses more than just academic achievements; it includes fostering a love for literature and the written word.
At MAS, our unique parent community plays a crucial role in supporting and partnering with us to realize the progressive learning vision we have set forth. Their active involvement enriches the educational experience and strengthens our school community.
Our commitment to excellence is reflected in our adoption of both the International Baccalaureate (IB) and American educational programs. These frameworks provide a solid foundation for our learners, offering a holistic and well-rounded education that prepares them for success in a global context.
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
MISSION STATEMENT
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage learners across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right
INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS
International mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members. The learner profile and approaches to learning provide the disposition and foundational skills for the development and demonstration of international mindedness. Internationally minded learners are competent communicators, open minded and knowledgeable, caring and principled thinkers, use their curiosity and research skills to inquire about the world, think and reflect critically about opportunities and challenges, act for positive change and take risks to self-develop and understand the world and others.
OUR LEARNERS
At MAS, we empower learners with diverse opportunities, fostering creative and critical thinking. Our philosophy centers on lifelong learning and building confidence, supported by core values. Rooted in humility, respect, and adaptability, our education transcends borders, preparing learners to respond to challenges. We offer an international education that encourages pursuing passions and goals, shaping well-rounded individuals for a connected world.At the heart of MAS, we strive to nurture individuals who not only excel academically but also embody essential qualities that contribute to personal growth and global citizenship. Through our dedication to providing a holistic educational experience, we aspire to instill a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.
THE IB LEARNER PROFILE
At MAS, learners actively engage with and embody the attributes of the Learner Profile throughout their daily lives as an integral part of the school curriculum. Opportunities to develop, demonstrate, and reinforce these qualities abound across various facets of the learning environment, including transdisciplinary units of inquiry, the library, music room, makerspace, social interactions during breaks and recess, sports activities, field trips, visits, camps, and school events such as drama productions and sports days.
IB LEARNERS ARE:
1. Inquirers - Curious, independent and collaborative with skills for inquiry and research, and enthusiasm and sustaining a lifelong love of learning.
2. Knowledgeable - Study a range of disciplines, building conceptual understanding through issues and ideas that have local and global significance.
3. Thinkers - Reasoned and ethical decisions with critical and creative thinking skills to take responsible action on complex problems.
4. Communicators - Confident and creative multilingual and multi-model expression, while listening to perspective of others.
5. Principled - Integrity and honesty, a strong sense of fairness and justice, and respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere in all actions.
6. Open-minded - Experience and appreciate a range of viewpoints, appreciate our own cultures and personal histories and that of others.
7. Caring - Empathy compassion and respect, with a commitment to service, and impacting the lives of others.
8. Risk-takers - Facing challenge and change with forethought and determination exploring new ideas with resourcefulness and resilience.
9. Balanced - recognizing interdependence with people and the world and the importance of balancing intellectual, physical and emotional.
10. Reflective - Thoughtful about the world, experiences and ideas, recognizing strengths and weaknesses to support growth.
OUR LEARNING
THE PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS THAT DRIVE LEARNING
LEARNER AGENCY
At our school, we cultivate learners who wield the power to purposefully shape their lives and impact others positively. We instill in them the belief that they can achieve greatness by valuing their voices, opinions, and active participation.
Knowledge: Knowledge, encompassing information, skills, and life experiences, is acquired through cognitive processes, communication, perception, and logic. Concepts serve as the foundation of teaching, ensuring a comprehensive understanding that extends across disciplinary boundaries.
Context: Our curriculum is grounded in local and global issues, providing starting points for inquiry and engagement. This approach fosters international-mindedness, promoting the best form of learning.
Action: Learners are encouraged to reflect, make informed choices, and take action to benefit their peers, the school community, and the wider community.
Skills: We build approaches to learning by developing research, critical thinking, selfmanagement, social learning, and communication skills.
Inquiry: Inquiry-driven learning allows learners to initiate investigations into matters of importance, fostering a deeper level of understanding.
Reflection: Through continuous reflection, learners gain awareness of their learning styles, strengths, and passions. This process leads to goal setting and a profound understanding of conceptual and contextual learning.
Sawsan Ishaqat KG Principal
At MAS, we believe that the early years of education are the foundation for lifelong learning and global citizenship. Our vision is to nurture lifelong learners and global thinkers who are responsible citizens, equipped with leadership qualities and universal values. We strive to create an environment where every child feels valued, safe, and inspired to explore the world around them.
In our blended learning environment that is both engaging and challenging we focus on international programs that cater to the well-being of our learners, foster international mindedness, and offer a variety of opportunities and experiences to support their growth. Through our commitment to these principles, we aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young individuals who are ready to make a positive impact on the world.
In our kindergarten, we emphasize nurturing curiosity and developing skills for inquiry and research. Our students learn independently and with others, fostering a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. We help them develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across various disciplines and engaging with issues of local and global significance.
We encourage our students to use critical and creative thinking skills to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems, making reasoned and ethical decisions. They learn to express themselves confidently and creatively in multiple languages and ways, collaborating effectively and listening carefully to the perspectives of others.
Dina Arafat KG Deputy Principal
We are delighted to welcome you and your child to MAS, where our commitment to educational excellence is guided by the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and aligned with the American Programme. At our learning community, we believe that education is most effective when it is both inquiry-based and student-centered. Our highly trained and skilled educators are dedicated to implementing teaching practices that encourage exploration, curiosity, and critical thinking. By embracing an inquiry-based approach, we help students develop the 21st-century skills essential for success in our rapidly changing world. We also place a strong emphasis on learning through play, recognizing its crucial role in fostering creativity, problem-solving abilities, and social interaction.
Our school community is a vibrant mosaic of cultures and perspectives, united by a shared commitment to nurturing international mindedness and upholding universal values such as respect, integrity, and empathy.
We are deeply invested in the well-being of every learner at MAS. We provide ample opportunities for leadership development, ensuring that each child has the chance to shape their character and build confidence. By encouraging voice, choice, and ownership, we empower our students to take charge of their learning journeys and become active, responsible global citizens.
We are eager to collaborate with you throughout this educational journey, working hand in hand to nurture and inspire your child’s development and achievements.
Raida Daoud Elementary School Principal
IB PYP Consultant, School Visit Team Leader, Workshop Leader, Evaluation Progamme Leader, Concept-based Curriculum& Instruction Presenter and Trainer.
At MAS, our dynamic and inclusive education approach is designed to unlock the potential of every learner in our care. We prioritize creating a nurturing, supportive environment where learners feel safe, happy, and valued. This environment consistently engages, challenges, and inspires learners, fostering their development into responsible global citizens and critical thinkers.
MAS’s rich curriculum, combined with exceptional teaching practices under the IB Primary Years framework, sustains learners’ interest and curiosity. Our teachers focus on nurturing the whole child as an inquirer, preparing them for the intellectual challenges of further education and future careers, ensuring outstanding progress and high performance levels for all.
Our learners embody values such as hard work, empathy, and agility, complemented by advanced cognitive performance characteristics that enhance problem-solving and entrepreneurship skills. We aspire for all MAS graduates to be independent thinkers, socially confident, and future leaders filled with passion and purpose. We eagerly anticipate witnessing the remarkable accomplishments our learners will achieve this year and beyond.
Aya Abdulhadi
Primary Years Programme Coordinator
Modern American School is renowned for providing its learners with quality education. The PYP is a framework that not only nurtures academic excellence but also fosters the holistic development of our young learners. It encourages them to become inquirers, thinkers, communicators, and risk-takers. Through an inquiry-based approach, our learners will delve into meaningful and relevant questions, sparking their curiosity and igniting their passion for learning.
At MAS, our commitment extends to establishing a nurturing and inclusive environment where each child’s unique talents and abilities are recognized and celebrated. Our dedicated educators are committed to guiding and supporting your child’s journey, creating a safe and stimulating atmosphere for academic, social, and emotional growth.
Integral to learner success and the school experience is Learner Agency, involving voice, choice, and ownership. We provide numerous leadership opportunities empowering learners to engage in activities that enhance their learning, contributing to a positive school spirit and environment.
PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME FRAMEWORK
The IBPYP framework fosters a symbiotic relationship among the learner, learning and teaching, and the learning community. Transdisciplinary serves as the organizing principle for the written, taught, and assessed curriculum at MAS, promoting holistic education that encompasses cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and ethical growth. This transdisciplinary framework spans languages, social studies, sciences, mathematics, and the arts within the curriculum.
WHAT
DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO LEARN?
Knowledge: Significant, relevant content that we want our learners to explore and know about, taking into consideration their prior experiences and understanding
Concepts: Powerful ideas that have relevance within the subject areas, but also transcend them that Learners explore and re-explore in order to develop a coherent, in-depth understanding.
Skills: Those capabilities that the learners need to demonstrate to succeed in a changing, challenging world, which may be disciplinary or transdisciplinary in nature.
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO KNOW ABOUT? KNOWLEDGE
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is designed for learners between the ages of 3 and 12. It is an international, transdisciplinary programme designed to foster the development of the whole child, not just in the classroom but also through other means of learning. The Programme focuses on the total growth of the developing child, touching hearts as well as minds and encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic wellbeing. Constructing knowledge is all about learning in context. Starting from their prior experience and understanding and exploring the information they want to know and are interested about, that is significant, relevant to reach to a deeper understanding and construct meaning.
Six transdisciplinary themes learners explore by engaging in an inquisitive approach through a rich dialogue and collaboration to build an understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Who We Are
Inquiry into what it means to be human (Identity, wellbeing human relationships within a community, cultures, beliefs and values).
Where We are in Place and Time
Inquiry into orientation in place and time- local and global perspective (Family, histories, migrations, personal journeys, and civilizations).
How the World Works
Inquiry into the natural world and its law, the interaction between the natural world and human societies. (Natural world and its laws; physical and biological interaction, and human society, types and sources of energy; scientific and technological advancement and sustainable living).
Sharing the Planet
Inquiry into the interconnectedness of human made systems and communities.
(Systems, government and governance, economic activity)
How We Express Ourselves
Inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express Ideas, feelings, and thoughts through personal narrative and opinions.
Sharing the Planet
Inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share the finite resources with other people and with other living things. (Rights and responsibilities, sharing resources; distribution of natural resources; relationships within and between communities ; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution)
SUBJECT AREAS
LANGUAGE
Language empowers learners, providing an intellectual framework to support conceptual development and critical thinking. Offering learners with various opportunities to develop all the dimensions through a progressive and well-defined process, that facilitate the learners learning journey through the three aspects of language learning.
Learning language: is when new knowledge is integrated with existing knowledge and conceptual framework. Language development is best served when learners have opportunities to engage in language learning in multiple modes within authentic meaningful contexts.
Learning through language: learners engage in with language in multiple contexts and modes. They listen, speak, perform, write, and view texts to form meaning. They explore and share new understandings and knowledge. Learning is embedded within language and is underpinned by relationships as a reciprocal meaning- making process.
Learning about language: language is visual, print and oral symbolic system with its own codes and signals. Therefore, language learning involves the form conventions and contextual use. Meaningful learning engagements make language learning enjoyable and enable learners to make real life connections and transfer their conceptual understanding and acquired skills into new contexts.
LANGUAGE LEARNING IS ORGANIZED
IN THE FOLLOWING STRANDS
Language is a tool used by children to communicate and collaborate where they develop a resource for meaning. Language enables the learners to understand their culture and other cultures and traditions to become global citizens and open-minded people. Language is essential as it is taught through all subjects and throughout the whole program.
Oral language develops interaction and relationships in growing learners to communicate purposefully with others.
• Speaking and listening are important skills that strengthen communication skills in many ways.
• Eagerness and prediction when they listen to read aloud.
• Expressing and discussing their thoughts, ideas, and opinions.
• Listening to and respecting others’ views and perspectives
• Seeing information from different forms and modes.
• Asking questions to further deepen knowledge.
Visual language empowers communication and synthesis of gained information.
• Viewing and presenting include engaging with an increased range of resources for different purposes.
• Ability to access information.
• Interpreting and constructing visuals and multimedia for various purposes.
• Interacting with images and language to interpret data, convey ideas, values, and beliefs.
Reading and writing fosters high-level thinking, synthesis, analysis and critique.
The more our learners read, the more they can become good writers. Our learners are exposed to a variety of genres which subjects them to widen their perspective, and expand their imagination to places they would have never dreamt of. Not only that, but it increases their ability to critique their work and the work of others fostering a high level of both creative and critical thinking.
SUPPORT IN LANGUAGES
English serves as our primary language of instruction at MAS, while Arabic, our mother tongue, includes levelled Arabic classes for non-native speakers. For those whose mother tongue isn’t English, we provide support. French is introduced twice a week from grade 5, enriching learners’ linguistic diversity. Interaction in additional languages equips them with skills for a culturally diverse world.
Annually, our Language Day celebration raises awareness of the linguistic and cultural diversity within the MAS community. Learners confidently express themselves in their mother tongue or acquired languages, fostering a celebration of linguistic richness and cultural diversity.
MATH
Mathematics is viewed primarily as a vehicle to support inquiry, providing a global language through which we make sense of the world around us. It is intended that learners become competent users of the language of mathematics and can begin to use it as a way of thinking as opposed to seeing it as a series of facts and equations to be memorized. The power of mathematics for describing and analysing the world around us is such that it has become a highly effective tool for solving problems. Learners acquire mathematical understanding by constructing their own meaning through ever increasing levels of abstraction starting with exploring their own personal experiences, understandings, and knowledge. It is crucial that it should be taught in relevant, realistic contexts.
Mathematics is a problem-solving subject where it teaches the learners how to be critical thinkers and problem solvers while challenging them with real-life problems in an interesting and enthusiastic way. Mathematics allows the learners to explore and discover the world around them and provides them with challenging situations where they are actively engaged with various situations where they start mastering mathematics as a global language including formulas, equations, and laws. It is a very useful subject as it teaches the learners the way of thinking critically and how to analyse different things and objects around them and how to communicate and collaborate with others to come up with proper solutions.
Mathematics is divided into four main strands:
• Data Handling
• Measurement
• Space and Shape
• Pattern and Function
SCIENCE
Science enables the learners to explore the way objects and phenomena function and examine the change over time. It develops the learners’ observational skills and the use of their senses to explore the world around them. Science enables learners to gain understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships as well. Science subject is taught through the program of inquiry and the transdisciplinary themes.Our understanding of science is constantly changing and evolving. The knowledge component of science is arranged in four strands.
Living things: The study of the characteristics, systems and behaviours of humans and other animals, and of plants, the interactions and relationships between and among them, and with their environment.
Earth and space: The study of planet Earth and its position in the universe, particularly its relationship with the sun; the natural phenomena and systems that shape the planet and the distinctive features that identify it; the infinite and finite resources of the planet.
Material and matter: The study of the properties, behaviours and uses of materials, both natural and human-made; the origins of human-made materials and how they are manipulated to suit a purpose.
Forces and energy: The study of energy, its origins, storage and transfer, and the work it can do; the study of forces; the application of scientific understanding through inventions and machines.
SOCIAL STUDIES
In Social Studies, learners are able to understand their own culture in addition to different cultures around the world thus helping them to approach the world with open-mindedness. It deepens learners’ understanding of the various civilizations in the past and present and allows them to recognize different relationships of people amongst each other. Social Studies is taught through the program of inquiry and the transdisciplinary themes. We introduce the MOE social studies in Arabic classes and integrate where and whenever it is authentic and can support the Programme of Inquiry.
Human systems and economic activities: The study of how and why people construct organizations and systems; the ways in which people connect locally and globally; the distribution of power and authority.
Social organization and culture: The study of people, communities, cultures and societies; the ways in which individuals, groups and societies interact with each other.
Continuity and change through time: The study of the relationships between people and events through time; the past, its influences on the present and its implications for the future; people who have shaped the future through their actions.
Human and natural environments: The study of the distinctive features that give a place its identity; how people adapt to and alter their environment; how people experience and represent place; the impact of natural disasters on people and the built environment.
Resources and the Environment: The interaction between people and the environment; the study of how humans allocate and manage resources; the positive and negative effects of this management; the impact of scientific and technological developments on the environment.
PERSONAL SOCIAL PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PSPE)
Physical Education is a crucial subject encompassing social, physical, and mental health. It covers both theoretical and practical skills, focusing on enhancing learners’ gross motor skills, social skills, team-building principles, and promoting healthy lifestyles.
THE ARTSVisual Arts-Performing
Arts
The three forms of Arts are Drama, Music and Visual Arts. They enrich a child’s learning journey over the years, accelerating personality development and imparting skills for life. The transdisciplinary nature of arts gives learners relevance across the curriculum. Arts promotes the uniqueness of each person while exploring the commonalities that connect us with each other.
Visual Arts: (VA)
Visual Arts enables learners to express themselves and communicate their ideas and thoughts in a creative and interesting way. Learner’s experience and learn various drawing, painting and crafting skills, they also learn simple and complex 2D and 3D shapes, use of colors and various textures. VA allows a wide space of creativity where learners use their creative-thinking skills and imagination to create their own pieces of art.
Music:
Learners at MAS encounter diverse music experiences, encompassing individual, group, performance-based, and theoretical learning opportunities. These avenues empower them to practice, apply, and master various musical components. The curriculum progressively challenges and engages learners across different year levels, introducing concepts and skills with increasing complexity and depth. Until grade 4, learners have one music period per week, and in grade 5, they attend one class every two weeks.
Drama:
Drama at MAS encourages learners to express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions through facial expressions and body language. A dedicated Drama teacher guides this exploration from Pre-K to grade 5. The curriculum is either integrated within the units of Inquiry or taught as a stand-alone subject outside the Programme of Inquiry (POI).
Technology in the PYP:
(ICT) in the PYP focuses on nurturing learners’ technological abilities and equipping them to collect and present data using modern tools. The curriculum imparts essential technological skills crucial for contemporary learning and teaching methods. Through ICT, learners enhance their research skills, utilizing technology to gather data and information from secondary sources. They also develop proficiency in displaying and sharing information. Typing is systematically addressed in ICT classes throughout the elementary years. ICT education is provided from grade 1 to grade 5.
LIBRARY
The library serves as a collaborative hub for facilitators to plan and coordinate their units. Here, learners are guided in connecting IB learner profile attributes, approaches to learning skills, and concepts to their Units of Inquiry. Librarians design diverse learning engagements to promote reading and reflection, fostering critical thinking.
Beyond traditional library roles, librarians actively support teachers and contribute to inquiry-based learning. They collaborate with homeroom and single subject teachers, understanding their needs and providing necessary resources. The library is often utilized for planned learning engagements, including gallery walks or displays, with collaboration extending to the technology department for enhanced understanding using tech tools.
During library periods, each grade receives instruction on age-appropriate research and library skills, facilitating more efficient use during inquiries. Learners have access to Wi-Fi internet-connected laptops/iPads for personal use in the classroom or library. The library provides a diverse collection, including fiction, picture books, periodicals, weekly newspapers, and monthly magazines.
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO UNDERSTAND? - CONCEPTS
Concepts are powerful broad and abstract organizing ideas that may be transdisciplinary or subject based. Concepts help to build understandings across, between and beyond subjects.
Seven key concepts provide a structure for the exploration of significant and authentic content through a set of questions that lead to conceptual understanding.
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BE ABLE TO DO? - SKILLS
APPROACHES TO LEARNING (ATL)
ATL skills constitute a fundamental component of an IB education, complementing the Learner Profile, knowledge acquisition, conceptual understanding, and inquiry. These skills are based on the foundational belief that acquiring the ability to learn is essential to a learner’s education. Organized into five interrelated categories, these skills aim to empower learners of all ages to become self-regulated learners who can formulate insightful questions, establish effective goals, and pursue their aspirations with unwavering determination. These skills play a crucial role in fostering a sense of agency among learners, encouraging them to view their learning as an active and dynamic process (IBO 2017).
SKILLS IN ACTION
HOW BEST OUR LEARNERS WILL LEARN?
Through Inquiry and Play
Inquiry as the leading pedagogical approach of the PYP at MAS, recognizes that learning happens through inquiry and play where learners are actively engaged and involved in their own learning.
Through Experiential Learning- Field Trips, Expert Guest Speakers
Experiential learning at MAS integrates field trips and expert guest speakers, transcending traditional classrooms. These real-world experiences provide practical applications for learners’ knowledge and skills, fostering hands-on learning and curiosity. Expert speakers contribute valuable insights, enhancing academic understanding, promoting critical thinking, and nurturing a holistic perspective for a more interconnected comprehension of the world.
Through Transdisciplinary Learning
Transdisciplinary learning takes place when learners establish meaningful connections across diverse subject disciplines, broadening their understanding of the world. This holistic approach encourages a more comprehensive and integrated perspective.
Through Environment for Learning
The learning environment plays a pivotal role in facilitating learning processes. Learners actively engaged with each other and their surroundings, explore topics in a focused manner, constructing understanding through collaborative efforts.
HOW WILL WE KNOW WHAT OUR LEARNERS HAVE LEARNT?
Assessment in the Primary Years Programme
Assessment is integral to all parts of teaching and learning. It involves the gathering and analysis of information about learners’ learning, thereby providing valuable insights to our school community and guiding our teaching practices. It also identifies what our learners know, understand and can do at different stages in the learning process.
The strategies of Assessment within the PYP framework fall into three domains:
Assessment FOR Learning: It assesses previous knowledge and aims to inform learning and teaching. It is conducted throughout the learning process. It can be reflected in several forms: written and oral artifacts, observations and feedback, surveys, and progress reports.
Assessment AS Learning: It is part of the formative process and is conducted throughout the learning process. It helps learners to become responsible lifelong learners. It supports them in reflecting on their progress, making adjustments, and setting goals for future learning.
Assessment OF Learning: It offers learners the opportunity to measure their development of knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills. It is conducted at the end of the unit. It is the type of assessment which usually features: exams, quizzes, standardized tests, projects, and report cards.
• well-considered feedback to feed forward for next steps in learning.
Tools: Open -ended tasks, written or oral assessment, and portfolio
1. Learning logs or journals
2. Learning stories
3. Portfolios
Grading system
Standardized Tests
Parent/teacher/learner conference
Learner-led conferences
Report cards
Reading Assessment:
We do a diagnostic assessment at the beginning of the academic year, in addition to ongoing formative assessments. This allows teachers to understand learners’ reading abilities. The teacher observes, records and evaluates the learners’ reading performance on fluencyreading accuracy, prediction, retell, comprehension and inference ability. Learners are assessed one- on- one by their teachers.
Standardized Assessment:
The purpose of standardized assessment is to see where our learners stand in core subjects (Math/English) in the global benchmarking. It also helps us highlight our learners’ unique strengths and identify areas for improvement in reading and Math. This data also provides us with evidence of the learner’s progress over the years. It identifies and supports children with additional educational needs. At Mas, we conduct MAP testing twice a year for grades 2-5 to inform our teaching strategies and support the learner in his/her learning journey.
PYP Exhibition
The PYP Exhibition serves as a noteworthy culmination of learners’ knowledge and skills acquired throughout their Primary Years Programme (PYP) journey, preparing them for the transition to Middle School. This celebratory event underscores a significant inquiry process, marked by reflection, collaboration, and action. During this transformative experience, learners delve into a comprehensive exploration of a topic of personal interest, aiming to convey their insights not only to the school community but also to the broader world.
The heart of the exhibition lies in an in-depth collaborative inquiry, fostering the development of independence and a sense of responsibility for one’s own learning. Through this process, learners not only deepen their understanding of a real-life issue but also enhance their communication and critical thinking skills. The exhibition empowers learners to showcase autonomy and agency in their learning journey, embodying the core qualities outlined in the Learner Profile.
HOW DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO ACT?
-ACTION
Action is an integral part of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and is intertwined with the IB learner profile. It is the embodiment and core of learners’ agency as it is ideally their voice, choice and ownership of learning. Taking action reflects successful inquiry and raises internationally minded responsible learners who will make an impact locally and/or globally.
Action in the PYP Includes
LEARNERS TAKING ACTION
HOW DO WE REPORT THE
LEARNERS’
PROGRESS IN LEARNING?
Parent-Teacher Conference
Parents are considered an important partner of our school community; thus, they are always welcomed to meet with the class teacher to discuss their child’s progress. This conference is led by the teacher using learners’ portfolios.
Teacher-Student Conference
Such conferences are arranged with learners when setting smart goals and when giving learners ongoing feedback to feedforward all that to help learners reflect on their work and further refine and develop their skills.
Student-Led Conference
Student-Led Conference is when learners have the opportunity to reflect their learning journey with their parents and the progress done throughout their learning process which can be seen in their portfolios.
Term Report Cards
Parents receive a written report which is an evaluation of the personal progress of the child, the report is shared with the parents three times a year, in addition to twice a year progress report for grades 1-5. As for KG report cards they are shared with parents twice a year.
Academic Honesty
The Modern American School strives to develop lifelong learners who exemplify the IB learner profile and attitudes. Approaches to learning skills are taught to underpin academic integrity in all programmes particularly the research skills and sub-skills of ethical use of media/ information, where learners are expected to understand and apply social and ethical technology. Learners are exposed to the concept of academic integrity from Early Years through Grade 12. Learners are expected to work independently, and in an academically honest approach, showing confidence, independence, integrity and being principled. Teachers are encouraged to design assessments that lead learners to produce original and authentic work.
What is Academic Honesty in the Primary Years?
• Learners take responsibility for their own work.
• Learners recognize, acknowledge the work of others, and can identify the difference between individual work and group work.
• Learners collaboratively work amongst the group, dividing tasks equally, and listening attentively to each other.
• Learners follow timeline, submissions, citing and acknowledging sources and resources, being authentic and original and owning responsibility towards learning and assessments.
• Learners are encouraged to explore, innovate, create, and act in different learning contexts giving critical and insightful evaluation of resources.
Modern American School is a Candidate School* for the Primary Years Program. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Modern American School believes is important for our students.
*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org
