An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human

Preschool

(Preschool completes 4 units each school year)

Central Idea: As I grow and change, I discover new things about who I am and what I can do.

Lines of Inquiry

• What I can do / Who am I?
• My relationship with others The ways that I change

Key Concepts: Form, Connection, Change

Kindergarten

Central Idea: The choices we make affect other people

Lines of Inquiry

• Our responsibilities in relationships
• Fair and peaceful ways of sharing
• The consequences of our actions

Key Concepts: Causation, Responsibility, Perspective

Grade 1

Central Idea: Groups of people work together in different ways to achieve common goals

Lines of Inquiry

• Common goals within communities
• How we work together to reach common goals
• Responsibilities and consequences for members within a group

Key Concepts: Responsibility, Connection

Grade 2

Central Idea: The choices people make affect their health and well-being.

Lines of Inquiry

• Balanced lifestyle
• Our responsibilities to make good choices for our health
• The consequences of our choices

Key Concepts: Perspective, Responsibility, Causation

Grade 3

Central Idea: The human body has many different systems working together to help us function.

Lines of Inquiry

• The body systems
• Functions of the body systems
• Connections between the body systems

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Connection

Grade 4

Central Idea: Culture is a reflection of a people's beliefs and values.

Lines of Inquiry

• How geography impacts culture
• Similarities and differences among cultures
• How perspectives may vary from culture to culture

Key Concepts: Causation, Connection, Perspective

Grade 5

Central Idea: People’s interests, passions, and beliefs can inspire and sustain learning and motivate them to take action.

Lines of Inquiry

• Identifying our passions and related Issues
• Planning for and conducting an inquiry
• Synthesizing results for presentation
• Planning future action based on reflection

Key Concepts: form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection (student chosen)

An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.

Grade 1

Central Idea: People develop systems and processes to get the food they need and want.

Lines of Inquiry

• Where food comes from
• Stages foods go through before we eat them
• How the food we eat impacts our health and our environment

Key Concepts: Responsibility, Causation, Change

Grade 2

Central Idea: People work together to develop systems that create well-functioning communities.

Lines of Inquiry

• Needs, wants, goods, and services (form)
• How communities meet the needs and wants of their members (function)
• How systems are connected (connection)

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Connection

Grade 3

Central Idea: Societies make decisions that impact humankind and the environment.

Lines of Inquiry

• How different societies meet the needs of their people
• How our decisions impact humankind
• How our decisions impact the environment

Key Concepts: Causation, Perspective, Responsibility

Grade 4

Central Idea: Society develops systems to organize itself.

Lines of Inquiry

• Different types of systems
• How different organizations operate
• How systems and/organizations change to meet the needs and wants of individuals and society

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Change

Grade 5

Central Idea: Understanding how systems function enables people to make decisions about the use of resources.

Lines of Inquiry

• Interconnectedness of local and global systems (food, natural resources, economy)
• Inequity within systems (wealth/poverty, exploitation, gender inequality, child labor)
• Systems support decision making and problem solving

Key Concepts: Responsibility, Connection, Perspective

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.

Grade 1

Central Idea: Humans create and change things to improve their daily lives.

Lines of Inquiry

• Products/innovations in our daily lives
• Why people create and or innovate
• How and why have innovations changed over time

Key Concepts: Form, Causation, Change

Grade 2

Central Idea: Exploring how people lived throughout history can help us understand the way life changes.

Lines of Inquiry

• Homes and daily life in the past/present
• Changes to homes and daily life over time
• How your home affects your daily life

Key Concepts: Form, Change, Connection

Grade 3

Central Idea: Exploration may expand our perspective and understanding.

Lines of Inquiry

• Why people explore
• How people record explorations
• How exploration expands our thinking

Key Concepts: Perspective, Form, Function

Grade 4

Central Idea: Human migration can involve challenges, risks and opportunities.

Lines of Inquiry

• The reasons for migration
• How migration impacts countries, cultures and individuals
• The multiple perspectives on migration

Key Concepts: Causation, Change, Perspective

Grade 5

Central Idea: Interactions between different cultures can bring about change.

Lines of Inquiry

• How cultures influence each other (connection and change)
• How technologies impact culture (change)
• Cultural diffusion (perspective)

Key Concepts: Connection, Change, Perspective

An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

Preschool

(Preschool completes 4 units each school year)

Central Idea: People use different materials and in different ways and for different purposes.

Lines of Inquiry

• Different building materials and their properties
• The structure of buildings, towers and bridges
• The materials and shapes used in making different stable, weight bearing structures

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Causations

Kindergarten

Central Idea: Scientists follow a method to learn new things.

Lines of Inquiry

• Why scientists conduct experiments
• How scientists conduct and record experiments (scientific method)
• How scientists reflect on the results of an experiment

Key Concepts: Function, Change

Grade 1

Central Idea: The solar system has many patterns and connections that affect life on Earth.

Lines of Inquiry

• The position and characteristics of objects in our solar system (planets, stars, moon etc.)
• The cycles of the Earth, Sun, and Moon and how they affect life. (Day/night, seasons, years tides, moon phases etc.)
• How scientists can apply their understanding to new situations

Key Concepts: Form, Causation, Connection

Grade 2

Central Idea: People apply and manipulate forces to solve problems in their everyday lives

Lines of Inquiry

• Forces and how they work
• Simple machines as tools to manipulate forces
• How simple and compound machines impact our everyday lives

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Causation

Grade 3

Central Idea: Humans observe the changing Earth and strive to understand it.

Lines of Inquiry

• The changing earth
• Scientific theories
• The ways humans observe the earth's changes

Key Concepts: Change, Causation, Form

Grade 4

Central Idea: Humans use energy to meet their needs and wants

Lines of Inquiry

• Different sources and types of energy (chemical, kinetic, potential, electricity)
• How energy is converted (energy chains)
• How people use energy

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Change

Grade 5

Central Idea: Understanding the nature of matter allows us to transform it and use it.

Lines of Inquiry

• Structures and properties of matter
• How matter can change

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Change

An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

Preschool

(Preschool completes 4 units each school year)

Central Idea: Many factors affect how things change and grow

Lines of Inquiry

• Choices have consequences
• How living things change and grow
• Our responsibility towards living things

Key Concepts: Responsibility, Change, Causation

Kindergarten

Central Idea: Individual actions make a difference to living things.

Lines of Inquiry

• The needs and characteristics of living things
• The connection between living things and the environment
• The responsibility of individuals towards living things

Key Concepts: Form, Connection, Responsibility

Grade 1

Central Idea: Plants are complex living things that interact with the environment around them.

Lines of Inquiry

• How plants grow
• Features of plants
• How plants interact with their environment
• The scientific process

Key Concepts: Function, Connection, Reflection

Grade 2

Central Idea: Water is vital to life on Earth and limited for many.

Lines of Inquiry

• Dependence on water (all living things need water to survive) (causation)
• Freshwater limitations (location, systems, conflict, pollution) (causation)
• Ways to conserve water (responsibility)

Key Concepts: Causation, Responsibility

Grade 3

Central Idea: There is a relationship between the characteristics of living things and their environment.

Lines of Inquiry

• Characteristics of living organisms (invertebrates/vertebrates etc.)
• Life cycles
• Relationships among organisms

Key Concepts: Form, Change, Connection

Grade 4

Central Idea: The choices humans make, when using and sharing natural resources, contribute to the state of our environment.

Lines of Inquiry

• How we use resources
• The connection between our use of resources and the environment
• Informed choices that have a more positive effect on the environment

Key Concepts: Form, Connection, Responsibility

Grade 5

Central Idea: Living organisms are dependent on each other and non-living factors in their environment.

Lines of Inquiry

• Causes of balance and imbalance within an ecosystem
• Interconnected elements of ecosystems
• How energy is transferred within an ecosystem

Key Concepts: Causation, Function, Connection

An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

Preschool

(Preschool completes 4 units each school year)

Central Idea: People express themselves in different ways.

Lines of Inquiry

• Expression of ideas and feelings
• The ways materials can be used
• Different likes, dislikes, feelings, and opinions

Key Concepts: Form, Perspective, Function

Kindergarten

Central Idea: People express themselves in different ways.

Lines of Inquiry

• The ways we express ourselves
• Different expressions
• What makes individuals unique.

Key Concepts: Form, Perspective, Connection

Grade 1

Central Idea: A powerful story engages the audience, communicates meaning, and invites a response.

Lines of Inquiry

• Why people tell stories
• How people tell stories
• The stories that speak to us
• How people communicate using light and sound

Key Concepts: Function, Perspective

Grade 2

Central Idea: People use their creativity for different purposes.

Lines of Inquiry

• The types of creative expression
• The purpose of creative expression
• The ways creative thinking can help us to solve problems

Key Concepts: Form, Change, Connection

Grade 3

Central Idea: People use different forms of expression to reflect their uniqueness as human beings.

Lines of Inquiry

• The uniqueness of people and their self-expression
• How people express themselves
• How perspective shapes interpretation

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Perspective

Grade 4

Central Idea: Effective communicators make informed choices when deciding on language and tools to express themselves.

Lines of Inquiry

• How our purpose affects our style of communication
• Language and its importance within disciplines
• Our responsibility to our audience when choosing language tools.

Key Concepts: Causation, Connection, Responsibility

Grade 5

Central Idea: (PYP Exhibition) People’s interests, passions, and beliefs can inspire and sustain learning and motivate them to take action.

Lines of Inquiry

• The creative process ways to connect to and engage our audience
• Communicating meaning in diverse ways

Key Concepts: form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection (student chosen)

Stand Alone

Central Idea: People use engineering and design thinking to make life better.

Lines of Inquiry

• Finding problems with design
• Ways to solve problems with design
• How teams work together well

Key Concepts: Form, Function, Responsibility