Grade 5 Exhibition 2021

By Ms. Hobson, Grade 5 Homeroom Teacher.

On Friday, June 18, 2021, CISS celebrated the Grade 5 Exhibition and Graduation. Exhibition culminates the PYP for the students, where they get to showcase all of the learning of the Essential Elements.

This is a big event where the students are given the opportunity to share their understanding of a real-life issue or topic that they are personally interested in and share it with others. It was an incredibly valuable experience for all involved and we all learnt a great deal.

The Opening Ceremony began with the Grade 5 class performing an amazing drum dance which was a wonderful, lively energetic start to the proceedings. After a welcoming speech by Miss Patricia Larrondo, the Canadian Principal, the Grade 5 students recited a poem by Julia Donaldson entitled “The Magic Paintbrush”. This poem was chosen specially to integrate with their Transdisciplinary Theme “Sharing the Planet”. It reinforced with the students that we all share this wonderful planet and it is their responsibility to look after and care for those less fortunate than ourselves and to make a difference in this world.

Mentors are an important part of the Exhibition. They met with the students once a week to discuss ideas and share discoveries they made. Mentors are an invaluable element in the student’s exhibition journey and the students greatly appreciated their ideas and advice.

Mentors top to bottom: Ms. Lolla, Dr. Allers, Mr. Maldonado, Mr. Hobson, Ms. Larrondo, Ms. Sajid, Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Akhtar, Mr. Allers, Dr. Sabate, Ms. Zhang.

The Grade 5s produced beautiful, well-researched projects on various topics.

1) “Trains” – this project was about the history of trains and the effect they have on the environment. The students also investigated the local Shenyang Metro system and discovered the new railway lines they were building. Their action was to write to the railway administration and ask that they consider extending the one line to reach RenHeJia to enable the over million residents to access a faster way to get in and out of the city.

2) “Scientists and Inventions” – this project looked into the 10 most important inventions in the world. It was discovered that most of the well-known and acknowledged inventions were from America or Europe. As the action, it was decided to make an iMovie to highlight the inventions from China that we use often yet probably do not know originated in China.

3) “Ocean Acidification” – this looked into the causes and effects of ocean acidification and what we can do to reduce the problem. The student had a love of chemistry and performed a few experiments to prove this issue. His action was to encourage people and tell them ways in which they could help reduce this crisis.

4) “Art” – Art is an important part of all of our lives. This project told of some of the important artists through time and the impact they made in this world. A survey was conducted with the students and teachers at CISS to ascertain preferences for certain types of artworks and styles. The results were interesting and displayed in a graph. The girls painted two paintings to donate to the school to commemorate the 2021 exhibition and to share their love of art.

5) “Trash in the Ocean” – this project was an eye-opener to the students. They were amazed by the extent of the problem of trash in the world’s oceans, including the vast “Great Pacific Garbage Patch;” furthermore, they were surprised by how much of the trash had originated in China. This led them to their decision to ask the school to use tomato sauce bottles at meals, rather than supplying hundreds of little plastic tomato sauce/ketchup sachets.

7) “The Horrors of Animal Trafficking” – this project highlighted the 3 top trafficked animals – pangolins, tigers and rhinos. The students researched where and why these animals were trafficked – reasons ranging from food, wine, medicine and other shocking reasons. As an action, the three students created their own website where they shared their discoveries and encouraged people to stand with them in the fight against animal trafficking by donating money to the WWF for this cause.

To end the Opening Ceremony, the Grade 5 students sang a song “The Impossible Dream” which was chosen to remind them that when they are faced with challenges in the years ahead, if they keep trying and reach for the stars, nothing is impossible. The Grade 5s have come to the end of their PYP journey. This exhibition has shown them that if they can accomplish great things if they persevere and give their best. We congratulate them on their exhibition and wish them all the best for the years ahead.