Sabin is the site of an active and robust International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Much more than a set of concepts, Sabin's IB program has deep impact on the specific curriculum and classroom discussion that our students experience every day. The IB program’s content reaches beyond PPS and state-wide standards.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is a curriculum committed to developing students as caring, active participants in a lifelong journey of learning. The program promotes global citizenship, intercultural understanding, and respect for the planet. More than just a plan of study, the Sabin IB program is a framework and philosophy that facilitates guided structured inquiry and challenges students to think for themselves and take responsibility for their learning as they explore local and global issues in real-life contexts.
The PTA is proud to help support IB with a range of events throughout the year (e.g., Mt. Readmore and Run for Sabin School, among others) which provide funding for IB resources and development.
**Are you curious about how IB curriculum in integrated into our classrooms?
**Are you interested in how it facilitates a deep and connected understanding of things, beyond the state standards?
For additional questions about the Sabin IB primary years program, contact Ms. Vawter at kvawter@pps.net
Additional IB information can be found in the following links:
Sabin's IB Program
Quarter 3 Unit Highlights (2019)
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is starting their unit on “Where we are in time and place,” which is all about investigations about different parts of the world and how people live. Students learn about how people create shelters in different areas, and how climate impacts the types of houses that people live in. Students look at pictures of houses from around the world, study world maps, and start to learn about what places in the world are hotter/colder or wetter/drier. They even get to build their own model house in this unit! This exciting unit was designed by Sabin kindergarten teachers and IB staff and is not taught at other PPS schools.
First Grade
First grade is starting their IB unit on biomimicry where students learn about plant and animal superpowers! An example of biomimicry is that people have used the idea of a turtle having a shell to create helmets to protect people's heads. So, students learn all about how animals and plants have superpowers that allow them to survive and reproduce, and how humans can use the same ideas to make the world a better place. This unit is part of the “How the world works” IB transdisciplinary theme.
This unit is based on the Next Generation Science Standards, and was developed by our teachers at a past IB workshop. As part of this unit are teachers and students have access to many related multimedia resources like videos, reading, and other materials that help students during the investigation. This is not a PPS unit, but specifically designed for the Sabin IB program.
Second Grade
Second grade just finished their unit about the wonderful superpowers of water, and are now starting a unit about mapping and communities as part of “How we organize ourselves”. Students begin by learning about organization and what organization is, and then move into thinking about how humans organize the world around us and how that relates to how communities are built. They learn about how communities change, who was in our community, and how people use different types of maps to model different areas.
Students create their own map and learn about how to create symbols and legends as well as cardinal directions. Students also start to look at social justice issues around community and who feels connected and how to make a community a welcoming place. This unit was designed by Sabin teachers and Sabin’s IB coordinator.
Third Grade
Third grade is finishing up their unit on “Where we are in time and place,” in which students study about our current location and who was here before Lewis and Clark. Students learn about how the Pacific Northwest Basin was formed, and geological timelines, and culture and how culture is related to natural and other resources.
Their next unit, is connected to “How the world works”. Students learn all about adaptations. One of the unique things they learn is about the native bees here at Sabin. They also learn about adaptations in other animals and how adaptations allow animals and plants to thrive in diverse climates. This curriculum builds off of the second grade unit on biodiversity. Both of these units have been developed by Sabin teachers with support from the IB coordinator.
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders beginning a unit on migration, where students learn all about push and pull factors that cause people to migrate around the world. The Oregon state standards have students learning about Lewis and Clark at this grade level, but in our classes the IB curriculum adds additional layers of curriculum and students learn about human migrations that are happening currently as well as that have happened in the past. As a part of this, students learn about the great Great Migration North and its impact on music and culture in music class as well as in the classroom. They also learn about current migrations around the world. Each student takes a migration and does their own investigation around factors causing it to happen.
Fifth grade
Finally, fifth grade us beginning a unit on engineering where students learn about the scientific method and the engineering process, including how engineering can help people. Student have a bio-engineering challenge where they create a robotic arm with a significant number of constraints. They learn about variables and scientific concepts. Students also create their own investigation or experiment to present to the class.