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International Baccalaureate Program


Elkhart Elementary is an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme World School.

What does that mean?

Students in the 21st century are faced with the challenge of learning about an interconnected world where knowledge is constantly developing. The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.

What is the Primary Years Program?

The IB Primary Years Program, for students aged 3 to 12, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.

The Curriculum

The six transdisciplinary themes are the most significant and distinctive features of the IB Primary Years Program.

These themes are about issues that have meaning for, and are important to, all humans. The curriculum offers a balance between learning about or through the subject areas, and learning beyond them. The following six themes of global significance create a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to "step up" beyond the confines of learning within subject areas:

  • Who we are

  • Where we are in place and time

  • How we express ourselves

  • How the world works

  • How we organize ourselves

  • Sharing the planet

The six trans-disciplinary themes help teachers to develop a program of inquiries, or in-depth investigations, into important ideas, identified by the teachers, and requiring a high level of involvement on the part of the students. These inquiries are substantial, in-depth and last for four to six weeks.

Assessment is an important part of each unit of inquiry as it both enhances learning and provides opportunities for students to reflect on what they know, understand and can do. The teacher's feedback to the students provides the guidance, the tools and the incentive for them to become more competent, more skillful and better at understanding how to learn.

IB Learner Profile

What is the IB learner profile?

The learner profile characteristics provide a long term vision of education. It is a set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose. IB learners strive to be:

  • Inquirers

  • Knowledgeable

  • Thinkers

  • Communicators

  • Principled

  • Open-Minded

  • Caring

  • Risk-takers

  • Balanced

  • Reflective

These are the attitudes that IB students learn to show:

  • Appreciation

  • Tolerance

  • Respect

  • Integrity

  • Independence

  • Enthusiasm

  • Empathy

  • Curiosity

  • Creativity

  • Cooperation

  • Confidence

  • Commitment