WISdom

GRADE 3 MARKETPLACE

The Grade 3 Celebration of Learning for the Unit of Inquiry Exchanging Goods, with the central idea that "Goods and services are given value and can be exchanged," was alive with excitement. In small groups, students created and named their own companies and developed products to sell. They made their products and decided how much to sell them for, and also created advertisements for their products.

Their celebration was a marketplace, where the students put into action all they had learned over several weeks. Parents accompanied their children to the marketplace, where each student had one session to buy goods from all companies, and the other session to sell goods to customers. Students were given $5 to spend, and parents had the opportunity to observe their children demonstrating their skills with making change and exchanging goods in the marketplace, and keeping track of their own spending and managing their wallets!

The Grade 3 classrooms were a whirlwind of activity, as students eagerly bought and sold their goods. Afterward, they reflected on the experience, discussing everything from supply and demand to bargaining and sale prices. It was a wonderful, real-life demonstration of learning!

INAUGURAL IDI AND ME WORKSHOP

In Spring 2024, the School launched IDI workshops for Primary School students. These workshops are an opportunity for students to explore identity through different lenses, from the significance of hair in different cultures to understanding and seeing the many beautiful forms that families can take.

The first "IDI and ME" workshop was called "My Hair and ME." Prior to this workshop, all students attended an assembly where Early Years PSPE teacher Ms. Gillian Rogers explained her session plans and Director of IDI Aldaine Wynter spoke to students about the upcoming sessions and the importance of international-mindedness, diversity, and inclusion. During the assembly, students watched the Oscar award-winning short film “Hair Love“ and went on to discuss themes in their classrooms in preparation for the workshop.

The workshop explored some of the ways that people around the world wear their hair and gave students an opportunity to share their "hairstory" — what students would like the WIS community and world to know about their hair and experiences with it. Ms. Rogers led this session for students in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5.

Students started the session with a gallery walk where they read stories about the traditions of hair from around the world. Students were invited to share their own hair stories with the group. Ms. Rogers then took students through the dos and don'ts of hair, including the importance of respecting those around you.

SOLAR ECLIPSE AT THE PRIMARY SCHOOL

In April 2024, the WIS community had the opportunity to see a rare celestial event: a solar eclipse! While Washington, DC was not in the full path of totality for this eclipse, the moon crossed 89% of the sun in our area, which still made for an exciting afternoon.

Classes at the Primary School ended a bit early so teachers and students (and some of their parents) could head outside to the soccer field in order to look at this special event through their eclipse glasses. Grade 4 English teacher Charles Franklin was in Dallas for the full eclipse, and live-streamed his experience, since it happened slightly earlier in Dallas than in DC. The students were amazed to see how dark the city became in such a short amount of time!

Around 3:10 PM, about ten minutes before DC would hit the peak amount of eclipse, the community noticed a drop in temperature and the skies darkening, almost like there was cloud cover — but there wasn't! The crowd became focused on the sky and gasps and cheers were heard all around the field as the sun became mostly obscured by the moon.

A huge thank you to the Primary School teachers and administration for making this event possible — the students surely won't forget it!

GRADE 11 STUDENTS HOST TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP FOR LOCAL SENIORS

One day, Grade 11 student Ali was helping her grandmother to fix some issues with her mobile phone. When her grandmother commented that she was so lucky to have her, and mentioned that some of her fellow members at Dupont Circle Village don't have the same kind of help, Ali's CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) project was born.

In mid-March, Ali and a group of her classmates held a tech event at Dupont Circle Village, a membership organization that helps elderly and infirm people to age in place. During the event, WIS students helped several dozen DCV members one-on-one with shortcuts, workarounds, and other information when it comes to using their mobile phones and other technology.

The feedback from DCV members was very complimentary:

• "This morning’s tech event was SO wonderful. Anton was able to help me clear out some bugs on my apps and cleared out some storage space on my cell phone. Seeing teens giving tech lessons to folks in their 70's and 80's is a truly beautiful sight to behold. On a personal note, I can’t remember the last time an event such as this filled my heart with such joy. Seeing these young people reaching across the generations has brightened my day and lifted my spirits. And profound thanks to Ali and her young friends from Washington International School, for taking time to spend a very memorable Saturday morning with Dupont Circle Village!"
• "This was a great event! Thank you to Ali for all the assistance you so patiently provided—from the simple hints to the more complex fixes! Thank you to all the tutors who generously shared their time and expertise. Ali, this event was such a wonderful idea—I hope it will be repeated!"
• "Three cheers for Ali, and for Nadia, my tutor, who solved my issues quickly. What a great event."

The event was even covered by local tv station WUSA9!