Highlights from our Tubman IB PYP and MYP Classrooms

Quarter 3 Newsletter: Spring 2025

In their How We Express Ourselves unit of inquiry, Pre-K students inquired into how people express themselves through art and music. They explored the work of many artists, including Bisa Butler, Keith Haring, Yayoi, and Alma Thomas. They also explored how music and musicians use instruments to communicate their ideas and emotions. Students hosted an Art Gallery Exhibit for their families to showcase all their work!

Random Acts of Kindness Week

During the week of February 5th-8th, Bulldog Buddies accepted the Kindness Challenge and came together to complete as many kindness activities as they could throughout the week. Kindness Challenges included reading a book to a buddy, playing a game together, giving someone a compliment, saying thank you to someone, and making art for others. It was a simple and positive way of building relationships between our classrooms and students. Click this link or scan the QR code to see a few highlights of the week!

Read Across Tubman Day

On Friday, March 1st, Bulldog Buddies came together for Read Across Tubman Day, a local variation of National Read Across America Day. The day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss. On National Read Across America Day, students, teachers, parents, and community members around the nation come together to read books and celebrate the joy of reading! At Tubman, we use this day as an opportunity to read with our buddies and continue growing friendships across the school!

Our 5th grade students began learning about the Primary Years Programme Exhibition (PYPx) in February and will continue this student-led work through the end of the school year. The PYP Exhibition marks the end of the students' time in the PYP and provides them with the tools, resources, and time to design their own unit of inquiry based on their passions and interests. To date, students have examined personal, local, and global challenges in the world, learned about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and made connections to other students in the world who have been Changemakers. We are thrilled to see students' excitement as they hone in on their exhibition topics and continue their research in the 4th quarter. A final PYP Exhibition Showcase will occur on June 6th for our school community.

We are excited to share Tubman 3rd and 4th grade students have the unique opportunity to work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's CSO Connect Program this school year. Throughout the year, 3rd and 4th grade teachers have attended professional development sessions and worked with Mr. Hall to create transdisciplinary units integrating the arts. Teachers are also working with the CSO Civic Fellows to design a performance highlighting student learning using art, music, and drama. As part of the program, Tubman students were recently visited by a Civic Fellow to learn about the orchestra and will also visit the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in May for a concert. As a culminating event, students will create their own performance and showcase it in May for other CPS students at Swift Elementary. The Tubman community will be able to see this performance at the Spring Arts Integration Showcase in May. We're excited to see this great learning experience come to fruition and watch this true illustration of arts integration! 

If you would like to learn more about the CSO Connect Program, click here.

MYP Community Projects are well underway in 8th grade! The MYP Community Project is a major milestone for students in Year 3 of the IB programme at Tubman Elementary. As a school authorized to provide the MYP, all 8th grade students are required to complete a community project focused on identifying a need in a community and how service as action can be used as a vehicle for change. The MYP Community Project is a consolidation of learning and engages students in a sustained, in-depth inquiry completed either by an individual or by a group of students based on their topics and interests. Students work with their Community Project Advisor, comprised of Tubman teachers and staff, who oversee the development of the project according to MYP Assessment Criteria. We are excited to watch our 8th grade students identify the issues they care about and turn them into service learning opportunities. Thank you to our Tubman Community for supporting our students in their work!

MYP students in Year 1 -Year 3 (6th-8th) engaged in a series of investigations to learn about the steps of the Scientific Method. As part of their MYP Science Unit, the statement of inquiry they explored was: Scientists use methods to gather evidence about the relationship between interacting variables. Students collaborated with peers to develop their scientific investigation, then conducted their experiments at home. Their display boards were highlighted at our Middle School Science Fair in March. Thank you to all the families and caregivers that attended the Science Fair. We're so proud of our students!