At Strelitz International Academy, our students become International Baccalaureate® learners as early as six weeks old. A huge part of an IB® education is the IB® Learner Profile Traits. These profile traits include being principled, open-minded, an inquirer, blanched, caring, a thinker, a communicator, a risk-taker, knowledgeable, and reflective. Our young scholars embrace the IB® Learner Profile traits in everything they do. On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, third-grade students in Mrs. Allena Anglen’s class put on their science hats, wore their safety goggles, and demonstrated the traits of being an inquirer, risk-taker, knowledgeable, thinker, and reflective in their oil spill-themed lab.
To start this engaging lesson, the third graders gathered around as Mrs. Anglen read two stories. The first story was a realistic fiction about the 1989 Prince William Sound spill titled Prince William by Gloria Rand, and the other book was a nonfiction text titled Deepwater Horizon by Nikole Brooks Bethea about the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The students also looked at before and after images of bodies of water affected by oil spills, and this encouraged our students to reflect on how these spills affect not only the oceans but life both inside and outside of them.
Next, it was time for our thinkers to become scientists. Mrs. Anglen tasked the students to test different ways to clean up an oil spill. Using pipe cleaners to represent the animals in the oil-filled water, students tested different ways to clean up the oil. The materials they could use to get rid of the oil included a spoon, a fork, yarn, nylon stockings, cotton balls, and disposable pipettes. Unfortunately, our students realized that the pipe cleaner animals did not survive. The third graders also determined that preventing oil spills was the best way to clean the oceans.
Throughout this process, Strelitz students learned that scientists sometimes fail, but that is the best way to learn and grow from past experiences! To wrap up the lab, Mrs. Anglen asked her class, “How do we take this knowledge and move forward?” This question is not just relevant to the oil spill lab but also to any tasks her students may face in the future!
The Strelitz International Academy is the community’s Jewish Day School and International Baccalaureate® World School for infants through grade 5. For more information, contact Ally St. Pierre, Admissions and Marketing Manager, at 757-424-4327, ext. 4188, and Schedule a visit or astpierre@strelitzacademy.org.
