Anasazi
Elementary School
Academics
International Baccalaureate®
→ International Baccalaureate® Overview
Anasazi Elementary School is proud to be an International Baccalaureate® (IB) accredited school in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) as of February 2023 - the 8th PYP school in the state of Arizona.
With this authorization, Scottsdale Unified School District now offers a complete IB curriculum from kindergarten through high school at Anasazi Elementary School (PYP), Mountainside Middle School (MYP), and Desert Mountain High School (MYP & DP).
The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) nurtures and develops young students as caring, active participants in a lifelong journey of learning. The PYP’s inquiry-based curriculum framework creates a community of future-focused learners that is able to engage critically and meaningfully across subject matters. As part of being an authorized IB PYP school, Anasazi Elementary School provides a world language offering of Spanish as a specials class for all students kinder - 5th grade.
The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring students who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. Inquiry learning helps students learn while building on what they already know. Students create meaning through a hands-on approach to learning, gaining understanding, and having student agency and providing action. Our goal is to develop lifelong learners through the process of inquiry. Through the IB curriculum, students become independent learners capable of in-depth critical thinking and reflection.
IB World Schools share a common philosophy - a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education - that we believe is important for our students. The framework provided by the IB curriculum provides our students with a dynamic, relevant and valuable education that they will need to be successful in an interconnected world. IB takes our district’s vision of providing ‘world-class, future-focused learning’ to that next level.
→ Primary Years Programme
The PYP is based on the recognition of a child’s natural curiosity, creativity and ability to reflect. It generates a stimulating, challenging learning environment to nurture the whole child and foster a lifelong love of learning for all. The PYP is transdisciplinary, meaning students learn across subject areas while inquiring into big ideas.
What is the Primary Years Programme?
The PYP is a curriculum framework for young learners aged 3–12. Like all International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes, the IB learner profile permeates all facets of school life in the PYP
Visit the PYP Parent Pack for FAQs.
Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Learn more about the International Baccalaureate Program at SUSD.
→ IB Day of Service Gallery
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (November 20, 2023) – Working in collaboration, students in Scottsdale Unified School District’s (SUSD) three International Baccalaureate (IB) schools – Anasazi Elementary School, Mountainside Middle School and Desert Mountain High School – assembled learning kits last week to support some new Valley residents.
Their work, part of Arizona’s nearly 40 IB schools’ annual “Day of Service” on November 15, will be delivered to the Welcome to America Project (WTAP), a Tempe-based organization that assists refugees from around the world who have been recently relocated to the Phoenix area through the U.S. State Department.
In the weeks leading up to the Day of Service, SUSD’s IB students and their families donated and collected school and personal care supplies for the Valley newcomers. Anasazi students also created welcome cards in Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, English, Farsi, Burmese and French to deliver with the kits.
Anasazi IB Coordinator Sara Armstrong hopes this first Day of Service is the beginning of other joint initiatives with Mountainside and Desert Mountain. “WTAP provided a perfect opportunity for our students to embrace the key fundamentals of the IB, which include international mindedness and action.”
At Mountainside, student government and National Junior Honors Society members put together middle school supply kits that included pencils, pencil sharpeners, highlighters, erasers, pocket dictionaries, folders, pens, spiral notebooks and rulers. At Desert Mountain, students enrolled in the school’s IB Diploma Programme assembled both learning and personal hygiene kits.
Mountainside IB Coordinator Traci Gillespie said that the families WTAP helps are highly motivated, resourceful and eager to start their new lives in the U.S. “They develop strong ties to their new communities, make active contributions, work hard, pay taxes and are expected to become self-sufficient within six months.”
“The IB Day of Service is an important undertaking as we embody our mission statement of striving to develop principled, caring and inquisitive learners in order to prepare them to be knowledgeable and respectful global citizens,” Gillespie added.
Anasazi Academic Programs
→ World Language: Spanish Offering
Anasazi is using the Global Language Project (GLP) curriculum to support Spanish language acquisition. Instruction provided by a bilingual HQ elementary teacher includes games, songs and chants. We strive for 80% of instruction to be delivered in the target language of Spanish.
Anasazi students, grades K-5, participate in a world language program offering with a minimum of 45 instructional minutes a week. The objective is to build skills and language acquisition.
Pre-kindergarten students also have Spanish world language exposure with a certified teacher.
This program exposes students to a new language, as well as a new culture.
Inquiries about the program: 480-484-7300
→ PACT / Gifted
When entering the PACT room, you’ll be positive that you’re in Mrs. C’s room.
This is where the PACT classes are taught. In PACT, we do amazing things. For example, balancing an egg three inches off the ground with just dry spaghetti, marshmallows, name tags, and straws. We also enjoy other activities such as building structures with straws, solving problems, puzzles or learning new games. Two of our favorite games are Set and Quiddler and you can find them here.