From infancy onwards children connect to Mathematics through experiences and daily life. They are learning concepts of size, shape, distance, number and comparisons. These early understandings are crucial for building foundations for developing skills and knowledge, but also for developing attitude, problem solving and Mathematical thinking. So how can you support this?  Help your child to love Mathematics by modelling

Ashley Spires’ book “The Most Magnificent Thing”, inspired this 6 Part series looking at the power of “Growth Mindset” in Early years education and beyond each part has been “paired” with an online video reference to extend the conversation – by Nikos Kritsantonis, Origins Education The little girl didn’t know back then that this is a phase of problem solving

Ashley Spires’ book “The Most Magnificent Thing”, inspired this 6 Part series looking at the power of “Growth Mindset” in Early years education and beyond each part has been “paired” with an online video reference to extend the conversation – by Nikos Kritsantonis, Origins Education As early years teachers we see pure creativity in our classrooms every day and our

Ashley Spires’ book “The Most Magnificent Thing”, inspired this 6 Part series looking at the power of “Growth Mindset” in Early years education and beyond each part has been “paired” with an online video reference to extend the conversation – by Nikos Kritsantonis, Origins Education Mathematician John Mason from the University of Oxford claims that all students have “natural powers”

Developing a Growth Mindset Ashley Spires’ book “The Most Magnificent Thing”, inspired this 6 Part series looking at the power of “Growth Mindset” in Early years education and beyond each part has been “paired” with an online video reference to extend the conversation – by Nikos Kritsantonis, Origins Education Lance G. King the author of the book ” The importance

Fiction Book recommendations for Children ages 0-5 0-5岁幼儿小说类读物推荐  Baby (0-1) 婴儿期（0-1岁）     Baby Touch: Snuggle Cloth Book 宝宝触摸系列：软布书 Ladybird Baby Touch series. 英国Ladybird出品婴儿触摸系列绘本 Your young baby will love snuggling up with this soft, padded cloth book that has a crinkle noise on every page! As your baby strokes the sheep’s woolly tummy, rubs the shiny butterfly and feels the dog’s velvety ear, the stimulation will help to develop her senses. This is

Ashley Spires’ book “The Most Magnificent Thing”, inspired this 6 Part series looking at the power of “Growth Mindset” in Early years education and beyond each part has been “paired” with an online video reference to extend the conversation – by Nikos Kritsantonis, Origins Education Study after study has shown the incredible capacity of brains to grow and change in

Loris Malaguzzi wrote ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’ in recognition of the multitude of ways in which they can express their ides, thoughts, feelings or frustrations. Children are complex thinkers and they feel the world in a genuine way. Happiness, fear, anxiety, anger and frustration are real emotions. When children are not following teacher directions or are ‘unsettled’ is it because they

Play is Learning “There are many perspectives on what children’s play may look like, its content and purpose and the adult’s role within children’s play: from child-led play without an adult involvement through adult-directed play to play co-constructed by children and an adult.” (Andrews, 2012). So how does play promote learning? Play for children and adults is not always seen as

How is the environment the 3rd teacher?  “We value space because of its power to organize, promote pleasant relationships among people of different ages, create a handsome environment, provide changes, promotes choices and activity, and provide the potential for sparking all kinds of social, affective, and cognitive learning. (Loris Malaguzzi, personal communication 1984) It is human nature to value and

There is an increased demand for technology integration in the early years’ curriculum. But what does this actually mean for young learners? More screen time for young kids, and less traditional play and contact with their peers? Actually no, the goal of technology integration in the curriculum is to maximise learning and not maximise technology usage. Any educator who has

21st Century Skills Can Creativity be Learned? Once creativity was seen as more to do with the creative arts – painting, drama, music or writing a novel and as such was not considered very important. But in the 21st century that has changed and creativity has become a critical work skill. It is now ranked number 3 on the World Economic Forum’s

Many authors have worked to describe the skills needed to ensure that young people will have the skills to be ready and adaptive to the world of the future. The greatest challenge is that the future is already upon us – what was science fiction is now our daily reality, and continues to change at an ever faster pace. There

Why 21st Century Skills? The world has changed a lot since the year 2000, in fact we expect change and new inventions as part of our daily lives and are not surprised to hear of plans like ‘first person on Mars by 2033’, ‘Denmark reaching 100% wind power generation’ or plans to ‘recreate the woolly mammoth from DNA’. A few

Presenter: Lance G. King Venue: Ideas Camp (北京市朝阳区百子湾南二路甲72号六号楼一层) Date: Friday April 14, 2017 Time: 1:00pm – 2:30pm Language: Presented in English with Chinese Language Support Details: Light refreshments provided Cost: Free! REGISTER NOW Parents, Learn How to Help Your Child Succeed in the 21st Century As parents, we devote our efforts to providing the best possible education for our children

Boarding – A home away from home For many families, a boarding program is very important when choosing a school. This can be due to many considerations including demanding work and travel schedules or travel time between home and school. Parents spend a lot of time considering what makes a good quality school, but for those who need a boarding

Bilinguals – Smarter and More Confident Extensive research points to the significant benefits of having a bilingual brain. Bilingualism provides a unique and powerful opportunity to strengthen children’s highest cognitive brain potentials. Apart from feelings of greater self-confidence and self-perception, and having a highly valuable 21st century skill in the age of globalization, bilingualism has a direct impact on the functioning

Many parents in China are starting to hear more about the International Baccalaureate, commonly know by its acronym IB, which boasts a range of services including both frameworks for teaching and learning and a pathway to international universities. The IB is not a new however. It is active in over 146 countries and works with more that 3,600 schools, with

Teacher Workshop: Teaching With 21st Century Skills in Mind Presenter: Lance G. King Venue: Beijing Academy (www.beijingacademy.com.cn) Date: Saturday April 15, 2017 Time: 9am – 4pm Language: Presented in English with Chinese Translation Details: Catered event with tea, coffee and lunch provided Cost: RMB 580 Registration deadline: March 31, 2017 Payment: (WeChat, AliPay or Bank Transfer) required within 5 days

Thanks for Visiting Us A big thank-you to all the families who dropped by the Innova Academy booth this weekend at the Beijing International Schools Expo, organized by beijingkids and jingkids. It was a great pleasure to meet so many families and share our plans to open what will undoubtedly be a truly remarkable new school in the rapidly developing

“Olympic ambassador” Sang Lan 桑兰 Visits Innova Academy at the School Choice Fair. The Innova Academy booth proved to be a real family affair, keeping with its guiding principle of building community. We were pleased to welcome  our friend Sang Lan who made a special visit to the School Choice Fair to introduce her family to the Innova team and spend time discovering

ORIGINS Education Speaker Series Keep an eye out for lots of Innova Academy special events coming up soon – including the first speaker of our Guest Speaker Series  –  ‘Lance King’ well known author and presenter on 14-15 April. Preparing Your Child for Success  What did Jack Ma and Steve Jobs both have in common? Both knew how to turn setbacks into

Planning for our Children’s Futures Applying the Global Goals for Sustainable Development Recently, a group of ORIGINS educators attended a presentation by Mr. Yong Zhao, author of Paradigm Shift: Why and How. Mr. Zhao purports that we must educate our children to be more human, creative, and entrepreneurial if we want them to be participants in a future world. Connecting the Global Goals

Are You Cooperative, Collaborative, or Both？ Schools are communities: They are about people working together to develop ideas, structure learning and create connections. In order to do this successfully it is important to understand the dynamics behind ‘working together’. We need to co-operate AND collaborate. But what does this really mean? We encourage you to look at this graphic by

Authentic Application of Guiding Statements As I transitioned to my new project with ORIGINS Education in Beijing (www.originsedu.cn), I was inspired by their Guiding Statements: Inspired to Wonder, Challenged to Explore, Supported to Create and Empowered to Connect.  I have a passion and curiosity about making connections between a school’s Guiding Statements and what I see when I walk around its campus(es). In my workshops on leadership

The Case of Young Language Learners Staying in contact with your former students is something that makes every teacher happy. When I received an e-mail written in English from my 8-year-old Korean student, I was over the moon. Especially when I remember his first day in Kindergarten when he did not speak English – his progress makes me really proud!

Innova Academy: First Look ORIGINS Education is excited to announce Innova Academy: a new K-12 “school for the future” for both Chinese and foreign students, set to open in 2018 in Beijing’s Yizhuang Special Economic Area. Come and Meet Us! Join us for a first look: The Innova Academy team will be at the Beijing International Schools Expo at the

Wishing everyone a most prosperous and happy year of the Rooster! To celebrate, the ORIGINS office team created a music video inspired by a couple of our favorite songs. We hope you enjoy our light-hearted musical performance, prepared just for you.  

Informing Creative Leadership: Art, Technology & Design ORIGINS Video Inspiration: John Maeda   It is widely accepted today that the future is vastly different from how it looked to our parent’s generation – a time when they worried about our educations: from school through university. The world we live in today is ever more populated with each passing minute. Abundance,

My Story: Caleb Archer Leadership Connections We often discuss the relational nature of learning and the impact a good educator can have on the lives of their students. The same is also true in leadership. A good leader impacts their staff both personally and in their professional practice. So, as I start contributing blogs and information into a public forum,

Planning for Our Children’s Futures What will your child’s future look like? Will your child’s future be the same as our world is now? Is your world the same as your parents’ was? Do current education systems prepare your child for a world twenty years from now? On Friday, ORIGINS Education Team members traveled to Beijing Normal University to attend

Modeling the Importance of Bilingualism ORIGINS Education believes language skills are key to success in the future and we have spent a considerable amount of time developing our English and Chinese dual language programme. Mirroring the investment in our dual language programme for students, we are investing in our foreign academic and leadership team members’ Chinese language development in the

Discussions on the Future of Education At dinner with a group of friends last night as we were all catching up, early conversation focused on one of our friends in the automotive industry who had been very busy working 7 days a week. We felt sorry for him until we realized that meant attending last week’s CES (Global Consumer Electronics

  In this edition of “ORIGINS Good Reads” we recommend an article for parents looking at international schools, which should help better understand the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. In the form of an interview, we hear from Devon Hsiao, a student with experience studying in Taiwan, the United States, and Beijing, now an undergraduate student in the US at the

Experts to Support Growth of the Organization With the dawn of the New Year, ORIGINS Education looks confidently ahead to the unveiling of projects we have been working on and we remain busy with curriculum and programme development at all levels. Today, ORIGINS Education is proud to welcome several key members of staff who will help us achieve our goals

ORIGINS Video Inspiration: Adam Grant In this edition of the ORIGINS Video Inspiration series we hear from organizational psychologist and Wharton professor Adam Grant, author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. In his TED talk, Grant exposes the results of his research into creativity and the roles of procrastination, confidence, initiative and determination. “The greatest originals are the ones

Understanding Translanguaging Speaking from Experience Growing up on a farm in southern Ontario, Canada, with Portuguese parents who had recently immigrated, learning to communicate in two languages was a necessary part of life with parents and extended family. My four brothers and three sisters spoke only English at school (and with each other), my parents only spoke Portuguese to us,

Best Wishes from ORIGINS Education  Celebrating A Year of Accomplishments  It seems like just yesterday the teams at ORIGINS Education were moving into our new office and we were ramping up work on our new school designs, development of our dual language programme, and were setting a new pace in our curriculum mapping project. These important projects have sparked many

Curiosity Comes First: 3 Rules to Spark Learning ORIGINS Video Inspiration: Ramsey Musallam In this week’s ORIGINS Video Inspiration message we hear, from a teacher’s perspective, about the importance of fostering curiosity in the classroom. His message is clear: if we want students to be passionate learners they must be truly engaged. “Questions can be windows  to great instruction, but

Hour of Code Spreads Worldwide More People Recognizing Anyone Can Learn This week was Hour of Code week – and coincided with an increase in activities in schools and other learning communities around the world, highlighting the importance of computer science, programming and coding. The Hour of Code campaign joins a very visible, loud and exponentially expanding global awareness about

  What can I be? What Can I do? What are 4-6-year-old children capable of? Do they know what they want to do when they grow up? Can they communicate in a bilingual environment? Do they express themselves confidently in new groups? Are they motivated to explore in science, technology, arts and mathematics? These were some of the background questions

ORIGINS Team Joins Hour of Code Coding is a recognized future-ready skill for today’s youth, and the ORIGINS team is living proof that everyone can learn to do it. Techie or not, this past Thursday morning ORIGINS’ Muhammad Azeem arranged for everyone in the office to put their fingers to the keys and take on a website coding session with

Technology: the 4th Teacher Designing for Learning in the Second Machine Age Introduction Apex International Academy and Innova Academy are two new schools being developed by ‘Origins Education’ and planning to open in August 2017, challenging themselves to reimagine education in the ‘Second Machine Age’ by designing engaging physical and virtual environments that support forward thinking pedagogies and build dynamic learning communities. We see technology

COLE Video Blog: Episode 3 In this episode we talk about the “step back” we’ve taken to clarify the rationale for COLE – to be sure we are all on the same page, and to help define the scope of the project. Run time: 22 mins.

In keeping with the spirit of the global ‘Hour of Code’ movement (#hourofcode) and to highlight the importance of computer science, programming and coding in a true 21st century learning environment, ORIGINS Education will be holding a coding event for staff on Thursday, December 8. During this ‘Hour of Code’ the ORIGINS Team will be using an online learning platform developed by

Management teams share progress, develop together From November 17-19, ORIGINS attended the 5th annual Facilities Management Conference, co-hosted by Shanghai American School and Concordia International School of Shanghai. This year, 15 participants convened for the 3-day conference, including ORIGINS Education, International School of Beijing, Singapore American School, Seoul Foreign School, Kuala Lumpur International School, United Nations International School of Hanoi,

Mannequins Occupy ORIGINS Office Teams take time to reflect and be thankful It’s not always all about work in the ORIGINS office. From time to time we also break to celebrate what our accomplishments and enjoy each other’s company.  This was the case this past week as, in the spirit of thanksgiving festivals that take place around the world at

Helping Spark Children’s Inspiration Research shows that reading for pleasure promotes imagination, creativity, relaxation, improved self-esteem, intellectual pleasure, enhanced general knowledge, emotional intelligence and mental health benefits. In addition, reading for pleasure has been found to enhance social interaction and personal relationships; empower children to become active citizens, to improve a sense of connectedness with the wider community and to

Is Your Child’s English Development on Track?  Determining your family’s “right language-fit” English language schools have grown considerably over the past 10 years with the increasing demand for English in China, and world-wide. Since English is the preferred language for employment in aviation, media, computer programming, diplomacy and tourism, parents are looking to provide their children with advantages needed for