Project-based learning is a fundamental part of Bend International School’s unique curriculum.  Classes K-8 have three integrated project-based units per school year, each ending in a parent-teacher student culmination.  

Teachers at Bend International School design units based on state standards.  Units synthesize the arts, science, and the humanities for students to make learning an engaging authentic experience that has real-world applications for their lives and futures. 

Culminations are meant to be a showcase of student learning and achievement for each thematic unit of study.  The culminations are meant to be a community-wide event for parents to gain a window into their child’s development and growth at Bend International School.   There are three culminations per school year for each class. Culminations happen the week before Fall Break, the week before Spring Break, and the last two weeks of the school year. 

Once a year Bend International School teachers align all of the integrated units to the same theme for a Whole School Unit.  Whole school units have a school-wide culmination where family members tour our campus and view all of our student’s work K-8.  In years past whole units of study have included The Art of It: Student Art Gallery, The Invention Convention: A Science Fair, Travel through Time:  A Living History Exhibit.  Each year we also hold the One World Expo & Winter Concert where all classes K-8 pick a country to study for a short integrated unit about a country or culture from around the world.  The whole school culmination for this unit includes an expo where family members travel through the world replete with passports as guests travel from country to to country they view student projects about the country that they have been studying for the unit.  At the end of the expo our entire community gathers for a Winter concert with music chosen that represents the cultures that each class has chosen to study during the unit. 

At Bend International School we value experiences for students that connect and enhance their integrated units of study in the classroom.  Each class takes three trips per year around Oregon and even as far as Mexico. The trips serve as an extension of the integrated unit of study that is happening in your child’s classroom during each of our three integrated units per year.   Overnight trips start in 4th grade and students can expect at least one overnight trip per year from then on. Our capstone trip is the 7th and 8th-grade field trip to Tlaquepaque Mexico to visit our Sister School.