As the colder weather and the infectious COVID continues, the chances of children visiting the park or being outdoors has greatly decreased. On rare days when the weather permits we tried to be outdoors as much as possible, and the children absolutely loved it! We are certainly grateful that the indoor gym allowed children chances to exercise or move their bodies. We are hoping after the COVID cases calm down, things will somehow get back to normalcy and we can visit the pool and have our regular park visits again. Meanwhile, we just enjoy what we can during this very trying time. 

寒い日が続き、コロナ感染症拡大の影響で、子どもたちが公園に行ったり、園外で活動したりする機会が減ってしまいました。天候が許す日は、できるだけ屋外に出るようにし、外遊びを楽しんでいます。ジムレッスンで体を動かすことができるのは大変ありがたいことです。感染が落ち着き、またプールに行ったり、公園に行ったりできるようになればいいなと思います。今は、この大変な時期にできることを楽しんでいます。

The children’s pretend play skill has gone up another notch! They love using their imagination in playing house, cooking in the kitchen, hiding under the tables as their secret fort, or pretending to be pets in the house. The fun never ends!

子どもたちのごっこ遊びのスキルがまた一段とアップしました。おままごとやキッチンでの料理を楽しんだり、秘密の部屋を作ったり、ペットのふりをしたりと、想像力を働かせるのが大好きです。楽しみは尽きません。

This week the children learned about the 12 zodiac signs and their stories. The children further learned that this year is the year of the tiger and as a follow up activity they created their own version of the tigers. They were so skilled in drawing and each tiger has got its own personality. It was impressive! 

今週は十二支とその物語について学びました。さらに、今年は寅年であることを学び、みんなで寅の絵を描きました。子どもたちはとても上手に絵を描き、それぞれのトラに個性がありました。感動的でした。

In January, the children are learning about 2D and 3D geometry. They learned more complex shape names, and how to spot them in the environment. They loved going around the room to point out the shapes the teacher mentioned. We played a shape matching game in class, and it was hard having to find the same shapes with a partner by asking “Do you have a triangle shape?” as they hold onto the slice of pizza card. It took them a while to get used to finding a matching shape. As the weeks progressed, they will certainly get better in identifying shapes. 

1月、算数では図形について学んでいます。より複雑な図形の名前と、それを見分ける方法を学びました。子どもたちは、担任が言った形を部屋の中で探してまわるのが楽しかったようです。図形マッチングゲームもしました。同じ形を持っているお友だちを見つけるのはなかなか大変だったようです。週を重ねるごとに、確実に形の識別ができるようになっていくことでしょう。

This week during UOI the children continued to talk about and identified natural and man-made resources. Initially, it was difficult to distinguish items that are natural as it requires some deeper thinking. Some children have trouble classifying water and wind as natural resources, and they thought bread is also natural resources. But with more practice, they were able to say with confidence what natural resources and man-made resources are and how to distinguish between them. We are so proud of their progress and cannot wait to unfold another LOI lesson next week. In phonics, they have learned how to contract words with NOT, and had some chances to practice with a partner. 

今週の UOI では、引き続き天然資源と人工資源について話し、色々な物をそれぞれのグループに分けました。最初は、自然なものを見分けるのはなかなか難しい様子でした。水や風を天然資源と見なすのが難しい子や、パンも天然資源だと思う子もいました。しかし、練習を重ねるうちに、天然資源と人工資源とは何か、どう区別するのかを自信をもって言えるようになりました。私たちは彼らの成長をとても誇りに思い、レッスンを展開していくのが楽しみです。

フォニックスでは、NOTを使った単語の短縮形を学び、パートナーと一緒に練習しました。