Hi, everyone! Another two weeks are behind us, including one of the biggest school events of the year: April 25th Spring Festival. Grade 6 and 7 students are loving the recent changes in weather and we are all enjoying the warm spring months very much!
On Friday, we have had a fun morning, with the students suggesting the class to take a morning nature walk. They thought this connects well with our monthly concept of “Environment”, as we have equipped ourselves with trash bags and plastic gloves and collected trash while on our walk around the school. In total, the students have collected 69 pieces of trash! They were also able to discover a new and exciting area of the river the students haven’t visited before, therefore getting more acquainted with the school environment and the local community. Friday is also always an excellent chance to finish up all the work from the past week, and the students have spent a chunk of the day finishing their group work posters. They were free to choose the topic of the poster the match their interest, as the goal of the activity was to revise and set standards for the school year on how they conduct their research and present their findings in an interesting and accessible way. The students’ posters have shown attention to detail, good use of space and the understanding of how putting in more effort in planning their presentations can make them more engaging for the people listening. We have also had a chance to participate in our annual traffic safety lesson held by the Matsumoto city hall. The students were taught about the purpose of the public transportation system, how to efficiently get on the bus, calculate the bus fee and pay the money, and what to be careful of when disembarking.
Monday’s weather was sunny and warm. A lot of the students enjoyed after-lunch playtime outside, with a game of frisbee, soccer, or catch. In the morning, they had an interesting computing lesson, creating models of various things in Figure, which they will later combine to create a playable, interactive island. During the short break from Computing lessons (the next two Mondays are school-off days), the students can create more by using the login details below. Additionally, please make sure that your child has a computer mouse from next time (bluetooth-powered one with a small USB dongle), as they are necessary for working with 3D modeling. Later, the students saw and discussed the issue of food waste, after watching a related video. They shared their own experiences of shopping for and storing food and their ideas on how to share information about this issue with others, saying that it is not enough for each individual person to waste less food, but food manufacturers and large users also need to be committed and involved. We practiced our summarization and essay-writing skills through thinking about this issue.
Tuesday started off rainy, but the sun was out in no time to greet the students for a fun afternoon play time in during their break. We started off our day with a P.E. lesson at gym, organized and led by our P.E. students team. It was a fun game of dodgeball! Next, the students went to the school nurse’s office for their eyesight, height and weight check. The school nurse talked to them about the importance of washing their hands properly with water and soap, keeping their fingernails cut cleanly, and bringing their little towels and tissues with them at all times. Please remind the students at home as well. Each student will bring home their measurement cards in their letter folders. After the break, Grade 7 had an interesting 4-hour session of Japanese lessons, while Grade 6 continued work on their essays, and discussed the communities they belong to, whether based on location, relationships, or interests.
During Wednesday’s morning lessons, the students presented the wonderful posters they created on the topic of their choice. After this, we saw a video about a sustainable, no-packaging grocery store where customers can choose the amount of groceries they wish to purchase and pack it themselves in re-usable containers, thus eliminating the plastic or paper packaging we find in the most of today’s supermarkets. The students discussed the potential benefits of this type of shop (reducing waste, saving food), but some potential issues as well (“The shop does not feel safe for the products may not be clean”). They looked at examples of different packaging that we can find in supermarkets in Japan and discussed which are more sustainable, and which might need a serious redesign. They then set off to work on their design assignments where they were re-designing the problematic packaging and making each product more eco-friendly.
An eventful Thursday was had as well. We started with a P.E. lesson led by our P.E. leader team. The P.E. leader team is in charge of choosing the games the students play in P.E. and leading the lesson. They also prepare the necessary equipment and take care of unlocking and locking the gym. The students stretched while playing a dodgbee catch and enjoyed several rounds of dodgeball. Music lesson followed, with students practicing recognizing and following rhythm through fun rhythm games. In Literacy, we continued reading our guided reading book. Each week we will discuss and analyze one aspect of the book and, this week, that was the location and the time period the story takes place in. Outdoor play wasn’t really an option due to the rain, but the students used this time for an important meeting with their teachers: talking about using public transportation and the rules and proper behavior the students should follow to stay safe and respectful of other passengers. The afternoon was what the students were most expectant about: the Japanese national achievement test for grade 6. The students were able to focus and prepare on time and, while they said that the test was scary, they also shared that it wasn’t too difficult. The test checked their knowledge of Mathematics and Japanese language acquired from grade 1 to grade 5, and the same test is taken in every elementary school across Japan.
On Friday, the students continued work on their redesigned product packaging. The five groups presented more sustainable designs for packaging of chocolates, stick glue, grapefruit dessert, potato sticks, and tomato sauce. Their ideas ranged from changing the material the package is made of to completely getting rid of all packaging, but all showed a growing understanding of how easy it would be to change the way we use the resources from the environment more sustainably. For an informal homework, the students were asked to pay attention to product packaging and displays the next time they visit a supermarket. In the afternoon, we took another walk around the school’s environment, discovering a new area we haven’t been to before and getting more acquainted with our community in that way. The students suggested collecting rubbish on the way again, so we did our part or help the environment as well.
Saturday was the Spring Festival and on Tuesday, we started off our day with a fun game of soccer during our morning P.E. lesson. In Math, we did a large revision of topics the students covered in grade 5, to establish their understanding and inform the contents of our upcoming math lessons. After the break, we started our final, summative project of this month: the students will work individually on showcasing what they know and have learned about the concepts of “environment” and “community values” by thinking of what they can do to help their community help the environment.
A fun Thursday was had at the school. We started off by playing dodgbee dodgeball in P.E., practicing our song “Best Day Of My Life” and some notes on our recorders in Music, working on our monthly summative assessment action tasks after break, and Japanese lessons after lunch. Thank you for reading and have a lovely weekend!
