Hello, everyone! It has been getting warmer and warmer at Gojo campus and the Summer is almost here! The students have been enjoying spending a lot of time outside, basking in the sunshine before the temperatures get too hot!
n exciting day was had by all students on Monday. It was the start of our annual rice cultivation project at the local rice field. The students were a bit hesitant from walking into the field today due to the number of insects spotted and scary stories about leeches lurking that they’ve heard, but the cold mud on their feet was a welcome refreshment for the day’s hot temperatures. Everyone worked very hard, so the rice planting scheduled for today was done in merely 20 minutes. The students still had energy afterwards, so we decided to take a walk back to the school, arriving tired but in good spirits.
In the afternoon, the first group of students visited Storyhouse cafe for their work experience, which will inform the collaboration project with the cafe in which they will create and market a new product. The group of four learned all about creating recipes and calculating profit margins, as well as cleaning tables, greeting and serving customers, washing the dishes and making drinks. They even got to try their hand at mixing the ingredients for a banana bread. A lot of fun was had by all.
Another unusually warm day of May was had on Tuesday. The students used it to play games outside during their P.E. lesson before it gets too hot. Following a Math lesson, the students had their individual learning time, focusing mostly on researching and sharing about different animals. This week and the next, we are focusing on the animals local to Japan and the Japanese Alps.
In the afternoon, the second group of students visited Storyhouse cafe for their work experience. Tables were cleaned, drinks were made, and the girls worked very hard. Everyone is excited about the continuation of our project, sharing ideas about recipes and wanting to try their hands at baking sweet treats.
The following Monday, the students had their computing lesson, creating the ghostly character for their game. All students seem to be understanding Mr. Howard’s lesson well and were able to create, adjust, and creatively customize their characters. From next week, the students will start using a new software, which will enable them to animate their characters and place them in the locations they created previously.
On Tuesday, our P.E. leaders prepared an exciting game of kick base, a cross between baseball and soccer. For some of our classmates, it was the first time playing this game, and the P.E. leaders made sure to explain the rules to everyone and support them in their learning. In Math, we talked about simple multiplication, finding factors and their common multiples in simple equations. During individual learning time, the students explored the newly acquired class camera and its damage- and waterproof abilities, as well as planning this year’s school house activities. The grade 6 students will be in charge of organizing the houses this year, giving them more agency over inter-class activities. In the afternoon, it was time for Japanese lessons.
On Wednesdays, the students completed their presentations on animals native to Japan and Nagano prefecture. The students’ skill in scientific research and successfully presenting information found in a way that is accessible to their audience is improving, and the students have noticed this as well, self-reflecting on their work using the SOLO taxonomy. We all learned a lot from others’ presentations, and have practiced our listening skill as well, by writing summary essays on our classmates’ topics. I have uploaded the videos of the presentations to Toddle, so please check them out. In the afternoon, Grade 7 discussed the behavior of animals and have animals show intelligence and care for each other.
The students really braved the heat on Thursday, playing a game of girls vs. boys soccer and 5-minute-dodgeball. In music lesson, they students continued practicing on their recorders, and were complemented by their teacher for how much they improved in the last several weeks. In literacy class, Liam and Tatsuki presented the books they have read, after which we studied the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth. This was a rare chance for the students to study poetry, and it was interesting to see them discuss the metaphors and similes used, rather than the literal language of reports and essays we usually use. In the afternoon, Grade 7 discussed about the benefits of spending time in nature, while learning about writing argumentative essays and the need to provide evidence to support the claims we make in our writing.
During Friday’s Nature activities lessons, the students reinforced what they learned about tying knots by creating their own slacklines, and they even got to try them out. Everyone managed to go over the line by the end. The weather was perfect, with just a few clouds up in the sky and a lovely summer breeze.
In the afternoon, the students worked in pairs and teams, developing ideas for their food preparation and selling exercise with Storyhouse cafe and for the places they would like to visit for their two-day bus trips that awaits them again this year. We had some excellent ideas come up, but please talk about this with the students at home and give them your suggestions as well. We are looking for places that are entertaining, as well as educational, and far away enough to be exciting, without being too far away to be difficult to get to in two days.
