G5, along with the rest of the grades at ISN Gojo campus have been incredibly busy! Since the last update, G5 has participated in rice harvesting with grade 3 and grade 1, flower planting with grade 6 and 7, Health lessons with Miss Mie, our health room nurse, Computer lessons about digital wellbeing from Mr. Howard, and so many more.
G5 is just about finished with their third UOI, which is focusing on Global Economic Interdependence. Currently they are working on creating a classroom Trading Route Map, as each student has been randomly given a country. After the country was selected, the students selected a raw material (For example, Iron Ore, Oil, Wheat, Wool, etc) and proceeded to choose a type of service their country will be providing (Tourism). Our summative assessment was inspired by a previous mini-lesson where the students were invited to choose their favorite product and begin following the supply chain and expanding it to include trading routes. The goal was to follow the journey for their favorite item, be it a bed, iphone, or even their favorite snack like green grapes!
After that mini lesson was finished, we moved on to exploring the concept of being a “Responsible Consumer”. This idea was generated by our previous UOI where we explored the impact of societies have on the environment. However, this time we looked at a simple product, like a T-shirt purchased at our local clothing store. If the T-shirt was purchased for 1500 yen, where does the money go? Who gets the money? Are the workers treated well? These questions were part of the inquiry in what was behind our purchases. After that, we expanded this idea further by exploring the impact our purchases have on our own environment, and why it might be better to support local businesses. We put on our “Caring” cap and investigated the harmful ways some companies affect the environment by using too much plastic! Our main take away from this inquiry was how we can take action after thinking all these big questions. How can we be a better, more responsible consumer? Can we choose items that have less plastic during our grocery purchases? Can we avoid shops that do not pay their customers well? These were just some ideas of how they used their learner profile by being a “Thinker”.
Can you believe that all this exploration was entangled with our preparation for Sports Festival? For our preparation for the dance portion, the students discussed what song is best suited for them. G5 ended up working together to choose “Dai, Dai” by Shakira. We practiced daily! The students were guided to become more balanced by practicing their dance at home, and some did so by practicing with their siblings or parents! Once the Sports Festival was in full swing, many G5 parents were able to watch all their hard work, from working together with G6/7 to create a fun variation of Tag and Hide-and-seek, to seeing their relay racing and finally, witnessing their dance! Each grade did such a fantastic job and I was such a sight to see, especially with the support of parents!
