Hello Everyone,

This is our third blog for the month of July. This week, there were couple of teachers from Shingakukai who came to our class for exchange training. Shooting Star class was so welcoming and everyone showed their best as learners of international school. We would like to thank the Shingakukai teachers for coming over and for reading a couple of Japanese picture books for us before leaving. Hurrah! Everyone gave each of them a goodbye hug. Sweetness overload!

Welcome to our workstation! In Shooting Star, fun is an important part of our learning because the more fun students find activities, the more likely we are to stay engaged. The more engaged we are, the more we are learning!  Workstation is defined as a work area with access to some educational resources through which students could self-explore aspects of learning objectives in each activity under teacher supervision. Our workstations include several different types such as; Writing center where we practice to write lowercase letters, Reading center where we practice to read CVC words, Math center where we enjoy counting insects and sorting numbers 1-50, Fine motor center where we build our small muscles of our hands by using scissors and glue, creating our own craft, folding with origami papers, and playdough, Listening center where we listen to phonics, short phrases, and watch insect videos, Blocks center where we can freely play and create something out of our imaginations, Research center where we can explore insects through the books and examine them with magnifying glass, and Unit of Inquiry center where we can enjoy observing the living creature in the cage, and have fun having a pretend picnic with friends in the tent. Workstations allow Shooting Star class to grow in our social skills. They navigate interactions with their peers during this time, and it is happening almost constantly. This is also where the child initiated learning is taking place because everyone takes the time to explore what they are interested in.

We went to Nambu Gym for our Gym class. For the first time, we practiced the race and everyone had so much fun. We cheered the runners by saying, Go, go, go, everyone! Whether we lose or win, we celebrate together.

Thank you so much dear parents for making the best homemade toys which our little kiddos enjoy playing in the school pool. No worries to those who didn’t make at home because we did it at school so, everyone has something to play in the pool. Pool time is a happy time.

We love music. We feel relaxed every time we sing songs. Music lessons can help us to develop better our hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity. This week, we focused on playing do re mi, do re mi, mi mi, re re, do mi do. Everyone tried their best to play with accuracy.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.