Nagano Shooting Stars- Lighting up our learning! (Sep 29th-Oct 3rd)

It’s October! Summer has ended and autumn has arrived. I, for one, am glad that the weather is getting cooler. We also get the excitement of watching the leaves turn orange, yellow, and red—painting the mountainside with fiery colors. 🍁🍂

Speaking of fire, we’ve been talking all about light and fire this week in our new unit: Celebrations! 🎉 We thought about how important light is—it helps us see, keeps us warm, and makes us feel safe. We also learned how light is a big part of celebrations, from lanterns to fireworks, often carrying a special meaning. This week, we looked at Obon, a Japanese festival we’ve celebrated ourselves, and shared our own experiences. I wonder what we’ll discover as we explore more festivals around the world! 🌍✨

And guess what? Two festivals are coming up this month! 🌕🐇

The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival – we’ll be learning about this in class.
Halloween! 🎃👻 – We are decorating the school, preparing for a party, and even practicing a special Halloween dance! We’re also busy thinking about costumes… What do you want to be? 🧙‍♀️🦸🦄

📚 Phonics Update

This week in phonics we learned the sounds: p, k, b, and h. 📝 We are also starting Set 1 of Red Words (also known as tricky words—the ones we can’t always “sound out” and just need to remember).

👉 Here’s a YouTube link to help at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3pvC4PoJRE

✨ Phonics tip for parents: When practicing sounds at home, encourage your child to say the pure sound (e.g., “mmm” not muh). This helps a lot when blending words later. Short, fun practice sessions (5 minutes is plenty!) make the biggest difference.

We are working hard to learn to read and write in English! It’s a challenge, but we know that mistakes are a sign we’re learning something new. 💪 We were very proud to share our new skills with mums and dads at Open Day on Friday. Thank you for celebrating our learning with us! 🥳❤️