After the Obon holidays, some students were away due to coughs or fever, but we were back to normal with lots of laughter and smiles.

Unit 2’s inquiry activities are quickly moving into line of inquiry #3 “Achieving Common Goals”.
As an introduction to What is a goal? and What does achieve mean? we played a game of throwing a ball into a hula hoop.
When I asked “What is a hula hoop?”, the child answered “Goal”.

Did you achieve your goal in the games? Yes, I did. No, I didn’t. Why couldn’t you do it?  We reflected on the games.
To better understand the meaning of Goal, we watched a short animation of Goal and Goal setting.
We also discussed small goals, big goals, individual goals, and team goals.
Is the goal that he mentioned a big goal? Is it a small goal?　Is it an individual goal? Is it a team goal? We discussed these things.

Then, we decided on a small goal that we could work on in school for three days and wrote it on a piece of paper. Some were excited to set goals such as “I will help my classmates.”, “I will sit nicely.”, “I want to eat lunch in 20 minutes.” Some students were confused with goals and dreams. Others were still having a little difficulty understanding the meaning of the word “goal” and had to think about it for a while.
At the closing circle, we reflected on whether we had achieved their goals or not. One student became sad because he did not achieve his goal. The feeling of frustration is the driving force that makes him want to achieve the goal he set for himself.

The hot weather continued this week. We went to Hirase Green Park to play and enjoyed walking and running around on the grass barefoot. The children found many dragonflies flying around.
Some ran after the dragonflies to catch them, some held up their index fingers so that the dragonflies would stop, and some ran away because they were afraid of the dragonflies.
We also played in a small river. Some students made bamboo boats and floated them in the water, or played with their friends by splashing water on each other.

We are also practicing hard for the dance for the Sports Festival. Since our theme for sports festival 2023 is “Travel Through the World“, we also painted the Hawaiian tiki totem that will be displayed at the Sports Festival.

After looking at pictures of Hawaiian tiki totems, we actually painted them. Students choose their own colors: “You can color yellow,” “XX can use blue,” “XX should be red,” and so on. We were impressed by the way they decided on their own color assignments and proceeded with the coloring.
They also showed their caring side by teaching one student who was absent and did not know what to do. That’s awesome. You are a caring person.
The finished paints will be displayed at the Sports Festival, so please look forward to seeing them.

Friday was the last day of Y. Time flew so quickly and we had a lot of fun together, infusing British English into the class. At the last Goodbye party, when we asked him what he enjoyed the most at ISN, he said swimming. I wish him all the best for the future.