During this week, we had an open day for our gym lesson, where parents joined their children in a series of fun physical activities. Most families participated enthusiastically, and there was a lot of excitement throughout the session.However, a few students were emotional and shed tears because their parents were unable to attend for various reasons. In such cases, teachers stepped in and paired up with the students so they could still take part in the activities.

One of the activities involved parents sitting on the floor with their legs stretched out and pressed together while their children jumped over them. In another task, their parents formed a bridge pose for their children to crawl under. The children also performed the same pose so their parents could pass underneath, though this was challenging for some children because the space created was quite narrow.

Another task , required the children to throw a ball into a hoop their parents formed with their arms. There was also a playful game where both parents and children took turns acting like a swarm of bees trying to “sting” each other. The children run happily running after their parents. It was all exciting.

Another highlight was about the Star Festival. The children were told an illustrated story about the origin of the Star Festival, Tanabata. After listening to the story, they engaged in a related craft activity to deepen their understanding. They created representations of themselves based on the story. The boys made crafts of their own faces to represent the counterpart of the girl, while the girls did the same to represent the counterpart of the boy.

Some worked independently whilst others sought help with folding and appropriate quantity of glue to use and where to fix their crafts.They continued to make their wishes, which were transcribed, paraphrased or translated and written on pieces of paper. With support, they were able to hang them on the designated bamboo tree. Among the wishes shared by the children were to become “DR Yellow ,Tsubasa”, “princesses” and other superheroes.

The long-awaited Waterfall was opened this week. At first, the students thought they were no longer going to see their friends who would move there but after a couple days, they came to a realize that they were going to see one another from time to time and even get the opportunity to join some shared activities together.

From Waterfall teacher Mr Jummy

Hello everyone. I’m so happy to be the new teacher, along with Miss Ayako, for Waterfall class at Shimauchi Campus. I have many years experience teaching IB, but I’m always still learning! I want to learn and play and grow together with the wonderful children at ISN.

Waterfall class was open from Wednesday this week, but we have already started sharing so much together. We did mud play, Tanabata craft, and lots of singing and dancing. And that’s only the beginning! From next week we will begin our unit of inquiry on “Animals” and how we live with them. We will post our first Waterfall blog of the year next week too. Looking forward to getting to know you all more this year!

We look forward to another exciting week.