Thank you so much, Savanna families, for joining the Matsumoto Bonbon Festival. It was such a wonderful experience dancing together as a community. We truly enjoyed sharing this special event with our families and seeing everyone’s smiles and energy.
On Monday morning, we visited Toyoshina Nanbu Park and enjoyed playing in the water. The water play area was spacious, allowing both Savanna and Rainforest students to explore and enjoy different ways of having fun. Everyone found their favorite way to beat the heat, from splashing themselves in the fountain water to running through the water arches. The children had a fantastic time and are already looking forward to our next water play experience at the park.
We would also like to thank our dear parents for joining our afternoon school open day. We hope you were able to see how independent your children are during our workstation activities. The children confidently practiced writing their names, counting small creatures and writing numbers, and creating small creatures using playdough.
This week in our UOI lesson, we started by singing the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and tried to guess our new topic. One student suggested “small creatures body,” while another added “part,” which helped us complete our topic: Small Creatures’ Body Parts. The Savanna students created their own groups based on the colors they liked. Each group chose one small creature and worked together to color and identify its different body parts. The children were already familiar with body parts such as eyes, head, legs, and wings. We also learned new vocabulary words including antenna/antennae, thorax, and abdomen. The children carefully counted the number of legs each small creature has and made interesting discoveries. We found that spiders have 8 legs and do not have antennae or a thorax, which makes them different from insects such as dragonflies, ladybugs, ants, and praying mantises.
The following day, we used what we learned about body parts to identify which small creatures are insects and which are not insects. The children observed the similarities and differences between each creature. They concluded that dragonflies, ladybugs, ants, and praying mantises are insects because they have 6 legs, antennae, and three main body parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen. They also discovered that spiders are not insects because they have 8 legs and do not have antennae or a thorax. We also discussed which small creatures are safe to touch and which should only be observed from a distance. The children shared that bees are not safe to touch because they might sting, and their sting contains venom. They also thought that praying mantises are not safe to touch because their front legs are sharp and may scratch or pinch your skin. Someone said that ladybugs are safe to touch gently. The Savanna students concluded that not all small creatures are safe to touch because some may bite, sting, or hurt us when they feel threatened. When observing small creatures, we should always be gentle and never squeeze, step on, or kill them. Instead, we should show kindness and care to all small creatures.
Through these activities, the children developed their observation and thinking skills while becoming more knowledgeable about the small creatures around them. We are excited to continue exploring and discovering more about the amazing world of small creatures! Next week is the Obon holiday. We hope you enjoy this special time with your family and create many wonderful memories together. Have a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable holiday, and we look forward to seeing everyone back at school after the break!
These are the songs that the children will sing and dance to at the Sports Festival in September. Please enjoy dancing along with your child at home!
