Welcome back and a Happy Happy New Year to all! We hope that the Year of the Snake brings us renewed strength and energy. 🐍😍 According to The Japan Times (Jan 1, 2025), “the snake is associated with wisdom, calmness, patience and subtle strength”. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Savanna had a good Winter break. They enjoyed their holiday. We talked about what we did and drew them out. Savanna: I went to Grandpa’s house. I played with snow. I went to a hotel. I went to Nagoya… to a jinja. We went picnic by our car. I played Uno with Mummy. I made a snowman. I had a snow fight with my brother! I went skiing. I played toy computer at home. Savanna also shared that they have received otoshidama and went to the shrine to pray during Oshogatsu. We read a book “Japanese Celebrations” by Betty Reynolds about Japanese new year traditions.

Our next job for the new year was to play in the park! Despite the chilly winds, Savanna was unstoppable. We talked about how the trees were so bare. There were no more leaves, just branches. Someone pointed out that there were still leaves but “brown and there will fall to the ground”. Good observation.

We have a new theme for the rest of the school year – How We Organise Ourselves. The new unit is Community Helpers and the central idea is Community Helpers Keep Us Safe and Healthy. We discussed the terms used and what they mean. A community is a group of people living together in an area, like Matsumoto city. Your family is a community. Our school ISN is also a community. Who are in our school community and what do they do? Who are in the community around Shimauchi campus and what do they do? We activated our prior knowledge and did some brainstorming. Songs, puppets, books, dress-up costumes, fieldtrips and walks around our neighbourhood will help us in the exploration of the new unit of inquiry.

Till next week, keep warm and have a great weekend!