Hello everyone. It has been a bit of a minute, however grade 2 have had an eventful few months. Things go busy during the Chrisrtmas period as we prepared for the Performance in December. The holidays were good and we returned with a nice mochi making day. We have also been busy with new things in 2026, such as our new UOI, learning about our local community, its history and the landmarks in our community. This week, we’ve had a good week, we started learning about mass in grade 2, and we also enjoyed ourselves a very nice bus trip to the Old Kaichi Elementary School.

We started this week off with warmer weather than the past few weeks. The students focused in, during their music class this past Monday. As we edge closer to our music concert, the students have been practising well for their performance. We also did our usual, Monday, homework corrections. Thank you as always, for the support you give at home.

Grade 2 have begun to take more responsibility for their P.E classes, such as leading the stretches and choosing which sport they would like to play. This week, the students wanted to play tag rugby and basketball.

For mathematics, we focused on a new topic, which is mass. We learned about grams as well as kilograms in grade 2.

This week saw grade visit the first ever elementary school in Matsumoto City, Kaichi. For unit 5, we are focused on our local community’s history and landmarks. One of the biggest landmarks in Matsumoto City is Kaichi, as it is the first ever Elementary School built in the city. The students learned about quite a lot, such as how Kaichi was all those years back, and how things are different now. For example, there was no heating at Kaichi, so the students experienced how it was like to go to school with no heating or cooling systems. The students also learned about the different books and ways to write, and how things are compared to modern times. Our tour guide was fantastic, and was a former teacher in Tokyo, and he actually gave us a small kanji lesson, using different vegetables and animals. I personally enjoyed the trip and I learned quite a lot myself.

As we close off the week, the students have worked really hard this week, and I hope that you and your family have a good rest. I look forward to writing for you again soon, take care and enjoy your rest.