Hello Everyone,

Welcome to Shooting Star’s fourth blog for the month of July.

This week’s highlight was our trip to Shiojiri Forest Center. This is in connection with our unit of inquiry about insects with our Theme, Sharing the planet and with our Central Idea, Insects impact our lives. Shooting Star class embarked on our trip with expectations that we will be seeing lots of insects in the forest. Upon getting off the bus, we walked towards the headquarters where the forest ranger, Mr. Takahaski met us. Then, we walked through the forest for bug hunting. The forest didn’t disappoint us, we saw lots of insects like butterflies, dragonflies, cicada shell (exuviae), grasshopper, etc. Some students were afraid of touching insects, however, a few of them were so fascinated with insects that they don’t care touching them. And on our way back, we stopped at the playground and got the chance playing on the swing and on a wooden deck. This is our observation, at the beginning of this unit, it’s noticeable that many of students didn’t like touching the beetle, but as they learned about caring their own beetle, they loved touching other insects as well.

Playing in the water doesn’t only relieve us from the heat but it also increase our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination by using toys to pour, squirt, stir and squeeze. We loved being in the water!

We had a birthday party for ISN members born in July. Students got their birthday crown and a birthday card from their teachers. The music room was filled with happiness as we sang a Happy Birthday song. Thank you, Ms. Hitoko for allowing us to experience a glimpse of our Sports Festival dance.

Have a great weekend, everyone.