May is usually the rainy season in Okinawa. This year, we are experiencing it almost everyday. So, K2 friends learned about rain during Story, Art and Music Time 沖縄では５月から梅雨が始まりました。今月は雨に関するいろいろな活動をしています♪
They learned that the rain comes from tiny water forming the clouds in the sky… when the clouds get heavy and big, it rains… So, they went out to check the clouds. ☁☁☁
They really wanted to play outside but it started drizzling so, they also learned a song…
But they also discovered that rain is important to our lives. So, they learned an original poem entitled: “Thank you rain” 😀
Every Monday is ART DAY so, they made their own “teru teru bozu“.
They also made their “Rainy Season Art” ☔
In Music, they also learned a Japanese song: “だから雨ふり” 🎵だから きょうは あめふり🎶
The days might be a little gloomy because of the rain but we are thankful. Thank you rain for providing the water that we need for our everyday living. 雨が続いていますが、それも楽しんで過ごしています♪
K1 had swimming lessons last Thursday and today at Gushikawa Swimming School.
We had a good time in the water:)
We are looking forward to coming to have swimming lessons next year!!
Bus Orientation- After our swimming lesson yesterday students had a bus orientation to understand how to behave in the bus during an emergency and how to leave the bus/ evacuate safely. We look forward to having several fun and safe field trips using our Amicus busses.
This week we started our K1 Helper Jobs. K1s will now start taking on more responsibilities around in our classroom. Students will help in many roles like helping teachers, teaching the date, the daily schedule, the weather, cleaning up after eating times, composting, changing our classroom books, etc. Please encourage your child to be helpful with things at home, too. They are growing, growing, growing!
Today, we celebrate Children’s Day in Japan. When you look around, you will see a lot of cloth carp streamers that are flown on poles outside of public buildings and private houses to bring luck and good fortune to the children inside. Koifish, or Carp, are believed to be strong, spirited fish and are revered for their determination in fighting as they swim upstream and through powerful waterfalls. Koinobori symbolize the desire for children to become brave and strong individuals. (Source: https://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/kodomo_no_hi_childrens_day_celebration)
Our Kinder friends made their own Koinobori too. First, we did tie dye.
Then, they made their own carp.
We also a big one that is in front of Kindergarten Building. 😉
We wish our Kinder friends strength and happiness in their life. Happy Children’s Day 😀
We want to wish all our K1s and families a fun and safe Golden Week! Here are some pictures of us preparing for Koinobori.
Every year at this time koi (carp) wind socks are flown all across Japan. They symbolize wishes for the advancement or success of every child’s life. On May 5th Japan celebrates Children’s Day and enjoys watching these beautiful flags fly high.
We hope and pray for the success of all our awesome K1s!
From last year, now, K2 friends have learned about SDGs. They made posters to promote taking care and saving of our MOTHER EARTH. 🌎 昨年に引き続き、K2でも地球を守ろうというテーマで進んでいます。
To help saving the earth, OUR LONG-TERM GOAL is to make compost by collecting banana, orange, and others compostable garbage that they our Kinder friends have after snack and lunch. The process involves decomposing organic material into a humus-like material, known as compost, which is a good fertilizer for plants. 幼稚園では、生ごみをごみとして捨てるのではなく、栄養のある土をつくるためにコンポストをしています。コンポストを通して、土づくりだけでなく、生ごみを減らすことは、地球にとって良いことだと知りました。
We make compost to save the earth and to use this organic fertilizer in our garden in Kinder. Gardening is a part of our everyday routine. This year, we started growing different kinds of plants too. 早速、コンポストでできた土を使い、野菜やお花を植えました♪
This whole year project is very close to our heart so we will update often as soon as our new plants grow or when we plant again. 🙂
Another goal came up so, we had a special meeting. After that, our K2 friends have decided to continue being earth savers. So, we will focus on one topic and starting this month our THEME is OCEAN. 引き続き、地球を守ろう！というテーマの中で、今回は「海」について考えました。🌊
During Phonics Time, they learned different OCEAN Animals. 🐬 They also learned the OCEAN Action Song.🎼🎵 フォニックスタイムでは、海の生き物を通して英語を楽しんでいます♪
K2 friends are really concerned with the ocean animals that they have learned so, they thought of taking care of the ocean. Thus, we asked them what would they like to do? 海の生き物が好きなみんなは、海を守りたいと思い、自分たちには、何ができるかを話し合いました！
Student 1: Let’s clean up the ocean.
Teacher: Why do you want to clean up the ocean?
Student 2: Because if the ocean animals eat garbage, they will die.
This determination in them made us decide to plan our first field trip of the year. We coordinated with Uruma City Office about BEACH CLEANING ACTIVITY. But before that, we had a review of the segregation of the garbage that we may find on the shore. この話し合いから、K2の最初の遠足は、ビーチクリーンをしに行くことになりました。 そのため、ごみ分別を一緒に学びました！
Beach Cleaning Day: We did our best to clean up and of course, had fun after. 🙂
After our field trip, we’ve discussed about our special mission “beach cleaning”.
Student 1: I got a lot of trash.
Student 2: I found many plastic.
Student 3: I am happy because I got some materials that we can use for Art.
Student 4: I am shock to see many garbage on the shore.
Others: We enjoyed cleaning the beach together.
きれいになった海を見て、みんなで喜びました♪
The next day, we had garbage sorting activity using some of the trash that we have collected on the shore.
Some of these garbage were put in the garbage and others are useful for us so clean them up and kept for future use. What do you think can we do with these? Do you think they can turn into something beautiful? 😀 ゴミの中にも面白い形のものがあって、また何かに使える～♪という話になりました。 これから、どんなアイディアが出てきて、素敵なものに変わるのかお楽しみに♪
