Tsukuba International Preschool » Weekly Updates

This Week at TIP: June 21st, 2010

Skye — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:36:46 +0000

Wow, who can believe it’s our last week of school already? How time flies by! Last week we filled our afternoons with making things from our junk box, playing in our new sand box, moving and painting to music and even making mud cakes! We have just three days left of school now, and have some more fun things planned.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our families for their continued support throughout the school year. As you know, this was TIP’s first year in operation and we feel very lucky to have been a part of this experience. It has been an absolute delight for us to spend our days learning and growing with your children.
Thank you, and we wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and safe summer break.

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Monday

This morning we will make pizzas. We will also make some tanabata wishes in English for our tanabata tree and make some decorations for our party tomorrow.

Tuesday

Today is our Potluck Graduation Party. We will have a small ceremony in our classroom followed by a Potluck picnic lunch. There are no scheduled learning activities in the afternoon, so children who will stay until 3 o’clock will have a quiet time and free play.

Wednesday

Today is our last day of school for the year! We will spend the morning cleaning our classroom and packing up our belongings to take home. In the afternoon we will play some games or watch a children’s movie.

Thursday

No school today

Friday

No school today. Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held in our classroom. There will be no child-minding for TIP children at TIS, so please feel free to bring your child along with you to your conference.

This Week at TIP: June 14th, 2010

Skye — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:21:16 +0000

This will be our last full week of school for the school year. Last week, our class reflected on things that they enjoyed over the year, and made a list of things that they would like to do again, or do more of before we finish up. Some of the things that made the list were cooking, play time, Mt. Fuji flower art activities and making something from our ‘junk bag’. We will try and make our way through this list over the next week. We will also talk about two important celebrations that are coming up, tanabata (star festival) and Father’s Day, and make something special for each.
Unfortunately our herb plants that we planted back in golden week haven’t grown too much, but we have still decided to make cheese and herb pizzas. We are currently working hard as a class to score ‘6 pizzas on the whiteboard’ and are scheduled to make these on Monday June 21st and eat them for lunch.
Have a wonderful week!

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Monday

Today, P1 & P2 will work on something special for P3, while P3 do some rhyming activities. We will also read a story about dads and draw a picture of our own dad.

Tuesday

Today we will work on finishing up some unfinished language arts projects and make Father’s Day cards.

Wednesday

This morning we will read a Clifford story about Graduation Party’s and talk about our own and what we might need to do to prepare.

Thursday

This morning we will do some writing activities and move our bodies and paintbrushes to different music. In the afternoon we will use our imaginations and make something from our junk and craft boxes.

Friday

We will start our day with PE today. In the afternoon, Mrs. Hiromi will do some Tanabata activities with all the students.

This Week at TIP: June 7th, 2010

Skye — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:06:34 +0000

We have been lucky to have a week of lovely weather that saw all the children participate in water play activities, as well as planting sweet potatoes.

As we wind down from our last unit on animals, we will spend some time talking about summer and doing some summer activities this week. In art we will move away from sketching and combine crayons and paint for seasonal art experiences.

In language arts and maths, we will all participate in daily number and patterning activities and rhymes. P3 will continue their phonics, writing and rhyme activities, also looking at words that end in ‘ck’ this week. We will continue doing some time activities as we talk about our daily routines and sequence events. P1 & P2 will continue reviewing letters and letter sounds with our Letterland program and also continue their independent literacy activities. June 10 is also Toki no kinenbi (時の記念日) in Japan, which is a day that people reflect on the importance of time.

Have a wonderful week!

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Monday

This morning we will work in small teacher-led groups on letter and sound activities. P3 will also talk about things we do everyday and what time we do them at. In the afternoon we will do a summer art activity.

Tuesday

P1 & P2 will continue working on our class picture dictionary and P3 will work on phonics and writing activities.

Wednesday

Today we will play with numbers and letters. In the afternoon children will choose a learning centre of their choice.

Thursday

This morning P3 students will take another look at rhymes. In the afternoon children will choose from a variety of science, math and art learning centres to work at with their peers.

Friday

Today we will practise sounding out letters and words to accompany our drawings and go outside for PE class. In Japanese class students will learn about Toki no kinenbi.

This Week at TIP: May 31st, 2010

Skye — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:18:07 +0000

We have another busy week planned for TIP students this week. P1 & P2 are almost finished working on our class picture dictionary as they review the phonics they have learned this year. P3 have been learning about time and this week will think about what time of the day they do different things. They will also do some work on rhymes and continue working on independent and shared reading as well as writing neatly.
Last week students did very well with our sketching lesson! This week will review how to correctly use a magnifying glass as we explore outdoors, and then try and sketch some things up close. We will also do a number of other art activities this week. We will
recreate our own creative version of the book We’re all going on a Lion Hunt, as well as some animal drawings and paintings.
We hope you all have a great week! And please remember, Click Clack, Front and Back!

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Monday
This morning we will do some phonics activities. P3 will also review time. We will then read We’re Going on a Lion Hunt and do a lion drawing activity.

Tuesday This morning P1 & P2 will review sounds letters make and work on our class picture dictionary. P3 will play some phonics games and continue working on their reading and writing. We will reread We’re Going on a Lion Hunt and use different art materials to recreate our own version of the book.

Wednesday
This morning P3 will read One, Two, buckle my shoe and do some rhyme activities. We will collect some things from the forest and investigate them with magnifying glasses. We will then review sketching and try sketching some of the things we found.

Thursday
Today we will review some of the work we have done this year and choose our favourite pieces. In the afternoon children will choose from a variety of science, math and art learning centres to work at with their peers.

Friday

Today we will play some games outside for PE and draw and write a story in our story-writing book (journals).

This Week at TIP: May 24th, 2010

Skye — Mon, 24 May 2010 01:58:10 +0000

All the beautiful spring weather that we’ve been having has given us more time enjoy outdoor play and activities. In the afternoons last week, the children really enjoyed going outside and choosing an independent learning centre of their choice. Among the popular choices were sand play (building an environment for small plastic animals and insects), water play and magnetic fishing, and drawing on the concrete with colourful chalk designs.

With just over four weeks of school left, we continue to be very busy. P1 & P2 are working had reviewing letters and letter sounds they have learned this year as they work on making a class picture dictionary. Headstart children have started to feel more comfortable in the classroom and with our English learning environment. P3 students are continuing to review letter and letter sounds, with a focus this week being on the blends sh, ch, and th.

Everyday at preschool your children are learning to fit in and follow rules, make new friends, and learn how to deal with their emotions and respond in various social situations. This week we will be talking ‘dangerous’ situations and also how we can be ‘problem solvers’ in our own classroom.

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Monday

During unit of inquiry time today we will play animal go fish, have imaginary play in our class barn, and do some activities with magnifying glasses. We will also take a look at the story A bad case of tattle tongue.

Tuesday

This morning P1 & P2 will work on our class picture dictionary and play some maths games. P3 will review the blend sh and look at ch. They will also introduced to clocks through the story A very busy spider.

Wednesday

Today P1 & P2 will continue to review sounds letters make and keep working on our class picture dictionary. P3 will look at the blend th and make their own clocks to practise telling the time. In the afternoon we will do some drawing and sketching activities.

Thursday

Today we will reread A bad case of tattle tongue and do a listening comprehension drawing activity. In the afternoon we will sing some songs and make music with our bodies.

Friday

Today we will have an emergency evacuation drill.

This Week at TIP: May 17th, 2010

Skye — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:24:36 +0000

All the beautiful spring weather that we’ve been having has given us more time to get outdoors and enjoy the season. The children have all enjoyed searching for and gathering insects, chasing frogs around the school yard, blowing dandelions and making crowns and bracelets from flowers. We were also lucky to be visited by Jeff, from English Adventure last week, and learn about maps, directions, and how to use a compass.
This week at TIP we will read a popular children’s book, The Rainbow Fish, in Japanese. We will then use children’s knowledge of the story and imagination to retell the story in English through the pictures, and create some colourful rainbow fish to decorate our classroom with.
On Friday we received another new pet for our class. It is a Larva and we will talk about what it needs and how we can care for it as it develops into a full size beetle. In response to children’s inquiries about barns, this week, we will also build a barn that children can use for imaginary play. We are also hoping to learn how to correctly use a magnifying glass and do some activities with these in afternoon learning centres.

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Monday

Today we will take a look at our new pet and discuss how we can best care for it. In Japanese class, P1 & P2 will read a translated version of The Rainbow Fish.

Tuesday

This morning P1 & P2 will work on our class picture dictionary. P3 will review the 3 ways to read a book; Read the pictures, read the words, and retell a familiar story. We will then ‘Read the pictures’ of The Rainbow Fish to familiarise ourselves with the book, build vocabulary and use our imaginations. We will all start work on making our own rainbow fish in art.

Wednesday

Today we will finish making our rainbow fish.

Thursday

Today we will continue our letter sound and writing work and make our classroom barn. In the afternoon we will learn how to use a magnifying glass, and choose from an independent learning centre to work at.

Friday

This morning we will go outside for PE class, and then draw a picture and write in our storybooks (journals).

This Week at TIP: May 10th, 2010

Skye — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:14:36 +0000

What beautiful weather we had over the Golden week break! I hope that you were all able to get out and enjoy some of the sunshine.

This week at Tip we will get back into learning about animals. This week we will use an Australian children’s book, “Hattie and the Fox” as the focus of our integrated learning activities. We will look at and describe features of farm animals, their relationships, and homes, make collages of the characters in the story and use these to retell the story, as well as considering what resources they provide for us.

We are also expecting some guest outdoor education specialists from English Adventure to visit us this week. They will take us outdoors with 1^st grade and teach us a little about the outdoors and guide us through some adventure activities.

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful little faces back on Monday morning!

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Monday

This morning we will talk about what we did during golden week, and tell our story in our story-writing book. During UOI time we will read “Hattie and the Fox” by Mem Fox and children will work in small groups to draw and describe the animals in the book. In the afternoon we will do an animal collage activity.

Tuesday

This morning P1 & P2 will work on our class picture dictionary. P3 will work on their letter sound, reading and writing as well as some maths games.

Wednesday

P1 & P2 will start the day with work on our class dictionary, while P3 will look at the letters ‘en’ and find words that end in this sound. We will also reread “Hattie and the Fox”, playing Eye Spy game. Children will then work in small groups to sort foods according to where they think they come from.

Thursday

Today children will work in small teacher-led and independent learning groups to consolidate their understanding of animal families, features and resources.

Friday

This morning we will rein act our story from the week, through body movements and character puppets that we have made.

This Week at TIP: April 26, 2010

Skye — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:00:04 +0000

TIP children had a lot of fun during our Earth Week activities last week. We were pleasantly surprised one afternoon when some children decided to pack their snack garbage into their backpacks because they could be ‘reused’! We also made some planter pots from milk cartons and jelly cups and have planted some basil, thyme and parsley. Hopefully these are a success and we can use them later in a cooking activity.

This week is the lead up to two more very important days for your children; Mother’s Day and Children’s Day (子供の日). We will integrate some of our language arts and art time to do several activities in the lead up to these events.

We hope you all have a safe and great golden week break with your families!

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Monday

This morning we will work in small groups for language arts and play animal memory. In the afternoon we will read “What Mommies do best” and draw a picture of our Mum.

Tuesday

Today we will start our day with outdoor movement. P1 & P2 will start work on our class Picture Dictionary while P3 do some phonics activities and use their number lines to do some number and position activities. In the afternoon we will do a Mother’s Day craft activity.

Wednesday

P3 will work on letter writing and sounds blends this morning, while P1 &P2 will play some language games and retell a familiar story on the felt boards. In the afternoon children will be able to choose a creative learning centre of their choice to work at.

Thursday

No School today.

Friday

Mrs. Hiromi will teach us how to make Kashiwa mochi today, a special sweet bean paste dumpling that is eaten on Children’s Day.

This Week at TIP: April 19, 2010

Skye — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:56:07 +0000

Last week we welcomed a new student into our class, Tasadu. Please make him and his family feel most welcome when you see them around. We also had our very first field trip last Friday, as a part of Science week in Tsukuba. We would like to say a BIG Thank You, to Mrs. Okazaki, Mrs. Chang and Mrs. Miura for coming along and helping us with our class.
After talking about different animals and where they live, etc. TIP children talked about what animal would make a good pet for our classroom. We all voted and made a graph like display, with the winner being Goldfish! So, this week, we will have a new addition come into our classroom, and children will learn to take responsibility for their new pet.

This week is also Earth week and children will be doing lots of activities to help them build a better understanding of our place in the world and how we can help care for it. We will learn how to reduce, reuse and recycle. We will also do some gardening, and have an earth hour. Maybe you could try an earth hour at home also?
Have a good week!

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Monday

This morning we will do some spatial awareness activities and introduce earth week, deciding whose job it is to keep our earth clean. We will do an earth art activity in the afternoon and learn an earth week song.

Tuesday

Today we will go for a walk in the forest and look for things that don’t belong there. Can they be reused or recycled, or do they need to be disposed of properly? We will learn the Jack Johnson song from the Curious George movie “Reduce, reuse, recycle”, and talk about what it means.

Wednesday

Today we will make something from reusable household waste.

Thursday

This morning after language arts we will read a Clifford book, The Little Flower Seed, and do a plant sequence activity. In the afternoon we will plant our own seeds.

Friday

Today, children will draw a picture and try labelling them with letters or words, and some will write a sentence about it. In the afternoon we will make an ‘earth promise’, and display them on the wall.

This Week at TIP: April 12, 2010

Skye — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:41:14 +0000

Last week we began our new unit of inquiry “Animals and us”. Students did well in recognizing different animals and their features, and sorting them into different categories and explaining why. This week we will look animals coverings and habitats as well as talking about what animals would make good pets and why. As you know TIP students will be visiting the Animal Health Research institute this week, which will hopefully provide hands-on experiences with animals and question time with a vet.
For language arts learning activities, P1, P2 & P3 will continue to work separately. As traditional letter names such as ‘cee’ do not help us to read or write, children at TIP first learn the sounds that letters
represent in words. P2 & P3 will continue to work on sounding out words to match their drawings this week, as well as comparing the shapes of letters in our alphabet.
Have a happy and safe week!

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Monday
Today we will look at our animal pictures again and talk about their habitats. In the afternoon we will read a story and sing some songs about animals.

Tuesday This morning we will have morning movement and then work in teacher-led groups for language arts. In the afternoon children will choose between a language arts or creative learning centre of their choice.

Wednesday
Today students will talk about what animals would make good pets and why. In the afternoon we will go outside for PE.

Thursday After language arts class children will work on designing a new home for a class pet! In the afternoon we will talk about our field trip tomorrow.

Friday
Today we will visit the animal health research institute with 1st grade and have Dr. Yoshio show us around and answer any questions the children might have about animals. In the afternoon, children can choose a learning centre of their choice.