For those who will not be traveling this summer, here is a calendar of some fun learning activity ideas that children can do each day over the summer. We did not include any cooking activities in here, but these are also a valuable way of teaching your children many concepts such as measurement, time, healthy eating, sources of food and how to handle equipment safely and correctly. Of course, we also encourage children to keep up their English through shared reading and watching English television or movies. We hope you all have a great summer, and look forward to seeing you all again in September!
Category : Class Updates
The past 2 weeks at TIP, children have been sharing stories about moving up a class, reflecting on what we have learned the past year, and what our favourite things about TIP this year have been. We also created some new memories to take on our new journeys with us.
Tanabata wish: "I want a McQueen toy"
Our final Unit of Inquiry this year, was From Farm to Table, and we learned about where food comes from, what different ingredients make up some popular food items, and the processes involved in getting food to us. On Thursday June 23rd, TIP students, parents and younger siblings visited the Ibaraki prefectural agriculture research centre, which is a large prefectural farm not far from Tsukuba City. Here, children experienced firsthand how to milk and feed cows, and learned how to make fresh butter and ice cream. It was certainly a fun and memorable experience to tie up our learning for the year. We showed our appreciation by writing thank you letters to the staff on Friday, telling them what we had learned and what we enjoyed most on our visit there.
Patting a 3 day old calf
Feeding the cows
Shaking our butter
Shake shake shake
- Mixing eggs for our ice cream
Making ice cream
Yummy ice cream!
What a wonderful year we have had at TIP! It’s gone by extremely fast though. Following our field trip on Thursday, we had our TIP graduation ceremony. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already, but we are confident that our 12 P3 graduates will be just fantastic learners in 1st grade! We wish them all of the best and hope that they continue to grow and learn as much as they can, and continue to care for all those around them as they have done this past year. We are so very proud of each and every one of them. For our younger students, we can’t believe how much they have all grown up! We are so proud of all their achievements and are excited that we get to spend another special year with them after the summer.
TIP Graduating class of 2010-2011
Post graduation tea party
Next week we have three additional student days, which we will dedicate to “Summer Fun”. Our students have brainstormed a list of activities, old favourites and new ones, that they would like to do with their class. Some things that have made the list include learning centres, making clay, cooking, origami, sand play and art.
This will be our last blog for the 2010-2011 school year at TIP. Once again, a HUGE thank you to all our families, who have supported us throughout this year! We could not have done as much as we have without your continued support and cooperation. Thank you! We wish you all a very enjoyable and safe summer holiday, and look forward to reuniting again after the summer.
A very busy week with “The very busy spider” & clay creations: June 10th, 2011
Filed Under : Class Updates by Skye
Jun.12,2011
Playing hopscotch during PE centres
This week, children very much enjoyed our 2 visits to TIS! On Wednesday we watched the drama club’s “Little red riding hood” play, which the children loved! Then on Thursday, we took up an invitation to have a look at Grade 3′s solar ovens and even got to try some cookies that they had baked!
Units of inquiry
During inquiry time, children have been exploring their chosen focus foods (P3/Kinder) and insects (P1& P2/Pre-Kinder) by making them from paper clay. They then chose colours to paint them with and told their teacher about what they’d made. Kinder students are really starting to think and ask questions about the source of their foods, and enjoy giving us a mini report each lunch time when they open their lunch boxes! Thank you so much to those parents that have sent in some food labels for us to take a look at! We will use these in inquiry time in the coming weeks.Pre-kinder are also now very knowledgeable about the insects that are found in our surroundings, and are constantly reporting what they’ve found.
Liteacy time
Preschool children reviewed journal writing this week, and did our best on a final entry for our portfolios. Pre-Kinder students have been practising their name writing, and Kinder students have been doing some word work in their Letterland activity books which most have now finished.
As a class, we have also been doing lots of story retelling and reflections. This week we read the story ”Wemberly worrisome”. Children reflected on the main characters behaviour and enjoyed telling the class about a time they or their Mummy or Daddy have worried. Many students talked about the March earthquake, although they decided they are no longer worried about earthquakes.
Children also retold the story, “A very busy spider”.
Maths
This week, we shared the story “A very busy spider”, by one of our favourite authors’, Eric Carle. We also watched a kinder educational video clip about parts of a clock, and telling time on the hour. Kinder students then went on to talk about what they know about clocks, and handled some toy clocks. We practised turning the hands to make different hourly times. On Thursday, children made their very own clock, which we will continue to use next week during maths time.
Japanese
This Friday in Japanese class, children put together their rainy season origami gardens. They also sang a Japanese song about the rainy season. Next week we will learn about Tanabata and do a craft activity.
Exploring Music
Children explored different voices this week and made music to the tune of “Old MacDonald had a farm”. In violin class, children have been strengthening their arms and fingers through some new exercises, as well as refining the way they should stand and hold their instrument, and use their bow. Please encourage your children to practise what they have learned at home.
Looking forward…
- Our “show & tell” next week is free choice. There will be no “show & tell” the following week.
- On Thursday June 23rd, TIP will have our field trip and graduation ceremony. Please remember to return permission slips, bus money, and order a bento if you would like to, by Friday June 17th.
Important dates
Thursday June 16th – TIS PYP Exhibition
Thursday June 23rd – TIP Field trip & Graduation
Friday June 24th – Cleaning Day at TIP (old clothes, please), Third term officially ends, Portfolios go home
Monday June 27th to Wednesday June 29th – Optional additional student days
Wednesday June 29th – TIS parent volunteer day and picnic lunch with families (TIP will also join)
Thursday June 30th – Summer holidays begin
Radishes from our garden!
This week at TIP we finally harvested our radishes from the garden, and had some fun tasting them! Without doubt, our word of the day was “bitter”, or “nigai” in Japanese. I am proud to say though that every boy and girl at least tried a little bit!
TIP children also made pancakes this week! Students remembered how to make them and thought about where each ingredient had come from and how they had arrived at our school. Children chose between Mrs. Hiromi’s homemade strawberry jam and chocolate syrup for toppings. Please ask your children about their pancake experience and perhaps you could try making them together at home?
Making pancakes
Units of inquiry
During inquiry time this week, Pre-K students examined our local mini beasts in more detail and carefully made them from oil clay.They then used materials from our junk and craft boxes, to construct them.
Kinder students are demonstrating an interest in food and have begun making foods from paper, and sharing them with our class for “Show & Tell” or during play time. In inquiry time this week, we reviewed solid shapes, and went ahead and constructed some solid food samples using our craft and junk box materials.
Liteacy time
This week at TIP, we shared “A very hungry caterpillar”, and children retold the story using large picture cards. We learned what antennas were and made our own with pipe cleaners. Children also did a little drama, reenacting the story together.
We also shared the story “Owen”. It’s a story about a young mouse who could not part with his favourite fluffy baby blanket before starting kindergarten. Children retold the story and then shared with the class some of their favourite things that they like(d) to take everywhere with them.
Kinder Maths
This week during maths we started a new unit on time. We sorted and ordered events by the time of day that they are done, and played some action games. Next week we will look at clocks and learn how to tell the time.
Japanese
All of our children love making origami and they really are getting incredibly patient and skilled at the art of paper folding! This week in Japanese class, children continued to talk about rainy season and made some hydrangeas (ajisai あじさい) by folding paper, as well as tearing and sticking small pieces on their origami.
Looking forward…
- Our “Show & Tell” for the next two weeks are free choice, and we will not have it in our last full week of school.
- On Thursday June 23rd, TIP will have a graduation ceremony. Please keep this day free in your schedule. Further details will follow soon.
Important dates
Wednesday June 8th – Open school day
Friday June 10th – Scholastic book orders due
Thursday June 16th – TIS PYP Exhibition
Thursday June 23rd – TIP Graduation
Friday June 24th – Cleaning Day at TIP (old clothes, please), Third term officially ends, Portfolios go home
Monday June 27th to Wednesday June 29th – Optional additional student days
Wednesday June 29th – TIS parent volunteer day and picnic lunch with families (TIP will also join)
Thursday June 30th – Summer holidays begin
Making music
Pre- K in Action
Our Pre-Kinders continued discovering and identifying insects this week. Children talked about where they live and where we find them in our garden. They took photos and sketched the insects they had captured on camera and added them to a big, colourful wall display. During literacy time, Pre-K students reviewed some Letterland characters and practised writing their names. We also joined Kinder for their story-times. Pre-K children have also been making origami in Japanese class to match letters that we have learned.
Kinder in Action
This week, Kinder started our final UOI for this school year, “From Farm to Table”. We found out what children know about farms and food, and sorted some food cards into groups according to their source (plants/animals). We shared “Old MacDonald had a farm”, sang along together, and acted it out. We also put together a mini book called “From farm to me”. Another story that we shared this week, was “Pancakes, Pancakes”, by one of our favourite authors, Eric Carle. We learned what is needed to make pancakes and where the ingredients come from. Children decorated some paper pancakes and hope that we will be able to make real pancakes one day soon! Over the remainder of this term, we will look at where our food comes from, what kinds of food we eat and what kinds of food are common in different places.
During maths time this week, children participated in, and made stories as we learned about subtraction, or ‘taking away’.
Art focus
Collage is a term children are familiar with through the picture books of Eric Carle. This week, we explored the pictures of the Japanese story, Wabi Sabi. Children were enthralled with the beautiful pictures and talked about materials that may have been used in constructing them. We used the book for inspiration to create a collage of our own, combining different kinds of media. We will continue to explore different kinds of collage as well as colour over the remainder of the school year.
Looking forward…
- For “Show & Tell” next week, our topic is Food
- On Thursday June 23rd, TIP will have a graduation and family pot luck day. Please keep this date open on your schedule so you can join us for a fun day to finish off the school year. More details will follow as the date gets closer.
Important dates
Friday June 3rd – No violin class (Mr. Coleman will be absent)
Wednesday June 8th – Open school day
Thursday June 16th – TIS PYP Exhibition
Thursday June 23rd – TIP Graduation & Potluck Party
Friday June 24th – Cleaning Day at TIP (old clothes, please), Third term officially ends, Portfolios go home
Monday June 27th to Wednesday June 29th – Optional additional student days
Wednesday June 29th – TIS parent volunteer day and picnic lunch with families (TIP will also join)
Thursday June 30th – Summer holidays begin