Year End Party (Last Two Days in Preschool 3)

Week 10: Year End Party (Last Two Days in Preschool 3)

How We Express Ourselves? There are many ways to express ourselves. In the video below, you would see how students express themselves.

With the help of Ms. Yuki, Preschool 3 made a very warming video for their teacher to express their appreciation and gratitude.

Inquiry:


Start them young. Teaching your child good habits. Consistency is the key. Consistency, in the beginning, is important in creating habits. There will be failures and constant reminders but sooner or later, you will be surprised with the result. Students will pick it up eventually and will get used to it. You need to maintain that focus consistently so they are constantly working on improving and having fun while doing so.

Since we started planting our grass seed, for the first few weeks, students have reminded constantly to water their grass first thing in the morning. Until such time, they are the ones who call out for our attention to open the door because they need to water their grass. Seeing some friends outside help others to remember about their plant and they will rush outside too to water it, after unpacking their backpack.

Now that they are moving up soon in Preschool 4. We have decided to not send it back home and keep it at school instead. We took the grass out from the planters and planted it on the ground outside. Since most grass has turned brown, we look forward to spring and see how it'll change.

We also get the chance to watch the video the students made with Ms. Yuki.

Free-play:

Morning Circle:

We always integrate Math in our morning circle. Counting the number of students who are present and absent.

Morning and Afternoon Recess:

Earthquake Drill:

Remembering 2011 Earthquake in Sendai.

Year End Party:

We ended our time in Preschool 3 with happy memories and fun activities

Lunch picnic outside and a couple of exciting games. We invited Preschool 2 students as well to join us play.

Closing Circle:

Celebrating Chiho's Advance Birthday and saying goodbye to Ms. Ikeda San.

They've worked so hard the whole year and they all deserved a star!!! Everyone is a Superstar! 

Superstar of the Week!

This year wouldn't be a success without the undying love and support from the parents. Thank you all for your endless support, cooperation and understanding especially to all the parents who came and helped us to every activity we had. 

Most especially, thank you for always visiting and reading our class blog!

Goodbye Preschool 3, Hello Preschool4! 

We will miss everyone!

Last Full Week in Preschool 3

Week 9: Last Full Week in Preschool 3

We capped a memorable term going over the previous lessons about Sharing the Planet and How We Express Ourselves.

Inquiry:


Students watched a short video clip about other children from all over the world who express themselves through art. 

Through Their Eyes: Children Express Life Through Art.

There are many ways to express ourselves. Students expressed their love and appreciation for their teacher through drawing and writing.

Free-play:

Children learn best through play. We are all well aware of that and in the class, we integrate letter play into their play. There are toys and posters around the classroom, teachers set everything around to ignite children's curiosity. Students will benefit more when materials are provided and visible in the class. We don't really sit down and make a big lesson over toys. Even in our Language time, you would see how we integrate learning through play.

When we say Free-play, it is a free-play. From the word itself, it is FREE. That means, free choice. Children choose where they want to go/play. We don't limit students. We don't have posters/charts on the wall or necklaces that children have to wear or hang that would limit the number of children in the centers. We don't make a complex chart to make sure that every child goes to every center. Students are free to change centers provided that, they look after the toys they play, clean up and move on to the next center. 

Our free-play is a child-directed play. All centers are open every morning during the free-play time and we don't have limits. It is important for young children to be able to make choices and to learn how to make their own plans for what they will do. Exception varies depending on the situation. There are other centers that are figure-outable. Like for example, our art/writing center, if there are two chairs, that means two children can sit there. And since it's a figure-outable center, some students would still use the materials and would sit on another table and others would draw/write on the floor. If a center gets too crowded, some children choose somewhere else to go. Kids don't like crowds and they work this out all by themselves.

This method during free-play allows children to be creative and learn how to make choices and to make plans on their own. Moreover, we do not change center materials every week or every month, it depends when it is needed. We would add some materials/additional toys when it is connected or related to the topic. 

Here, you would see Hana spelling out the word she sees on the wall and started reading out. You would see videos below were students started playing on their own doing exactly what the teacher does during Language time. 

 

Morning Circle:

Here, students arrange the days of the week in order and spells it out.

Language:

Students are not only learning and playing. We are also teaching them patience and respect. Patience - patiently enough to wait for their turn. Respect - to stay still and be quiet. To not make any unnecessary noise that would distract or bother them. Cheering is OK.

Morning and Afternoon Recess:

Someone saw us on the second floor and joined us play.

Math:

Japanese:

Story:

P.E

In our Math lesson, they learned about Prepositions. Here, during our P.E. play. You would hear them utter the words "inside/in, out/outside and under."

Closing Circle:

Group Star winner!

Superstar of the Week!