KC

The children have been learning about lines in art. They have been looking at the way artists use lines to create particular effects. We have been talking about the way artists look very carefully at things and see things in different ways. We practiced drawing the leaves on the nature table using “artist’s eyes”. Yesterday, [...]

Throughout the school year, we shall be visiting the park opposite school to observe the changing seasons. As part of our Japanese Culture program, we will be celebrating the coming of Autumn (Aki). Colorful leaves (koyo) are to the Japanese autumn what cherry blossoms are to spring. Throughout the month of October, we shall be [...]

Children seem to have fewer and fewer opportunities to get outdoors and interact with nature. One of the aims of the Elementary School camping club is to give children opportunities to experience the wonder of living in nature even if just for a night or two. There is nothing quite like a good, hard hike, [...]

Today we had a busy day out, full of nature-watching and adventuring. We started by digging sweet potatoes at a near-by potato field. This is a popular Kindergarten experience in Japanese schools at this time of year, and helps children to understand where food comes from and the cycle of the seasons. We had a [...]

With the sakura blooming and Spring finally in the air, we decided it was time to prepare our garden allotment for planting. It was a perfect day for gardening. The sun was shining as the children got stuck in. Several teachers stopped on their way by to ask us what we were up to and [...]

Learning about the awe and wonder of nature is an important part of Early Childhood education, particularly as technology and an urban life style become increasingly prevalent. The weather was so beautiful on Friday that Yuka and I thought about changing our plans so that we could take the children into the park to search [...]

When we returned to school after the winter break, we saw that our fish tank had turned brown. We discovered that the filter had broken while we were all away. The children wrote a letter to Mr Neary asking if he could give us some money to buy a new filter. Mr Neary wrote back [...]

Often, a student will bring something to our morning meeting which captures the interest of the whole group and provides an authentic learning opportunity related to the children’s own experiences. This morning, Saku came to school with a paper bag full of tangerines. He explained that he had picked them with his family over the [...]

Sweet potato digging is a traditional activity in Japanese kindergarten classes. The YIS kindergarten students took a bus to a sweet potato field in the middle of Yokohama. The children were surprised to find a field right in the middle of the city. They spent the morning digging potatoes. When we got back to school, [...]