Thank you to the Elementary students, teachers and parents for their enthusiasm and spirit at the ES Sports Day on Friday May 3rd, 2013. The Spirit Coaches led their group cheers loudly and proudly! A huge thanks to the PE team and helpers who helped make our ES Sports Day a well organised, fun event. Congratulations especially to Kate Buelher for leading a well organised sports day for K-2 and Gr 3-5. Having amazing sunshine and warm temperatures really made it a lovely day to be outside. What was noticeable was the team spirit in which all children participated in events, often cheering for students in other teams as well as their own.
Congratulations to Minami team for being the overall winners.
Thank you for making the day great!
Check out these class blog posts and reflections from the students:
The students have been training for their events and are eager to participate in the team spirit which is what we promote sports day to be all about… joining in and having a go!
Friday is not a normal school day! The children will not be attending classes at school. Instead, they will be having fun in the sun with their friends, parents and teachers at the Yokohma Country and Athletics Club (YC&AC).
Kindergarten, Grade 1 & Grade 2 students and teachers are to meet at the YC&AC at 8:15am and will be dismissed from the YC&AC at 11:45am.
Grade 3, Grade 4 and Grade 5 students and teachers are to meet at the YC&AC at 12:00pm and will be dismissed from the YC&AC at 3:45pm.
Grade 2 C students, Kirra, Ryuta, and Kayleigh chose to find out more about how people communicate using dance. They inquired into how dance can help people communicate their feelings. They decided they wanted to create a dance to communicate their excitement about Sports Day and offered to make it the K-2 Sports Day cheer.
This week was the first practice with all the students in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. The dance captains did an excellent job of teaching the others their dance. All this week they will keep helping the GrK-1 students learn the dance.
Students can practice in their homeroom classes or at home with this instructional video:
On Monday April 29th 2013, Grade 4 and Grade 5 koto students will perform in the YIS Tenth Annual Spring Hōgaku Concert. This is a Japanese Traditional Music Concert on Koto/Choral Music. The venue for this musical event is the Myokoji Temple which provided a beautiful, authentic backdrop to the concert. Parents and guests are invited to attend the musical and cultural event.
Monday, April 29, 2013 (National Holiday) Normal School Arrival Day for all students 1:30PM Concert 2:30PM Finish Time (Students may go home with parents or return to school)
The students have been practicing with such dedication and commitment. On Friday April 26th, there was a koto practice at the temple so the students were able to get a ‘feel’ of what it will be like to perform in a traditional venue.
On Tuesday 23rd April and Wednesday 24th April 2013, Grade 5 students at YIS shared their PYP Exhibition with parents and the YIS community. Parents and guests attended Tuesday evening as this was a special presentation for parents that included students presenting their video trailers to promote their passion, live performances and demonstrations and oral presentations about their passions. On Wednesday, YIS students from ELC to Grade 4 were audiences for Grade 5 students to present about their passions to as part of their Unit of Inquiry, How We Express Ourselves: People’s beliefs and passions can inspire and sustain learning.Students from Tokyo International School and their teachers also made a special trip to view our exhibition as they were curious to know how YIS had approached their exhibition. As part of sharing in PYP, YIS students will be going to visit TIS for their exhibition in May.
What is the PYP Exhibition?
Students aged 10 to 12 who are in their final year of the PYP are expected to carry out an extended, collaborative inquiry project, know as the exhibition, under the guidance of their teachers.
The exhibition represents a significant event in the life of both the school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the programme and sharing them with the whole school community. It is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the student profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the programme. It is a culminating experience marking the transition from the PYP to the Middle Years Programme (MYP).
Congratulations to our Grade 5 students and teachers for a very successful PYP exhibition!
The students presented confidently about their passions, with a very impressive range of passions and talents amongst them. They were excited and enthusiastic and just a little nervous on Thursday night, as they presented their passions to an audience of parents.
Please enjoy these snapshots of the YIS PYP Exhibition 2013!
Elementary students have new play equipment to enjoy!
On Friday April 19, 2013, the children were very excited using some newly arrived play equipment for the first time!
The ES Student Council surveyed the students on how to improve their playtime experiences and as a result, a list of play equipment was made. Some items had to be ordered so Ms Catasti and Ms Kumamoto helped with these. But other resources could be bought at the local Homes store, so a group of student council reps went with Mr Geddes and Ms Cowdy to purchase things like pipes and little rubber balls for a marble run, digging equipment for a sandpit and equipment for bug investigating.
Thanks to the PTSA who approved a grant so the students could go ahead and purchase their ‘wish list’ of play equipment.
Thanks to the caretakers, there is an effective storage system in the elementary shed for the basketballs and hoops.
Over the summer, more equipment like scoops and perforated balls, foam flyers, reaction balls, cones and sidewalk chalk will arrive, ready to start the school year.
On Friday April 12, 2013, the children of the ELC at Yokohama International School performed their annual assembly to parents and guests. This was part of the PYP units of inquiry for How We Express Ourselves. Please enjoy the E1 and E2 performances!
Thank you to the ELC staff for their time, love and encouragement in supporting the children in their learning and for nurturing their creativity!
On Wednesday 20th March, 2013, students had the opportunity to share their learning with their parents as part of the student-led conferences. These are an important part of how we assess and report to parents about the progress their child is making.
Take a look at how the day went for these classes:
Thank you to the students for their wonderful confidence leading their parents, to their teachers for the support and time that goes into preparing for SLCs and to the parents for their enthusiasm and support in learning what we do in elementary at YIS.
The annual YIS Elementary Theatre production was tales about Japan. It told traditional stories from the areas of Okinawa and Hokaido. The stories drew upon the host culture and had connections to the Units of Inquiry. The actors did a professional performance that received much audience applause! The costuming and choreography were so creatively made with beautiful, musical accompaniment on the koto. Congratulations to all who was involved in this magical production! A special thank you to Mrs Leanne Erickson for her time with the elementary theatre production.
You can watch the video recording of the elementary play on Mrs Erickson’s blog.
Two weeks ago, there was a conflict between Grade 5 students and the Grade 10 Business Studies students over their selling of bottled water in the main foyer. Read the full post Grade 5 Takes Action!
This was timely as Grade 5 have been learning about how to deal with conflict and manage their own participation when conflict arises as part of their unit of inquiry, Sharing the Planet.
Since then, the Grade 10 students approached the Grade 5 students with a proposal which has resulted in the two grades working together. Read the full post Effective Action.
On Friday March 15, all students from the ELC and elementary grades enjoyed a ballet performance of the Magic Flute, by the Austrian Ballet Company – Tokyo, hosted by St Maurs International School.
Below are two links to a summary of Magic flute, created by Ms Tasha with her KC students who shared blog posts about the story. These helped to orientate the students with some key points and most famous songs from the story, ahead of viewing the ballet performance.
This was really helpful as students (and teachers!) were able to identify who the main characters were and recognized key pieces of music. The students were so engrossed with the dancers, particularly the one who played Papageno, a bird catcher who pretends it was he who saved prince Tamino.
Our students from all grades were such a well behaved and respectful audience, and judging by their laughter throughout the performance, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Interestingly once back at school, there was much discussion as the students responded to the performance by creating their own representations of the story through dance, drawing, construction and play.
Photos courtesy of Austrian Ballet Company – Tokyo.
