Carnival Fun!

What an amazing Thursday we had at the Carnival in the morning! The students enjoyed the day, participating in fun events in the morning and dressing up in creative outfits.

Photos and videos from the Carnival

Of course, we did lots of learning this week as always ;-)

We looked deeper into various simple machines - why are they considered simple machines and not nails?), how can we make a "Wolf Catching Machine" using gears, what are some various levers around us and how can we use them, and how much can a pulley lift up.

Here are some photos of the students trying to open a pistachio using their fingers as a lever... did it work? What other tools did we use to pry the shell open?

Some of the students experimented with incline planes at recess time as well -

During our language lessons, students studied what adverbs are and how to expand sentences using more adjectives and adverbs.

How much is a gram vs. kilogram? What things around us do we weigh in grams and kilograms? Our first graders know this now. They also solved three-digit addtion problems using regrouping.

For a special project coming up, please bring in three, cleaned out, 1-liter cartons by Monday, March 11th.

Some upcoming events -

Next Thursday morning, March 7th, our class will be going on a field trip to Miele, a new German homeware store in Sannomiya and doing a baking activity.🇩🇪

March 11 - 15th will be Book and Culture week with various activities going on (more details regarding this will be shared in next week's blog).

On Wednesday, March 20th, we will have a Sponsors Run.

And after that will be our long awaited Spring Break!✈️🏖

Until then, have a super fun weekend☀️
Sincerely,
J. Ramani

Hello!

We've had another busy week with lots of fun learning.

In Language, we identified different personal pronouns, using them correctly and recalling what vowels are and when to use a / an/ the.

We investigated into different ways to measure length and weight and the units used. It was tricky for some to know when to use millmeters, centimeters, meters and kilometers. Perhaps practicing at home or while going for family drives can help more.

We continued looking further into simple machines and discovered what potential and kinetic (and thermal energy) are. Here is a great website where the students were able to adjust variables to increase and decrease potential/kinetic energy and create their own skate ramp. - Energy Skate Park

Photos of students busy with their inquiry - Kinetic and Potential Energy at the skatepark

As mentioned in last's week's blogs, if you are interested in joining our class on our field trip on March 7th, please let me know soon.

Also, as part of our unit investigation on forces and motion, we will be having a special guest who will be coming and to teach the students how to make sailboats next month. For this, we require each student to bring three, washed one-liter milk/juice cartons.

The students enjoyed having a special guest flutist perform for our class on Wednesday. She perfomed some classical French tunes as well as some child-friendly music!

Thank you for your support in your child's learning.

Have a beautiful weekend!
Sincerely,
J. Ramani

Simple Machines Around Us

Hello! Happy Valentine's Day 💖

This week, we looked at simple machines - wheel & axle, lever, inclined plane (ramp), pulley, wedge, and screw. Where do we see these simple machines around us? How are they used? How are they helpful for us?

In Language, we recognized what the difference is between a complete sentence, incomplete sentence and a run-on sentence. We also reviewed letter writing by sending Valentine's letter to our special person.

We investigated how to use a pan balance, kitchen scale and a weighing scale - estimating and calculating the actual weight for our Math lessons.

Here they are with their investigating - Balance investigation

The Grade 5/6 class invited us to discuss the robots we made. The students were a bit shy in talking to the older students but after some time, we were able to share in smaller groups.
Sharing our robots

Looking ahead, on March 7th, our class has been invited to the opening of a German appliance store, Miele, in Sannomiya. Parents are invited to come to meet us there as well. If you would like to come, please let me know by February 20 as we need to inform them beforehand. The address of the place is - Park Side Building, 116 Higashimachi Chuo-ku Kobe. 

** Visiting Author - Rebecca Ottowa

We have exciting news to share with you about an upcoming visit from a local author - Rebecca Ottowa. She will be visiting our school on 13 March at 3.00 PM as part of our Book and Culture Week. We will send you further details of her visit. She will be selling copies of her book - My Awesome Japan Adventure and we will be holding a book signing event as well.

We will be pre-ordering copies of her book to sell during the event. If you would like to buy a copy and have her autograph it, please order here.

This book is also the perfect present for friends back home as it showcases a very unique Japanese culture. So do consider buying a few copies to give away as presents! 

Have a special weekend!

Sincerely,

J. Ramani

Fun week of Forces Experimentations!

It was lovely meeting our class parents this week during the Three-Way Conferences. I hope your child was able to share more about their learnings as some children were quite shy to speak at the meeting!

This week in our Unit lessons, we experimented with different size parachutes to find out how air resistance affects them, raced cars down slopes of different textures, looked at how astronauts live in space stations without gravity, tested the buoyancy of different materials and discussed how simple machines work.

Here's an album of students' experimenting - Further into Friction

In Math, we studied about how to measure accurately using centimeters and meters with things in our classroom and our body parts. We also looked at how to calculate elapsed time and adding two-digit numbers using regrouping.

Here are more photos of the students measuring around the class.

What is the difference between a homophone and homonym? I'm sure your child can tell you what is right, write and right 😉! We will also continue writing, using correct end punctuation, capital letters and using a thesaurus to make our stories more exciting to read.

Next Monday - Wednesday, we will have the grade 1/2 Flea Market. Thank you to those who brought in things for us to sell. The students will take turns helping at the table for 15 minutes during snack, lunch and after school. You are welcomed to come take a look after school in case you'd like to do some shopping 🛍🛍! Students can shop during these times as well.

Looking ahead, the week of March 11, 2019, the school will have Book Culture week. On Wednesday, March 13th, we will have an author, Rebecca Ottowa, visiting our school. The school is having her book, My Awesome Japan Adventure, on sale (¥1,000) before she arrives. Please check the school blog to place the order online. The students can then have Rebecca sign the book for them.

Have a super week ahead!
Sincerely,
Ms. Ramani

Tuning in to our new unit

What a fun-filled week we've had!
We wrapped up our last unit by presenting our projects, began looking into our new unit about forces and motion, went on our field trip to Higashi Clean Center and had two birthday celebrations (three, if you count Mrs. J's baby!)🎂

In Language, studied about homophones and homonyms. Ask your child if they can give you some examples of them.

In Math, we are continuing to study about arrays, skip counting and looking at fractions.

Here are the students sharing about their projects they made last week -

For our new unit about forces and motion, we took a walk around school to see where we can find out about gravity, friction, push and pull. Here we are in action -

On Thursday, we enjoyed our field trip to Higashi Clean Center. Can your child explain the steps in how garbage is incinerated and recyclable materials separated at the Center? Here are some photos of our trip - Higashi Clean Center photo album.

On Monday, February 11 the Grade 1 and 2 classes will have a flea market open to everyone from DESK. In order to prepare for this as part of our recycling unit, we would encourage the grade 1 students to bring in things from home which you no longer need but is clean and in usuable condtion. We can accept toys, books, clothes, household items, CDs, DVDs, games and such.
Your child can bring the things to sell from Feb. 4 -8. 
Any items which are not sold will be given to a donation organization, Shaplaneer.
The Grade 1 and 2 students will participate in helping sell things at the flea market during recess times and after school.
Parents can come shop at the flea market after school as well. 

Parents should've receive an email regarding new clubs starting this term. Sign up is done via an online link shared in the email. Please contact Mr. Brabant for more information.

Report cards will be sent home on Friday afternoon (today) via email with a pdf attachment of the report. This is a different format as done in the past.

Have an enjoyable weekend!
Ms. Ramani

Project Week

The students have been so insightful into their learning about how to keep the Earth eco-friendly! Last week, we looked at the trash we collected throughout the week and discovered how much excess materials we are throwing out, especially plastic. Yes, plastic is good for keeping food fresh for longer time but not very good for the environment. This week, we used the materials collected plus more to create something that would be useful for people. Here are the photos of the students in action -

We also looked at letter writing this week in Language. Perhaps your child even gave you a letter he/she wrote in class 💖. We will continue more on letter writing in the coming weeks.  In Math, we looked into arrays, what they are and where we see them around us. We also looked at what the multiples of 2, 5, 10 are.

We will be going on our unit field trip to Higashi Clean Center on Thursday, January 31st from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. There is no cost for this field trip, and we will be back in school for lunch time.

From February 4 - 8, we will be having Three-Way Conferences. I have sent out the link where you can choose what time you would like to come in with your child after school to discuss their progress.

We have many clubs offered for the next term. Please sign up using this link -
 New Term Club

And finally, Scholastic Book Club Orders have been sent home today. Please purchase the books online as done previously.

Have a lovely weekend!
Sincerely,
Ms. Ramani

Another busy week!

Dear Parents,

We had another busy week of school after Winter break.

We have been studying how people's actions affect the Earth, the students are learning about recycling and conserving resources. The students have been carefully collecting their trash this week and putting it in their bags. We've seen how trash is cluttering the Earth and causing harm to the environment, people and animals. 
We discussed the book, "The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss and the students wrote how they would help the Earth. 

On Friday, the students investigated the types of trash they were disposing throughout the week - plastic, metal, wood, paper, styrofoam and other. They counted each type and graphed the results. I wonder why we use so much plastic...?

We went to visit the pre-schoolers who were sharing their Shape Fair. The first graders enjoyed asking questions and seeing how much the little ones knew. 

Please take care as many students are coming down with the cold or flu. Make sure to dress warmly, drink plenty of fluids, wash your hands and get proper sleep at night.

Have a lovely weekend!
Kind Regards,
Ms. Ramani