Thursday, December 20

Last week we talked about ways to be a responsible community member so this week we put our thoughts into action. We made a winter care package for a person in our community who does not have a home. First we made a list of things that would be good to include, then we walked to Daiso with our shopping list and everyone chose something for the care package. I gave the package to a homeless person that I often pass on my way to school.

This week we also made a miniature town. Thank you to everyone who brought in their completed building. The students enjoyed acting as city planners and assembling the town by and adding buildings and decorations. 

On Tuesday we took a surprise trip to the bowling alley! It was both a reward for all the hard work the students have done over the past term, and a great way to see more of our community. We had a lot of fun bowling!

On Tuesday we also had a surprise visit from our previous team teacher Ms. Aynur, and her baby Kasim. Everyone was happy to see that Ms. Aynur and the baby are doing well!

Thursday was the Abroad Talent Show and our Christmas celebration and winter party. The performances were great, congratulations to everyone who performed! A special congratulations to the winners Mari, Taimu, and Kotaro. It was a tough competition!

For our Christmas celebration we talked about different ways that Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world, then did some traditional Christmas activities like decorating a Christmas Tree, making cards, and a gift exchange. 

This week we said goodbye to our longtime music teacher, Ms. Katsura. She has been teaching these students music since they were in infants class. We were very sad to see her go, so we made goodbye cards to thank her for all that she has done for us. Ms. Katsura is being replaced by a teacher with an IB background. Her name is Ms. Kyoko. Please say hello if you see her around!

The school's PE teacher, Mr. Uehara, has also left the school. Although his time at the school was brief, we will surely miss him! As of now, it remains undecided who will be teaching the students PE.

I would like to thank everyone for the hard work and support they gave over the past term. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. I look forward to seeing everyone back at school in the new year.

- Josie

Hospital Letters

This week we received two letters from the hospital we wrote to a couple weeks ago. We also received a phone call from the police station thanking us for our kind messages. We were very happy that our thoughts could make others in our community feel happy!

Science Experiment

A few weeks ago we began an experiment for Science Week. The experiment shows the effects of germs and the importance of washing your hands. First we put an untouched piece of bread in a bag to act as our control. Next we passed a piece of bread around and had everyone touch it with their hands before they had been washed. After that, everyone washed their hands and we passed around another piece of bread for them to touch. We waited a few weeks to see what happened to the bread.

The control bread went stale and broke when the children touched it.

The clean-hand bread grew a little mold around the edges.

The dirty-hand bread grew a lot of mold and went mushy.

This is why we need to wash our hands before we eat!