今日は避難訓練を行いました。

避難訓練のベルがなるとみんな先生たちが何も言わなくても”Head down”します。

今日はPeter先生が落下物があった場合を想定して発泡スチロールでできた棒を落としました。

子どもたちは最初は少しびっくりしたようですが、しっかりと頭を守ることができていました。

もしもの時のために子どもたちが自分自身でできちんと頭を守れるように訓練が必要です。

揺れが弱くなってきたら、先生たちが防災頭巾やぬいぐるみなどを子どもたちに渡します。

それらを使って頭をカバーし、先生の指示があるまでは頭を下げて待ちます。

それから、各クラスごとに並び、K3から順番に廊下に逃げる練習をしました。

棚などが倒れてきて出入り口が狭くなった事を想定したので、子どもたちは前かがみになって逃げなくてはいけません。

これも上手にできました！！

最後にPeter先生から地震や津波のお話を日本人の先生から地震の時の合言葉のお話をしてもらい、今日の避難訓練は無事に終了しました。

今日は５月生まれの子どもたちのＢｉｒｔｈｄａｙ　Ｐａｒｔｙをしました。

子どもたちはＰａｒｔｙが始まる前から、嬉しさを隠し切れずにわくわくした様子でした(^^)

誕生日の子はみんなの前に座り、”Ｈａｐｐｙ　Ｂｉｒｔｈｄａｙ”のカチューシャをします。

大きなバースデーケーキの上のろうそくを吹き消して。。。

先生からバースデーカードと誕生日のプレゼントをもらい、とっても嬉しそう♪

その後は。。。

みんなでゲーム大会！！

フルーツバスケットや

”Ｌｏｎｄｏｎ　Ｂｒｉｄｇｅ　ｉｓ　ｆａｌｌｉｎｇ　ｄｏｗｎ（ロンドン橋落ちた）”をして遊びました。

その他にも先生たちの劇”Ｔｈｅ　Ｇｉｎｇｅｒｂｒｅａｄ　ｍａｎ”を見て、楽しみました。

新学期、初めてのバースデーパーティーでしたが、子どもたちも大喜びしてくれたので、

大成功でした♪

今日はPeter先生より、ご自宅で出来る英語のサポートの仕方についてです。

Hello everyone.  Welcome back!  The new school year is finally in full swing, the cherry blossoms are coming to an end and it’s time to start making plans for Golden Week.  As you have probably noticed I don’t have my own kindergarten class this year and I won’t be coming in every day, but I will be able to watch over all the classes equally and finally do some of the things a principal should.  I will have classes with K1, K2 and K3 every Monday and Wednesday and will be following their daily progress closely.  I can also assure you that the whole staff will be working together as one big team to make this another great year.  If you ever do need to talk to me about the curriculum, about your children or about any of the events feel free to ask me any time.

I know that at this time of the year a lot of you are probably wondering what you can do at home to help your children with their English and I’ve put together a few suggestions that might help you out.  Whatever you do, though, remember that they are still children and pushing them too hard is not always the best option.

In general I recommend that you speak Japanese, or your native language, to your child at home, and make sure that the child grows up with a good command of his or her own native language.  At the same time, I also understand your concerns and wishes to help your child improve his or her English as rapidly as possible.  For this reason, I would make the following suggestions as to how you can work with your child at home in various aspects of English, including Reading, Writing, Listening skills, Oral skills, and Comprehension skills.

Writing:     

This is the easiest part of English to practice at home, and one that I feel would be very beneficial for your child.  Before practicing, make sure that the materials you use are age appropriate, and if you have any questions or doubts about the materials, feel free to ask me.

K1:      * Practice tracing various lines and patterns, making sure that your child holds the pencil or crayon correctly

• Trace letters of the alphabet on large lined paper.
• Practice letter recognition and ABC order
• Practice making letters on lined paper by copying, rather than tracing.
• Practice writing short wordsThere are many books that you can use to practice the ABCs and there really isn’t one ‘best’ book.  If you’re not sure, I can give you some names of books that I personally like.

  K2:      * Review all the exercises recommended for K1

• There are many books that you can use to practice the ABCs and there really isn’t one ‘best’ book.  If you’re not sure, I can give you some names of books that I personally like.
• Practice copying longer words
• Practice copying simple sentences, including capital letters, punctuation marks, and spaces between letters.
• Practice filling in missing letters by sounding out the words
• Simple spelling tests

　　　　K3:      * Review all the K2 exercises

• Practice copying longer sentences
• Practice copying short books
• Practice changing one or two words in a sentence to make original sentences
• Encourage writing short letters to classmates (without worrying about the spelling) and the teachers
• Encourage writing letters to Santa Claus for Christmas, or similar events.

When practicing at home please be sure of the following:

• Make sure you watch your child at work, encourage him, and correct any mistakes (such as holding the pencil wrong, or writing from right to left instead of from left to right)
• Do not just give your child an exercise to do and then leave him there by himself.
• Encourage your child frequently and set up a system of rewards for work well done.
• Set up a fixed time for these exercises so that they become routine.
• Hang up your child’s work (on walls or refrigerators) to show how much you appreciate it.

Again, if you need materials to start with, feel free to ask me.

Reading:

This can be more challenging to parents whose native language is not English.  Please note that the goal of most of the following exercises is not perfect pronunciation, but at the same time a lot of exposure to ‘katakana’ will also be detrimental to your child’s progress.  Be careful, therefore, whenever correcting your child’s pronunciation at home:

 　　　 K1:      * Practice reading the individual letters of the alphabet 

• Show pictures of letters and let your child tell you what they are.
• Have your child match lower case and uppercase letters
• Say a letter and let your child point to the right letter
• Ask your child to read letters in magazines that you are reading (for example brand and product names)
• Ask your child if he can identify letters on street signs or on the train whenever you are going somewhere together.
• Ask your child to read letters on food and other products when you go shopping together
• Ask your child if he can sound out certain letters once all of them are recognized.

　　　　K2:      * Review all the exercises recommended to K1

• Ask your child to identify certain words (such as exit, or stop) whenever you see them together outside.
• Ask your child to read simple three letter flashcards
• Work on exercises that match pictures to words
• Let your child read books along with CD’s, and encourage your child to read out loud with the CD.
• Ask your child to point to the words that he is reading.

　　　　K3:      * Review the exercises for K2

• Read more and more books with CDs.
• Have your child read their favorite books to you or other relatives.
• Take your child to the library and let them choose books that they are able to read.
• Make a list of ‘scavenger hunt’ words that you and your child will take with you when you go somewhere (make sure that they are words that might be found in advertisements, billboards, or street signs), and then cross them off when your child finds a word on the train or in a store.  Give a small reward if all the words (or even most of them) have been found.  This will make your child become more aware of the English used every day in Japan, and will make them look around to find it.

When practicing reading:

• Again, it is very important that you practice with materials that are easy for your child.  You do not want to discourage them by moving too fast, or making it too difficult.  The children need to understand that reading is fun and that they can do it without too much effort.
• Always be there when your child is reading to encourage them and praise them a lot.
• Set up times for reading that are devoted to your child.
• Turn off the TV, computer, and other distractions.
• Make your child the star whenever he reads to you or a relative.  Reading should be a chance for him to show off and get a real feeling of accomplishment.
• Do not get discouraged yourself if your child’s progress is slow.  Let him work at his own pace.
• Read to your child before he goes to sleep (Japanese books are good).
• Read many books or magazines yourself to show that reading is enjoyable.

Comprehension:

This is a difficult area to see progress in, because unless you are a native speaker of English, and regularly speak to your child in English, your child will not respond very well if you suddenly speak to him or her in English.  Also, as your child gets older, they will understand more about who to speak to in English and who to speak to in Japan, and will become self-conscious about speaking to you in a foreign language.  Therefore, the best way to practice comprehension skills is to use the media provided:

All students can use the following materials at home, but it will be up to the parents to decide whether or not the materials are age appropriate, and how much time you can allow your child to use them.  Please note that games are a very good form of studying, but that too much time in front of the TV or computer can be bad for your child’s eyes.  Therefore, please make use of these materials in moderation:

Videos / DVDs:         Videos such as Dora and Blues Clues are good for the children’s comprehension skills because they ask questions during the show and give children time to respond.  When watching these videos：

• Watch them together with your child and yell out the answers to get your child excited.
• Once your child is excited, pretend like you don’t know the answers and praise your child for being so smart when they do.

Computer software and games:        There are now many interactive games available that help the children to practice vocabulary and simple comprehension skills by asking questions and prompting the child to push the correct answers.

• Watch your child as he plays and provide a lot of encouragement
• Play against your child and provide some competition
• Do not force your child to play if they don’t want to.

Speaking:       This is the hardest thing to practice if you are not a native speaker, and I would recommend that you do not practice this at home.  The children will be provided with enough opportunities to speak in the classroom.

• Do not pressure your child to repeat what they did in school at home.
• Do not ask your child to translate Japanese to English or vice-versa.

Personally, I feel you can leave the speaking up to us.  I promise we’ll make sure that your child gets a chance to speak as much and as often as possible

OK, enough lecturing.  I hope you have a great spring and are able to take some time off during Golden Week.

See you in school,

Peter

今日は生憎のお天気でした(:_;)　なので、お部屋でゲーム大会です！

K1とK2のお部屋を使って”にんげんすごろく”を行いました。自分達でスタートとゴールが繋がるように考えて、マットを置いていきました。なかなか面白そうなコースが出来ましたよ♪

それから、自分達ですごろくのマスにオーダーを作ります。例えば、”Jump 10 times.” “Go back to start.” など。K1の子も”START””GOAL”と書くのを手伝ってくれました。無事にゴールする事が出来るかな？

ルーレットを回してスタートです(*^_^*)

下の写真はマスの指令を実施中。

“Make funny pose”（可愛くなっちゃった(笑)）

“You have to dance until your turn.”

“Skip around the room.”

さて、すごろくの後は”Guess Who”のゲームに挑戦です！ちょっと難しいゲームですが、２チームに分かれてチームごとに頑張りました！！

午後はトランプでババ抜きなどを楽しむ姿が見られました(*^_^*)

３月生まれの誕生日会を行いました。

質問コーナーでは、”What animal do you like?”

“I like kangaroos!”

“How much cake do you want to eat?”

“I want to eat a lot.”

今回も色んな質問が出ました。

大好きなゲームを３つ楽しみました♪

音楽に合わせて動くゲームでは、みんな汗をかくほどノリノリで踊っていました！

先生からの出し物は、４月からの写真を使って、思い出スライドショーです。

写真の中のお友達を見つけては、”○○ is there!”と目を輝かせていました♪

皆で思い出を振り返ることも出来ました♪

Peter先生のトークも面白く、笑顔いっぱいのBirthday Partyでした。

３月生まれのお友達、お誕生日おめでとうございます。

早いもので、今週土曜日がK3の卒園式です。

卒園式では、受け継がれてきた黒のガウンと帽子をかぶり、帽子にはタッセルを付けます。

海外の映画などでよく見る卒業式のスタイルですね。

ファーストステップスでは、子ども達から見て左側にタッセルを垂らしています。証書を受け取った後、タッセルセレモニーとして左から右に移動させます。

タッセルが移動したことに重要な意味があります。

これは、一つのステージを終え、新しいステージに向かう準備が出来たという証です。節目を迎えた卒業生にぴったりの素敵なセレモニーですね。

なので、タッセルの位置を元に戻してしまうと大変！卒業できなくなってしまうかも？？

K3も小学生になる準備が出来たようです。

残り３日間となりましたが、楽しく元気良く！沢山笑って過ごしたいと思います。

Hello to anyone reading this today.

           When I sat down to write this, I was going to write a little about the history and celebrations surrounding St. Patrick’s Day, but then I changed my mind.  You can always read about the patron saint of Ireland on line, or check out the parade in Omotesando on the 19^th, so I’d like to talk about something more personal and make a request to all of you.  In order to do this, I’ll have to tell you a few things about my own life and background and hope that you don’t find it too

           It’s already the first of March, and that means that graduation is less than 2 weeks away.  This season always makes me a bit sentimental and reflective (basically that means I spend more time thinking about how the year went by so quickly, and all the things good and bad that have happened), and I wonder about how we are spending our time.  Children grow up incredibly quickly, and before we know it, they are off to school on their own leaving us to ponder over how they suddenly got so big.

           My own daughter is graduating from kindergarten this year as well, so it really hits home (sorry, it’s an English expression that means that it affects me a lot personally).  As some of you may know, I live quite far from Ikebukuro and with a pet dog and several cats that means that I usually have to get up before 4 am and leave the house while the rest of my family is still sleeping.  I also come home after they already go to sleep so many weeks I will only see my daughter on Sundays.  She knows this and understands this, but it still gets to me when she goes to sleep on Sunday nights with ‘Good night.  また来週ね’.  But it’s OK because I know she’s doing well during the week and Sunday becomes ‘our day’.  No cell phones, no computers, no distractions.  Sometimes we go places, sometimes we stay at home, sometimes we just draws pictures together.. it doesn’t matter as long as she’s happy.  And we talk; talk, talk, talk.  She tells me everything she did over the week and I tell her stories of things that happened to me on the train or when I was her age and it’s fun.  It’s time that I will never regret.  And that is my request to you… spend some quality time with your children.  I know it’s not easy, and I know that we are all very busy, but it makes a world of difference.  Don’t lose your children to TV, video games, or the stress of work.  Be a part of their childhood and let them be a part of yours.

           When I was a child, my father worked for the government… one of the more secretive parts of the government that I can’t really talk about, but what it meant was that he would often be gone for a few weeks at a time.  He couldn’t tell us when he was leaving or when he would come back, so every morning I would wake up not knowing if he was going to be here or not.  But he never made us feel like we were in second place because when he was at home he was never ‘too tired’, or ‘too busy’ to spend time with my sister or me and until I became an adult I never realized how exhausting that must have been.   Then when I was around 7 years old, he decided to go back to college at night and every night after work he would go to school for a few hours coming home after midnight and leaving for work at 4:30 am.  Did that mean he stopped making time for us.. no, it didn’t.  I liked making model airplanes, but I wasn’t that good at it and easily gave up.  My father would come home late at night, finish his studies and then spend time working on my airplane instead of sleeping, just so that I could see it in the morning.  To this day I don’t know where he got the energy, but as a child it made me feel very special and I have always admired him.

           But, I’m talking too much… I just want to encourage you to spend some real time with your children.  It doesn’t have to be every day, but don’t let stress, technology, work or anything else get in the way.  I go outside and I see families eating supper together and everyone is on their own smart phone or playing games, and I feel a little sorry for them because I feel it’s time that is lost, and can never be regained.  There is so much we can teach our children and so much that we can still learn from them if we just talk to them.  So please, turn off the TV during supper every once in a while, put down the cell phone, and put the stress aside.  Spend a few hours the ‘old fashioned’ way.  Thanks for reading and have a great spring.

-Peter

Annual Showを終えたら

K2は卒園式で演奏するピアニカの練習。

K3は卒園式に演奏するピアニカと歌の練習をおこなっています。

卒業の定番「Auld lang syne」蛍の光

スコットランドの民謡です。

原曲は・・

忘れがたき古き友よ

思い出すことがなくても

忘れがたき古き友よ

どれだけ時間が経とうとも

遠き昔のために  友よ

友情の盃を交わそう

遠き昔のために

日本語の歌詞とはずいぶん

違いますね。

ナーサリーで楽器を演奏したりK1になったらお耳があるのがC!  と大きな声で言えて   K2では憧れのジングルベルを演奏。どんどんピアニカも上手になりました。

いよいよ卒園ですね、

プリスクール最後の演奏を心に残る素敵ものにしましょう

“Hellos and Goodbyes”

We’re coming to an end of another school year. A few more weeks together and we’re off to our spring vacation. For most, it will be another “See you later!” but sadly, for others it is “Goodbye”. When I was younger, I used to love school vacations. No more waking up early, no more sitting in the classroom for what seems like forever, no more school works. I usually enjoy the first few days of it but after a while, I start to miss my friends at school. I guess that’s one of the best things a school has to offer. Education is of course the first priority, but apart from that, the relationships that we build over the years with our classmates and teachers are irreplaceable and to be treasured forever.

Now, graduation is just around the corner for some of our students. I bet they are all excited that all their hard work paid off and they are about to start a new chapter in their lives. It is indeed a cause for celebration but for me, this was actually the part I hated the most in my entire school life . While I was happy to receive my diploma, I couldn’t help but feel sad knowing that I had to bid farewell to my Alma Mater and with that goes all the memories and friends I had made through all those years. Sure, you can keep in touch with all the technology we have now but it’s never the same as when you are in school where you get to see them everyday and have fun with each other all day long. School may be sickening at times but trust me, you’re going to miss it once it’s all over. So for all the students out there, enjoy every second of your school life, make the most out of it, build plenty of memories and friendships. You’re only young once and I hope that when you get older you can look back and say that this has been a great and awesome part of your life.

Happy Spring Break everyone! Enjoy and Good luck for the new school year ahead and for the new students, welcome to First Steps International School! Wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll have lots of fun here.

Sam