2023.06.30

Toyonaka| Junior kindy Monthly highlights | June 2023

Aiwin International School

 

Junior kindy Class Highlights

June 2023

 

Upcoming Events

 

Tanabata - July 7

Summer school - July 31-4

Field trip  - July 20

 

Class Reminders

 

This month we learned about…

 

Main Concepts: 

Inquiry into human relationships through our friends and communities and knowing our rights. 

 

Understand neighborhood roles, and the people that surround us.

 

Key Questions: 

What are the good qualities of a friend?

What makes me and my friend different from each other?

What are the places in my neighborhood? Who are the different people helping our community?

What kind of community helper do I want to be?

 

Phonological Awareness

 

In June, Junior kindy class has been doing a lot of phonics activities. We started by working with consonant K and its sound /k/. We practised how to write it and how to recognise it and read words containing this sound. Also, we learn different words every week. These are words that are very common in English and it is important for students to recognise them easily while reading. So, we read them and write in our word mats and we also use flashcards to help students make their own sentences and help them remember the words. 

Moreover, we read a book for every unit containing the sound that we are working with. 

Every week, we use a bit of PA class time to review the alphabet in order to improve their skill in recognizing letters and their sound and how to write them. 

We have been working as well with words ending in -ut/-ub. We have learnt how to pronounce it and how we can create several words by adding different consonants at the beginning. 

We have also read the book called 'Bub and the Nut' so students can practice more what we have learnt in this unit. 

We worked on a worksheet to read and write this type of words. 

 

Art and Crafts

Students made a craft to decorate the wall of our classroom for this month’s topic by making the shape of an ice-cream in which they wrote good qualities of friends.

Moreover, as students really enjoy working with origami, we chose which animal we wanted to make and made it together. 

To celebrate Father's Day, we made an origami necktie and also students made a free drawing. 

As part of this month's topic, we made a map of a neighborhood. We talked about the essential facilities in a town and then drew them on our map. For example, we talked about schools, hospitals, police stations, parks, playgrounds…

 

Theme exploration

The topic this month is to talk about our friends and neighbors. First, we discussed what we thought were the good and bad qualities of friends. We watched a story and talked about what happened in it. Then, we made a summary of things we like in a friend.

Later, we talked about how similar or different we can be from a friend. Using flashcards, we discovered that we have many things in common regarding what food, animals or activities we like, but also that we are different and enjoy other things. 

We did a presentation in front of the class and talked about it one by one.

Furthermore, we discussed the importance of community helpers and which are the most important ones. We talked about police officers, teachers, nurses, postman, pilot…  and what their roles in society are. We recorded their projects when they presented them in front of the class.

The last part of our monthly topic consisted of talking about what we wanted to do when we grow up and how we can help society. 

 

Cooking

In cooking class, students were presented with the food of the month, *lemons*. First, we talked about its smell, taste and texture. We tried it so students could say their opinions. Some of them liked it, but some others thought it was too acidic and liked it better with a bit of sugar. We also saw pictures of its growing cycle.

We also prepared lemonade. Students got a lemon, a bit of sugar and water and they mixed it all together in a glass. Some students liked the flavor but some others thought it was too acidic. But overall they enjoyed the preparation a lot. 

Science

This month in science class, we did an experiment with water. They had already worked with it but we're excited to do it again. We filled a plastic bag with water and put a sharp pencil through it. They were shocked that water wouldn't come out of the bag. 

Numeracy

In Numeracy class, we have worked with spatial relations and subtraction. We have practiced how to read and write higher numbers like 20,30,40…

 

Writing journal

In this class, we choose a different topic every week, usually related to the topic of the month. We have learnt to write what a good friend is by writing down a few adjectives.

Students were divided into pairs and each pair chose a community helper they wanted to talk about. We chose nurses, police officers, farmers, teachers and pilots. They wrote short sentences about what their jobs are. With this, each pair made a presentation. 

Furthermore, we have written what we want to be when we grow up. First, we gathered some ideas (nurse, doctor, pilot, police man…) and then we wrote in our journal. 

 

Japanese

Songs 歌

あいうえおの歌

Book 本

石井式「牛若丸

Kanji/Hiragana

 

牛若丸、家来、源氏、大将、雪

Craft

七夕

 

Overall Content

6月の後半にかけて姿勢良く座ることができる為、声掛けなどをしています。ゲーム感覚で楽しめるように足にボールを挟んで石井式絵本を読んでいます。一つひとつの活動に集中力も出てきています。フラッシュカードでは、カタカナをシャッフルして子ども達に答えてもらっています。元気よく回答してくれる姿が多く見られます。

 

PE

This month in PE class, Junior kindy students have started to practice new positions that they will do individually and in pairs. 

PE class focuses on doing a good warm up so students can be ready for the following exercises. after that, in each lesson they do different activities, such as throwing balls, obstacles race, sommersaults, cartwheels... It is very important to do many exercises so students can get stronger and use every part of their body.

Music

≪Nursery, Preschool, Junior kindy & Kindy classes≫  【Acoustic education】 

• Listen to three chords and show comprehension of the differences between the harmonies through  the use of three coloured cards, where Chord C is Red, Chord F is Yellow and Chord G is Blue. Nursery: Red(Do-Mi-So) and Yellow(Do-Fa-La) Preschool: Red, Yellow and Blue(Si-Re-So) Junior Kindy: Red, Yellow, Blue and Orange(Mi-So-Do) Kindy: Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange and  Purple(Fa-La-Do) 
• Sing simple melodies through imitation of the teacher. The range is from C3 to C4. 【Cultivate an understanding of Rhythm】 
• Stomp along to music while looking at cards which are illustrated with four kinds of animals: ○ Mouse: Eighth note Dog: Quarter note Cow: Half note Elephant: Whole note ● Clap simple patterns in rhythm with the teacher 
• Enjoy playing percussion (Castanets, Maracas, Tambourine, Triangle and so on) ● Enjoy an ensemble of percussion and keyboard instruments. 
• Move and dance to music. 

【Musical knowledge】 

• Learn the C major musical scale through the keyboard card and the musical scale card. ● Listen to famous composers’ masterpieces while looking at the composer cards. ● Learn various music instruments’ name and shape while looking at the illustrated cards. 

≪Junior kindy & Kindy classes≫ 

【Play the keyboard harmonica】 

• Experience playing musical instruments 

<Junior Kindy> Finally, we’ll start the keyboard harmonica lesson! 

 First, we learn how to treat and how to clean up the keyboard harmonica.  Make sure the prohibited matters to play the keyboard harmonica safely.

Special events

 

Family picnic

This month we had our annual Family Picnic. On June 13th we visited Kobe Animal Kingdom. The students were really excited to have special activities with parents and teachers. Before the trip, we talked about which animal we wanted to see, which one was the scariest or the most fascinating one…  We also review the schedule for the trip and the rules to follow. After it, we reflected on what we did during the trip, how many stickers we got and what we enjoyed the most. 

 

Numeracy week

 

During Numeracy week, students had the opportunity of working on several projects and challenges. 

First, we built a catapult using chopsticks, rubber bands and a spoon. Although they process was a bit difficult and they needed the help of teachers, they really enjoyed the result and had fun playing together. with the catapult. The second project was a 'Shapes Hunt'. Students were divided in pairs and each pair got a tablet and a shape ( square, circle, triangle, semicircle and rectangle). They had to find around the classroom, hallway and library objects with the given shape and take a picture. They enjoyed this type of activity a lot and it fostered teamwork and imagination. 

Also, we did learning stations related to Numeracy.  We had a balance game, a tangram and a spinning wheel to work with addition exercises. 

We also had a trip to a nearby supermarket. Students were able to withdraw money from Aiwin ATM using their credit cards. Then, at the supermarket, they could choose something they wanted to buy, such as snacks, fruits, vegetables…  When we got back to school, they ate some of it after our regular lunch. Although they were tired, they enjoyed the trip a lot and were excited to buy things by themselves.

 

We also had Aiwin's first Math contest. Junior kindy and Kindy students were divided into teams and each team had to answer a few questions related to math, shapes…  We did two rounds and then the two winning teams moved to the final round. 

Students were happy to be able to have an activity together and really motivated to do their best. 

On the last day of Numeracy week, Junior kindy and Kindy were hosts of the Aiwin supermarket. In Junior kindy class, we had three different shops: a flower shop, an ice cream shop and a beauty salon. First, we went over the rules and then students were divided into teams and each team placed in one station. Then, students from preschool, nursery and early nursery came to class and together had fun. Junior kindy had the opportunity to be the owners of their shops and they could use real objects provided by teachers.

 

Books We Read

 

• I pick up
• Go animals go
• The picnic
• Bub and the nut

 

Songs we sang:

 

• Hello Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlcKp3bWH8
• Phonics song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tlydXoNC2Q
• Days of the Week  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKqAblcwFOA
• Friends song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHdx18pi_U
• Clean up song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFE0mMWbA-Y

Next month we are going to learn...