2023.06.02
Toyonaka Junior kindy | Monthly highlights | May 2023
Aiwin International School
Junior Kindy Class Highlights
May 2023
Upcoming Events
June 13 - Family picnic
June 16 - Father’s day
June 26-30 - Numeracy week
Class Reminders
Thank you for your help this month with all the activities we have been doing. The students have had a lot of fun talking about their families and their traditions and learnt many new things about each other.
This month we learned about...
Theme: My Family and I
Children learn about the closest people to them, father, mother, brothers and
Sisters.
Main Concepts:
Inquiry into human relationships through our families and responsibilities.
Understanding families and how families can be different. Different ages, races, single parents, etc.
Key Questions:
What makes a family? Who do I call my family?
What makes families different?
Where did your family come from?
What are traditions in my family?
Phonological Awareness
This month, Junior Kindy students worked with -ap/-at word families.
We have learnt that by changing the first sound we can make completely different words.
We started by recognising the letters and its sound and how we could read the word. We did a cut and paste activity. The students used their own wordmat to paste the words that finish with -ap.
We read a story whose main focus was to practice this type of words.
After, we did a review of consonant J. They were already familiar with this sound but we learnt new words and did a worksheet to color the words that began with /J/ sound.
Moreover, we reviewed some letters we have already worked with, such as, b, m, p, h…. We saw words that rhyme and learnt that we can create a new word just by changing the initial sound.
We have been writing the alphabet a lot, both uppercase and lowercase letters in order to help students improve their writing skills. Some letters are still a bit difficult for them to write so we will be practicing them as much as possible.
The last week of May, we have worked as well with consonant K and the /K/ sound. We have learnt new high frequency words and have reviewed many others we have already learnt.
Numeracy
In numeracy class, we worked with ordinal numbers. They know the numbers from 1 to 10, but sometimes it was a bit difficult to understand the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers.
We practiced the numbers more, especially tracing them, as they can forget some of them if they do not practice quite often.
We reviewed the addition. Although students are already familiar with it, it is getting more difficult little by little, so students can improve their level.
We helped each other to measure our weight and height, so the students could get familiar on how to read those numbers and it was also a good Number-writing practise.
Art and Craft
In Art class, we did many crafts, especially during Golden Week. We made a unicorn and a butterfly using cardboard paper. It is a bit difficult to cut it for students so they got a lot of help from the teacher. Also, we made a flower pot for Mother's day. They were very excited about this one.
Furthermore, we used stickers to draw a map of where our family comes from and found out that we are from different parts of Japan and the world.
We did plenty of Art activities during Rainbow week.
Journal writing
This month we have learnt how to write down the members of a family (mom, dad, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa) and we have written down what we like doing with our family. For students it is still difficult to write whole sentences, so for now we are focusing on getting them used to writing a bit longer sentences even if they make some spelling mistakes.
Moreover, we talked about which activities we liked doing with our families and then we wrote about one. Though it took some time and motivation for them to do it, they discovered they were capable of writing more than they thought.
Lastly, we learnt how to write in our journal how we were feeling.
Theme exploration
This month was very interesting for Junior kindy students. We started by presenting our families to our classmates. We brought pictures and talked about them together.
We also talked about what makes a family. It was important to them to understand that each family is different.
Moreover, we talked about how many members there were in our family and completed a chart. Students found out that there are different types of families in our class.
We talked about where our family comes from and the traditions that we have. Each family is different and has diverse origins and traditions so it was amazing to get to know more. For example, we talked about going camping, going to the pool, parades, Christmas food related traditions...
Cooking
In cooking class, we talked about how bananas taste, feel and smell and when we can eat them. We also watched a video about how bananas grow and are collected and brought to a shop.
During our next cooking class, each student prepared a mix of banana, yoghurt and banana chips. They had fun doing it by themselves and they enjoyed a lot because it was delicious!
Science
This month’s science class has focused on shapes and strength. Using cardboard paper, we shaped it into a circle, square and triangle and placed books on them. We predicted which shape was going to be the strongest one. At the end, students found out that the circle was capable of holding more books without tearing.
Also, we worked with tangrams, which consist of making a shape (circle, triangle, house, dog…)using some pieces. It was very difficult for them but still they were motivated to try.
Reading Workshop
This month we have started with a new routine. Every week we have a different book that we read together and then do some activities related to it, like phonics or vocabulary.Also, we have a discussion at the end of the week to talk about what we liked about the book and its topic.
We also do Headsprout, where students are divided into groups and get to work on their reading skills according to their individual levels.
Learning stations
In learning stations, we review what we work with in class, but always trying to make it light and fun. We use a lot of coloring, shapes, toys, collaborative activities, imagination… This month we have also started to learn how to tie a knot and working with different materials, such as play dough or origami.
Japanese
Songs 歌
あいうえおの歌
Book 本
石井式絵本「かぐや姫」
Kanji/Hiragana
竹取、扇、竹、不思議、女の子、拳、大判小判、結婚、宝物、玉、竜、燕、命、龍、帝、月、天人、十五夜、弓、薬
Craft
鯉のぼり
Overall content
ひらがなを全て認識していて、カタカナもほとんど覚えてきています。ことば遊びでは、お題をもとに答えることができています。挨拶や名前を呼んだり日付を言ったりする最初の流れを先生役をしてくれる子を毎日入れ替わり、前に立って進めてもらっています。
PE
In PE class, students start by warming up doing different activities. For example, they run, jump, crawl and do some stretching exercises. After that, they practice several positions, such as somersaults, cartwheels, standing on one leg...
Then, students do one central activity. Some days they have to throw balls at a wall to gain strength and practice balance or they do races and use the vaulting horse.
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’ master pieces while looking at the composer cards.
≪Junior kindy & Kindy classes≫
【Play the keyboard harmonica】
- Experience playing musical instruments
<Junior Kindy> We’ll start the keyboard harmonica lesson from June. Please get a keyboard harmonica which has 32 keys by end of May. Any maker is OK but I recommend
YAMAHA and SUZUKI ’cause it’s easy to get the parts if you break the tube or
you lose the mouthpiece.
Special events
Rainbow Week
During Rainbow Week, we have focused on learning different art styles, specially from Spain. We did two crafts related to this country. One was a stained-glass window made by using different patterns and cellophane paper. When put under light, we can see colorful reflections so students enjoyed it a lot.
Also, we did a craft as a way of imitating Spanish ceramics. Using origami paper cut into small pieces, they had to stick it on a white circle, choosing any colors they wanted and also making any shapes they liked.
We participated in a collaborative puzzle that will be made by all students at school. It consisted of using coloring pencils and different shapes to express ourselves in an individual way. We also received the visit of some parents in our class. We learnt a lot about art and did very fun crafts. Students were very excited.
We had a parade where students were encouraged to show what they were wearing that day and how they felt about it.
At the end of the week, we had a visit from a parent to do a special class using different art materials. Then, we gathered in the library and shared with other students what we had learnt during the week.
Songs we sang:
Hello Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlcKp3bWH8
Days of the Week Song -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6FRDd9Hew&t=14s&ab
Clean up song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFE0mMWbA-Y
Phonics song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tlydXoNC2Q
Family song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii_LtHrEiao
Book we read:
Every day, students choose their own books and read for a few minutes on their own. After that, some days we vote and choose one book and I read some of it aloud.