Bringing the World into the Classroom

Japan and a Global Perspective
     Your children can hardly wait for me to share my Japan experiences. Their curiosity and love of learning are evident in their questions, their inquisitive eyes, and their excitement to know every detail about my visit to that fascinating country. The 2nd Graders remember reading the "Magic Tree House" book about ninjas and the "Time Warp Trio" book about samurai in ancient Japan last year. I actually visited a shogun's palace in Kyoto where our guide told stories of ninja and samurai. Sharing my experiences will make that history more tangible for the children. 
     In keeping with MPI's vision of providing all children with a global perspective, this kind of learning experience is invaluable. It is a wonderful opportunity for me as a teacher to bring the world into the classroom. This week I will show the children a Power Point of my Japan photos, read from my journal, and present a poster of souvenirs I collected. We are already learning lots of new words in Japanese.
     One of the highlights of my stay was a visit to a Japanese public school. The children had written wonderful letters to the students in Japan and drew pictures of life in Hawaii. I presented these to the principal of the school, and he immediately sent an aide to display them in the school hallway. My students were fascinated to learn that the children in this elementary school study English from Grade 1, practice taiko drums in music class, have a science laboratory, and ride unicycles at recess. Be sure to check out my photo gallery for pictures of the school and many other fascinating places in Japan.
     Mrs. Roth enjoyed teaching your children. She described them as "fun," "respectful," "helpful," "a really great class!" and the children enjoyed her sense of humor and magic tricks.  She actually caused me to "magically" appear on Wednesday afternoon, and we had a great party that included a full magic show by Mrs. Roth, an excellent balloon magic trick by Mrs. Yoshikawa, Japanese gifts for the children, and the sampling of mochi and sembei I had brought from Japan. What fun!  

Mahalo!
    A big mahalo to all of you who helped with the Spooktivity craft activity and Mrs. Meyer's Halloween craft party, as well as those who have donated pumpkins and will help with Pumpkin Carving on Wednesday afternoon.  We have such supportive parents this year! A special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Meyer for the creative trees they prepared for the children to decorate with webs, spiders, and bats. They even taught them about ope'ape'a, the native Hawaiian bat, and the happy face spider. Mahalo, Mrs. Serikaku, our Lead Room Parent, for all her help in arranging these events and communicating with parents, and especially for the special green trick-or-treat bags she bought for the class.  And, of course, we also need to say thank you to Mrs. Yoshikawa for serving as our Ohana representative, taking care of the Scholastic Book orders, and helping us in so many ways.  Mahalo nui loa to all of you!!
    
     I am delighted to be back with your amazing children. Thank you for the support you give them and me as we continue on this exciting journey of learning together.

Posted on October 27, 2008 12:16 PM | Permalink