Congratulations Preschool!

Wow! The year has ended! What a year it has been, too! The events of the world forced us to be resourceful, risk-taking, self-motivated learners. We learned a lot about technology and ourselves during this time but Preschool never stopped trying!

Some fun statistics for you:

Last week alone, Preschool we commented on each others learning 101 times!! We posted 64 learning engagements!
And...drum roll...since we began remote learning three months ago, you all posted 1,640 posts of learning, creations, discoveries, and sharing!

Preschool dancing in celebration of their awesomeness!

I look forward to learning with you again in first grade! Until then, I will leave you with this borrowed poem and wish you a healthy and fun summertime!

First Week Back!

Preschool returned to school this week with bells on! Everyone remembered the rules that keep each other safe and did their very best to keep their distance, wash their hands, not share, and clean up.

Thinking, writing, and drawing about how we feel:

Learning together but at a safe distance in the next room with Ms. Faye:

Playing in the new yard at a safe distance:

At the end of a successful first day back:

Next week we will be in school on Tuesday and Friday again for half-days with no snack. Please dress appropriately (light clothing and running shoes) as we have recess outside and are not using air conditioning due to the need for proper ventilation. Also don't forget a hearty, healthy breakfast to hold the students over until lunch time. Online learning will slow a bit to give space for our student-led conferences. Please book your conference if you have not already.

The last week of school we will be in school on Monday the 15th from 9am-12pm with no snack. The last day of school (Tuesday, June 16th) will be a final time to meet with the specialists (PE, German as a Foreign Language, Japanese・こくご) and we will have one last online meeting to celebrate all they have done in Preschool! I will send an invitation with the time once the specialists have confirmed their schedule.

Coming Back to School!

We are so excited to see you all on Monday! We will still be continuing online learning the days we are not in school but we will be mostly focusing on preparing for Student Led Conferences next week.

This post is packed with information about the return to school and reminders of things already sent via email from the office. Please take the time to read through the information here and be on the lookout for a personal email with the books your child should be returning to school next week! Thank you always!

In this post:
When Are We In School?
Safety Procedures
What to bring?
Student Led Conferences
Yearbook Photos

When are we in school?

Monday, June 1st
Thursday, June 4th
Tuesday, June 9th
Friday, June 12th

Safety Procedures

As we all know, COVID-19 is still circulating so we have to take precautions to allow students to return to school. Please discuss these things and why they are important with your child this weekend so they are mentally ready to return. Practicing keeping a safe distance and how far 1.5 meters is at home will also be helpful. Think of creative ways together that they can connect with their friends from afar - air high fives or hand symbols, etc.

Please arrive at school between 8:50am and 9am. We will begin checking temperatures and open the gates at 9am. All students need to line up 1.5 meters apart outside of the yard gate in the morning. Please stay with your child until we begin temperature checks as they might need reminding not to play close together. For more information, please see the Parent Information letter emailed to you May 27th and uploaded in your child's Google Classroom.

In school they will be asked to stay a safe distance (1.5 meters) from others. To avoid the spread of germs, they will not be able to share items. Most students have colored pencils and pencils at school, but if you think your child doesn't, please send those along with a glue sick to school with them. This also means they will not be able to use shared items like blocks and legos while in school. Thank you for talking about why this is important with your child.

What to bring?

1. Mask 
1. must be worn at all times - practice removing using the strap behind the ear for drinking
2. Pencils, colored pencils, stick glue if none left at school
3. Zipper Bags with readers
4. Library Books (I will send an email with a list)
5. Water Bottle (we will not be allowing use of the fountains so please make sure they have enough water for the morning)
6. Math game brought home February 28th (I will send an email with picture)
7. Weather appropriate, comfortable clothing and hats (we plan to play outside, if the weather is nice and we will have windows in the classroom open for circulation.

Please note we will not be having snack in Preschool during the half-days back. Also, please keep the calendar binders at home for now as they will be keeping up with them for the next 2 weeks. The students can return them to school on Friday, June 12th.

Student Led Conferences

Please choose a time for you and your child's student led conference here.
All time slots must be booked a week in advance so please book as soon as possible. For example, if you want to book the conference on Monday, June 8th, you need to book it by Monday, June 1st.

Please read the Student Led Conference Guidelines sent to you via email and posted under Documents for Parents in your child's Google Classroom.

Yearbook Photos 

For our Yearbook, we didn't have a photographer visit us so - We need your child’s picture with a happy face, head and shoulders size. Please make sure to save the picture by your child’s name.

• Size - 1mb minimum
• Style - Passport but smiley face!

Per the email sent to you earlier in the week, this is due by May 30th at 11am.
For security--- You need to access the folder via your child's email account you use for Google Classrooms---PLEASE DON’T USE YOUR PRIVATE EMAIL ACCOUNT
Upload the photo here please. 

Whew! The last two and a half weeks of school are here and I am so proud of Preschool and all we have accomplished!! The next two weeks will be focused on giving everyone an opportunity to catch up with anything missed as well as preparing for Student Led Conferences. Thank you always for your support and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday!

Special Message from DSKI!

 

Remote Learning Week 4

Preschool this week!

We met individually and in groups:

We shared our thinking in Seesaw:

And we collected a lot of reading stars!

 

In our Unit of Inquiry on Living Things we are thinking of how we grow and change as humans and have begun an investigation to see how a seed grows. 

We are all sad and disappointed that the school closure has been extended for another week; however, we value the health of the community and are all doing our best. If you  

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Have a Great Spring Break!

We did it! Two and a half weeks of remote learning! As they say in Japan: otsukaresama deshita. Thank you for your time and efforts to maintain Preschool's learning during the physical school closure.

In 8 school days, you learned two new learning management systems (Google Classrooms and Seesaw) and the students were sharing their thinking and learning about 36 times a day! I notice a few of you reading in Raz Kids too! Hats off to Preschool!

Some have asked if they can continue completing the learning, practicing, and sharing over the break and of course I encourage that. Please also remember to take a much-needed break for you and your family.

If you do choose to complete the learning, please don't forget to look at the full day of learning on Google Classroom first (there is a slideshow for each day from the 9th) and then if you need to view or post anything in Seesaw there will be a link there. As it is a holiday, I will only be approving posts a few times a week and not providing feedback until we return from break. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!

Upcoming:
March 19th-29th     Spring Break!
March 30th              First Day of Swimming in PE (see supplies list below)

Swimming will be every Monday after Spring Break. Please make sure your child has the following swimming gear on their return from Spring Break:

• A waterproof bag
• Swimwear
• Swimming cap
• Towel
• Goggles (optional)
• Rash vest (optional)

As we walk to and from the swimming pool, I also suggest something to keep wet heads warm on cold days.

Week 2 of Remote Learning - You Did It!

I am overflowing with pride for Preschool today. We have taken a challenging situation - sudden school closure - and THRIVED! Nine days ago we were all new to online learning tools like Seesaw, Google Classroom, and Kids A-Z. Today in Seesaw, we have OVER 200 journal entries of Preschool sharing their thinking! I miss seeing them in person like crazy, but every time I click PLAY and hear them speaking, singing (or playing the harmonica or piano for me!), and see their smiling faces doing their best to learn no matter where they are, it gives me the MOTIVATION to do my very best for them too. When I say I am proud of Preschool - I mean our entire community: parents and students!

IMPORTANT: 

1. Please complete the learning engagements IN ORDER. We build understanding, so it is important that the students do not skip around in literacy, maths, unit of inquiry, and music. It is absolutely okay if you haven't been able to do everything everyday. However, when you DO have time, please work your way through the learning in the order it was given. 
   Complete all of the How We Express Ourselves: Celebrations reflections, show & tell, and summative task BEFORE beginning the new unit on How The World Works: Living Things.
   
   Complete all of the Maths: Measuring tasks in order for length, before moving on to capacity and then completing those in order also.
   
2.  Please don't feel pressured to complete anything in one sitting. In the classroom students often work on a task for 15-20 minutes then move on and come back and finish the next day or later in the day. However, don't upload your learning until you are finished the task and have done your personal best. It is about the learning, not how much or how fast you complete it.
   
3. Please let your child do the thinking and talking as much as possible. It is important for me to see and hear what they are thinking and doing so I can respond to that in future learning tasks and feedback. It is not about a "right" answer - it is about the thinking and learning process. Also, it is important for their confidence that they have a chance to do things by themselves.
   
4. When working with Seesaw and photos. The best option is to take the photo within Seesaw. They have a free app for most devices you can use or access the web version. That way you don't have to worry about file compatibility. If you do have to upload photos you took outside of Seesaw, please take a second to make it as large as possible within the page. 

If your post looks like this to you:

It looks like this to me when I am reviewing:

It is too small to see without my taking extra steps to go inside the post. Please make sure the part I need to see is large in the screen by clicking and dragging a corner of the picture until it looks something like:

Then it will look like this to me and take less time for me to provide feedback:

Also, please make sure you rotate photos that have writing in them. Again, I think this will all be easier for you if you take the photos or videos within the response in Seesaw. Thank you for taking the time to do this, I often have more than 30 posts to review and give feedback to each day (there were over 70 waiting for me Monday morning!) so it is time consuming for me to have to click inside and edit. 🙏🙇

Thank you Preschool for an engaging week of learning and sharing! 

Remote Learning Day 5 - Otsukaresama!

We made it! We finished our first week of remote learning! Thumbs up to you!

This week I have noticed Preschool being a...

We have all been trying new things this week! We have used new devices and new programs. We have tried learning and teaching in different ways and environments.

We have all had to think about different ways to learn, teach, and solve any problems that arose.

We are communicating by looking at learning our classmates have shared and responding to that.
I am so proud of our Preschool learning community for being open-minded and making this work!

Now I would like to hear from you about what worked for you this week to help me plan for next week. Please fill out this form with your feedback.

Please don't forget to maintain balance during this time. I have shared some tips on how to stay balanced in a previous post and please feel free to share in a comment what has helped you and your family this week too!

Enjoy the weekend!

Remote Learning Day 2

Greetings Preschool!

Last week the students designed and built floats for a Mardi Gras parade challenge! They took risks by trying different strategies to make their floats into what they designed. They had to communicate with their partner(s) to decide not only on the design, but also the materials to use and how to put those together. Though we weren't able to complete all of them before the unexpected school closure, we will reflect on what we did this week. Check us out in action:

Yesterday it was so much fun to read and see pictures of what the students were doing at home. Also, I was very excited to see some already experimenting with SeeSaw.

On Wednesday we will begin using our Google Classroom to manage our remote learning. This is a big learning curve for many of us as we will also integrate other learning resources that are age-appropriate for the students, such as SeeSaw. Take your time and know that we are here to support you every day from 8am-4:30pm.

I Think I Can GIF from Ithinkican GIFs

Remote Learning Tips

This week we are all adjusting to different schedules and ways of doing things. My girls are home from school and we are figuring out how to work, live, and learn together also. In addition to researching different ways to engage learners remotely, I have also been thinking a lot about how to thrive as a family during this time and wanted to share a few things that are helping in our home with you.

Talk with your child about what is happening. They are little, but they hear the news we are watching and our conversations with other adults about the COVID-19 virus. They also feel any anxiety about  the unknowns surrounding the virus. They need our help to understand and work through any fears they share so don't worry about talking with them in an age-appropriate way. Keep it simple, factual, and focused on positive messages. This article has a helpful When and How to talk to children section. Remember, it is always okay to say, "I really want to talk about this too, let's talk about it tomorrow morning." if questions come up at a time when you are tired or distracted.

Make time and space for learning. When learning at home, it might be helpful to have a quiet, consistent place where your child does their learning daily. A schedule helps everyone stay balanced. Reasonable bedtimes and mealtimes will also help when the transition when we return to school.

Give your child responsibilities. As I mentioned in my first Morning Meeting video, the students have responsibilities they perform daily in Preschool and this is a perfect opportunity for them to learn a new skill and feel the satisfaction of being a contributing member of the family. Here are some age-appropriate responsibilities:
Chores for children ages 2 to 3

• Put toys away
• Fill pet's food dish
• Put clothes in hamper
• Wipe up spills
• Dust
• Pile books and magazines

Chores for children ages 4 to 5
Any of the above chores, plus:

• Make their bed
• Empty wastebaskets
• Bring in mail or newspaper
• Clear table
• Pull weeds, if you have a garden
• Use hand-held vacuum to pick up crumbs
• Water flowers
• Unload utensils from dishwasher
• Wash plastic dishes at sink
• Fix bowl of cereal

Chores for children ages 6 to 7
Any of the above chores, plus:

• Sort laundry
• Sweep floors
• Set and clear table
• Help make and pack lunch
• Weed and rake leaves
• Keep bedroom tidy

Get some fresh air and exercise. Get outside if the weather is nice and you can walk or play somewhere. Otherwise, make time to do a workout as a family.

Connect. We all miss each other! I will make a weekly whole-class meeting, but if you can meet a school friend online or for a playdate, that in-person connection with people is important too.

I am so grateful to have you all in our learning community and know we can do this! 

Morning Meeting March 3rd and Sight Word Book Instructions

Hello Preschool! Uploading to YouTube issues made my morning meeting into an afternoon meeting. Hope your morning has gone well!




How to do the sight word book:

SeeSaw App

Hello Preschool!

It was so exciting to find a couple of students have tried out SeeSaw already! High-fives!

A parent let me know that SeeSaw doesn't support Draw + Record in the Safari browser. The Seesaw Class and Family apps are available on iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices. You can also use Seesaw on the web using a computer or Chromebook via a Chrome, Firefox, or Edge browser.

If you are using a tablet or phone, please use the app version of SeeSaw to avoid any browser difficulties. Here is the Apple App Store link.

For more information, please look here. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Thank you!

Morning Meeting Mon March 2nd

Celebrating around the world!

We have been filling our passports in Preschool with celebration experiences from China, America, the Philippines, Germany, and France!

Hoping you all celebrate and fill your bellies today for Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras! We were so excited to eat and see how French crepes were made yesterday!

We also made masks for Mardi Gras!

This week we are also beginning to solve our STEAM problem:

We are discussing the forces of push and pull in order to solve this problem and THANK YOU for all of the supplies you provided to do this! 

Reminders:

Library Day Wednesday!

PE Thursdays and Fridays!

Upcoming:
March 2nd              (AM) Hina Matsuri at Shohei Kindergarten (cancelled by Shohei kindergarten)
                                (PM) DSKI School Photo
March 19th-29th     Spring Break!
March 30th              First Day of Swimming in PE (see supplies list below)
April 18th               110th Anniversary School Party at The Kobe Club

Swimming will be every Monday after Spring Break. Please make sure your child has the following swimming gear on their return from Spring Break:

• A waterproof bag
• Swimwear
• Swimming cap
• Towel
• Goggles (optional)
• Rash vest (optional)

How We Express Ourselves - Celebrations!

We have been digging into How We Express Ourselves through celebrations in Preschool.  We celebrated the 100th day of school, setsubun (Japanese bean throwing festival), learned about Chinese New Year, and planned and threw our own Valentine's Day celebration with students from Canadian Academy!

Thank you to the parents who have offered to share a celebration with our classroom! Our Show & Tell theme for the next few weeks will be home celebration traditions. Our families all have their personal ways to celebrate different holidays and I would like for the students to share one family celebration tradition. The next time they bring the Show & Tell bag home, please help your student share this by sending photos, a video, games, a recipe, decorations - anything to tell us about this celebration and tradition. Even better, come share this tradition with your child in our classroom! If you are not able to do this, please include some written or videoed explanation of the tradition to share to help your child. Thank you for thinking about and being ready for this when your child's turn comes!

Call for materials!
In the last week of February Carnival will be celebrated around the world: Mardi Gras in America, Fastnacht (Karneval) in Germany, etc. We will have a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) challenge in Preschool to design a colorful float for the parade! To do this, students will work with partners and design, then build their own float that they can move by pushing or pulling (without touching the float itself).

To do this, we will need your help collecting materials next week. Please send any of the
items on this list to help us complete our project:
 Cardboard
 Cardboard Boxes (Kleenex box, cereal box, shoe boxes, etc.)
 Tape
 Paper Plates
 Index Cards
 Balloons
 Construction paper
 Pipe cleaners
 Toilet paper tube s
 Craft sticks
 Straws
 Paper Cups
 Glue
 Yarn
 Paper Towel Tubes
THANK YOU!

Announcement - Schedule Change!
Our library day will be on Wednesday from this week.

Upcoming:
March 2nd              (AM) Hina Matsuri at Shohei Kindergarten
                                (PM) DSKI School Photo

100th Day of School, 3-Way Conferences and A Call for Family Participation!

Preschool has been busy tuning-in to our new unit: How We Express Ourselves! We are exploring this through the lens of celebrations around the world. Last week we made fire breathing dragons for Chinese New Year! As we continue to learn about different celebrations from around the world, we would love for your family to come and share a celebration particular to you! Please email me  if you have some time and are interested in doing this!

This week in literacy we will continue working on our How To books - writing books to teach something in steps. Our sight words are 'how' and 'are'.

In maths we are continuing to work on building number sense by breaking numbers apart and putting them back together. Also working on building foundations for place value. For the 100th day of school on Wednesday, I will ask each child to bring 100 small items from home in clear bag to display what 100 looks like. It can be anything: 100 paper clips, 100 marbles, 100 cotton balls, 100 Cheerios (cereal pieces), etc.

Thank you again for everyone who joined our Super Readers Party! A couple of you asked about the TV Show: Super Why by PBS Kids. You can stream on Netflix and PBS Kids as well as renting or buying from iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video, etc.

I also wanted to give a BIG shout out to the PTA for coming in on Friday to give Preschool a Spring Cleaning - THANK YOU SO MUCH!


I look forward to sharing your child's learning at the 3-way conferences this week!

Upcoming:
February 3rd-7th      3-Way Conferences
February 3rd            Setsubun
February 5th            100th Day of Preschool (bring 100 small items!)
February 11th          Open Day
March 2nd               Hina Matsuri at Japanese Kindergarten

Healthy Choices Snack Challenge!

Preschool has been challenged to plan and help make and pack their own snack this Friday, January 24th! Please talk with your child about what they would like to make and bring. This will be part of their summative for the Unit so the choices should be mostly theirs.

Thank you for supporting us with this!

Week 18

This week will be our summative week of our Balanced and Healthy Choices unit. We will create a healthy heart to show the ways we stay healthy as well as our own My Plate with choices from the 5 food groups.

In literacy we will continue reviewing alternate vowel sound spellings (vowel teams) ai, ay, ee, ea, ie, y, ue, oa. Our sight words this week are: do, you, have. We will celebrate all of the Super Reader Strategies we have learned with a Super Reader Party on Wednesday, January 22nd at 2pm. Students can come dressed as their favorite super hero or just with a superhero accessory like a mask or cape. Parents are welcome to join us in this celebration!

In maths, we are continuing to look at balance and equality. As always, we are working on number sense - especially composition of numbers as a foundation for understanding place value.

Reminders: 
Zipper folders will come home with a book to read and a reading log, please return the books the next day.

Wednesday: Club Introduction Assembly 22nd January, 9.00am
We will be introducing our new club offers soon for the second semester.
Please come along to our assembly and you can see an introduction to each club by the club teacher and ask them any questions you may have!

Thursday: Library books and PE clothing

Friday: PE clothing

Have a great week!

Super Reader Party! (date change)

We have been working very hard to learn some strategies to become Super Readers! To celebrate all of our hard work, we are going to have a super-hero party! Please have your child come to school as a super hero (just a cape or a mask is fine - or a full costume, if they are comfortable!) on Wednesday the 22nd. I plan to have juice, popcorn, and fruit for the students. You are welcome to join us also! 

When?     Wednesday, January 22nd ~2:00pm
Where?    Preschool classroom

The students can share a book with you or a friend to show their reading powers, then we will have snacks and watch a show to celebrate!

Yoga!

Please have your child bring a towel to use as a yoga mat on Monday (the 13th) as we will be exploring balanced and healthy habits through yoga!

Thank you and Have a Great Weekend!