Planning for Sports Day

We have a field day coming up and decided to get the elementary school students involved in planning the events. Here they are brainstorming games. They wrote down all of their ideas without discussion or judgement.

Brainstorming!

 Then they discussed the pros and cons of each idea and voted for their favorites.

Democracy in Action!

It's going to be a great sports day!

Preschool Fire Station Visit

This week's "My World" theme is fire, so yesterday we went to the Shimura fire station for a tour.

The firefighters had just finished rehearsing a flannelboard story so we got to see the premiere performance. It was called "Fire is Scary" and was about some children who played with a lighter and started a fire. Things turned out fine (whew), but it was scary enough that I'm sure our children will always remember not to play with matches.

The firefighters had laid out all of their gear for us to see.

Children got to go inside a fire truck.

A firefighter showed us how fast he could get into his full gear.

I got to practice using a fire extinguisher.

Children got to wear small firefighter jackets and helmets.

They even gave the children firefighter origami and erasers shaped like fire engines and ambulances (sorry, no picture). When we got back to preschool, the children made and sent thank-you pictures to the firefighters.

It was a wonderful day.

   

A Full Week

Last week was very full with tons of fun. We had a triple birthday party on Thursday.

Then we had a field trip to HIkarigaoka Park on Friday. The children really liked the new playground equipment.

We had a picnic lunch.

Then we played games like tug-of-war,

a teamwork relay,

parachute fun,

and a bucket-filling race.

Saturday was our monthly Saturday Preschool class. The theme was "fish and fishing." Unfortunately, we didn't get any good pictures. Come and see for yourself next time!

Field Trip to the Fire Station

Last week we paid a visit to the local fire station. Some children were under the impression that we were going to a burning building and were relieved to find that that wasn't the case. The firefighters were very kind. They explained their equipment, showed us around their vehicles, and even let the children dress up as firefighters.

Please review your family's emergency plan with your children this week.

We rode the bus to the fire station (an adventure in itself).

A saw for cutting into buildings.

We got to walk through a brand new ambulance that hadn't been used yet.

Gear lined up for quick access.

Getting dressed up like a real firefighter.

Yes sir!

Group shot with some firefighters.

Sweet Potatoes

Last week we took our annual walk to a nearby vegetable field and dug up sweet potatoes. It's amazing that there are places like this right in Tokyo.