New Hope School News - October 2013

Dear New Hope School Friends,

The weather is cooling off. I hope you are enjoying the fall weather and staying healthy. We have some news to share with you.

Fall Campaign

• Children who take a free sample lesson in any class receive a present from New Hope School of an English picture book.
• New students who start by the end of October save 50% off of their enrollment fees (¥10,500~¥26,250 off).

 Preschool Bazaar

• Our school bazaar will be held on November 2, 2013, from 10:30AM to 3:00PM. Please come for a fun time of shopping and food. I’m sure you will be able to find some bargains. If you would like to donate items for the bazaar, we can receive sellable items in good condition. Sorry we cannot accept items that would be oversized garbage (sodaigomi) if we cannot sell it. Contact us for details about how, when and where to donate.

 

Ocarina Concert/Workshop

• We will have an ocarena concert and workshop on December 7, from 10:30AM to 12:00 noon. Professional musicians, Milt and Shion, will be coming to play and teach some music. This free event is a preschool fundraiser. We suggest donations of ¥500 per child and ¥1000 per adult. It will be fun for the whole family.

 

Read-Aloud Tips

One of the best ways to help children with their language skills (whatever the language) is to read aloud to them. Here are a few tips to help your children get the most from your reading times together.

• Read slowly. Give your children time to build the scene of the story in their minds.
• Use different voices. This makes the story more fun and helps your children keep track of the characters in the story.
• Stop and discuss. Books are to be interacted with. Take time with your children along the way to discuss, predict, question, and comment on what you are reading.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to contact us with questions or feedback.

Pencil Inventions

Our summer school theme for elementary kids this year is inventions. Today's project was to design a better pencil and make a poster presentation about it. Enjoy!

Mars Probes

This term in elementary/middle school, students have been learning about how Europe colonized the New World. To the Europeans, America was a mystery. They had no maps, no tools, no established food production or trade partnerships, and no knowledge of the civilization that existed before they arrived.

To help the students understand what is would have been like to establish themselves in a new land, we've been doing a science unit in which we research about Mars and plan a Mars colonization project. Before moving to Mars, the students want to send unmanned probes to gather data. Here are their probe missions and designs. (Click the pictures to magnify them.)

Homemade Alphabet Chart

When we moved to the new school facilities, we didn't have an alphabet chart. No problem. The kids made their own.

Dodgeball and Red Beards: Wonderful Things We've Learned!

In our classroom we have a bulletin board entitled “Wonderful Things We’ve Learned.” Once in a while, the students write down something they’re excited about having learned, and pin it to the board. Here are the current contents of that board. (I've fixed up some spelling.)

I learned that Leif found America before Columbus was born. I learned about vikings. I learned how to throw a ball and make it bounce backwards.

I learned that ***** is sin in Hebrew and ***** is sin in Greek. ***** means God. Sin means missing the mark. (Sorry, couldn't type the Hebrew and Greek words.)

I learned about vikings and volcanoes.

Volcanoes are so scary because of fire. I’m excited about volcanoes.

I learned that the Pacific Ocean is the biggest of all the oceans.

The volcano movie was fun. Dodgeball is fun.

I’ve learned how to skip and come back to things you don’t understand in a book.

I learned about volcanoes. They are so red! (with picture of erupting volcano)

P. E. was so fun because we played many things. And I’m thankful that I came back to Japan.

Vikings had long houses, so I was surprised. Vikings fought against so many places.

I did science. Oceans and continents are 71% and 29%.

I learned about Eric the Red. His beard and hair were red.