Senri and Osaka International Shools of Kwansei Gakuin

 
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Elementary School
Elementary smiles

If seeing the smiles on students' faces makes working in a school a worthwhile profession, those of us who teach here at OIS feel that worth each and every day. We see them with their friends first thing in the morning and from that moment on the energy they give keeps the school moving along. The articles in this section give a flavour of the life of the school, celebrate achievement and provide food for thought for parents, teachers and students alike.

Grade Two Puppet Show

On Thursday, May 20, the 2nd grade class performed a folktale festival in their recently constructed puppet theater. The plays were based on three folktales: The Talking Eggs, Tikki Tikki Tembo and the Adventure of Mouse Deer. The three stories were performed in two shows for the elementary school students, teachers, and the second grade class parents. To prepare for their puppet performances, the students had to make their own puppets, create the background scenes, make the props, and with the assistance of the Mrs. Henbest, the parents, Mr. Adams and other volunteers, build the puppet theater. All their artistic work was done as part of the art program under the guidance of Mrs. Henbest. To make three fifteen minute puppet shows entertaining to a diverse audience, the students had to broaden the range of their voices as well as learn how to move their puppets for greater dramatic and comedic effect. Based on the audience’s reaction, the puppet shows were a big success.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grade 5 - Exhibition

After six weeks of intense inquiry the Grade 5 students have been holding their PYP Exhibition this week and sharing with the whole school community.

The Exhibition is the culminating experience of the Primary Years Programme with students bringing together all the attributes of the PYP Curriculum framework – knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. It is a transdiciplinary inquiry conducted in the spirit of personal and shared responsibility, as well as a summative assessment activity that is a celebration as students move from the PYP into the middle years of school.

Congratulations to the students for all their hard work – the Exhibition has seen a maturation of their learning and skills!

Congratulations also, to Mr Barrett for coordinating the students , the mentor teachers for helping keep their groups on task and other teachers who have assisted in many ways to make the Exhibition a success. A huge thank you goes to Mrs Henbest for the collaboration with the students Exhibition art work and her teaching programme. The information boards and art installations will be on display outside the art room entrance in the corridor.

Please take time to have a look, if you did not get a chance to visit the Exhibition show times.

Yvonne Barrett
PYP Coordinator

 

Pro-golfer Han Lee visits OIS

On Monday 26 April grades 3, 4 and 5 were very lucky to have Mr Han Lee, a professional golfer who plays on the Japan Golf Tour, come to our school to donate a SNAG golf set (Starting New At Golf) and teach us some of the finer points of golf. Our students had a wonderful time and we will now use the equipment in our PE classes to improve our skills further.

A special thank you must be given to the Japan Golf Tour Organization and our business manager, Mr Steve Lewis, for organising the event.

Leanne Entwistle
Elementary PE teacher

 

OIS: Visiting authors and storytellers

The month of April was extremely busy with two special guest visits.  Thanks to the assistance of OIS PTA the library was able to organize these wonderful opportunities. Dave Arthur (storyteller and musician) and his band, Rattle on the Stove Pipe entertained our students with both storytelling and musical recitals. The band began their visit by performing for the OIS middle school students in their morning assembly. A great way to start their day! For the elementary students who have been studying storytelling, folktales and author studies in their recent Unit of inquiries, this was a particular apt visit. 
 

 
Following, Australian author, James Roy kept our elementary and middle school students entertained while showing how our students can look towards their own lives to create their own stories. James spoke about the importance of asking “Why?” and “What if?” and as he said “the need to make your main character feel miserable” to ensure an interesting story. There must be a conflict or there is no story!  His sense of humor ensured that our students left with heightened enthusiasm for reading and writing!


 

Second Grade Story Tellers

March was folktale month and the second grade students celebrated it and the culmination of the unit of inquiry, How We Express Ourselves, by creating their own folktales to share with the kindergarten, first and third grade classes. To create their folktales the students read and analyzed the common elements and motifs of over 25 folktales from around the world. The folktales were shared orally in the earliest traditions of storytelling. To prepare for their debut, the students rehearsed their folktales and experimented with different vocabulary and voices. Despite their initial anxiety towards presenting, the students felt empowered by their ability to hold an audience's attention and were eager to tell their stories again.

 

OIS grade 2 students contribute to global community

Throughout November 2009, the OIS grade 2 students acted as informed, caring, creative individuals contributing to a global community by participating in a readathon to raise money for the Schools2Schools (S2S) project. On December 4, 2009, during the elementary school assembly to celebrate reading, Mr. Eric Zarouba and his students presented a check for 33,800 yen to S2S. This generous donation will help support the SOIS School of Hope in Cambodia. Mr. Peter Heimer accepted the donation on behalf of S2S. Congratulations on your hard work, second graders, and thank you for your generosity.

Peter Heimer

 

OIS Grade 2 meet the mayor

 

On Thursday, November 19, the second grade class visited Mino City Office and Mayor Kurata as part of their unit on how communities are organized. Prior to their visit the students have been actively playing the role of mayors constructing and running their own towns and cities in the SimCity computer game. In their discussion in Mayor Kurata's office both the mayor and the students enjoyed sharing information about running their towns. Before leaving the students presented Mayor Kurata with the individual letters they wrote in Japanese class requesting the need for a stoplight on the road outside the school as well as local environmental concerns.

 

 
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