J U L Y Tedako Preschool. Newsletter. Welcome to OIST Koichi Sensei! Annual Household Income Collection. Kadena Water Garden

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1 222 J U L Y Tedako Preschool Newsletter Welcome to OIST Koichi Sensei! Koichi Ishijima is joining Tedako Preschool as a Teacher's Aide from July 3, He graduated from Worthington Community College in Minnesota and he comes to us with more than 3 years of experience working in a children's program with Costa Cruise Italy. He has always loved to play sports and travels all over the world. He has visited more than 50 countries. We are excited for him to share his time and talent, along with his warm smile with our children. Koichi-Sensei will be working in the Umusan, Kafuu and Shinka classes this month. Please say hello and give him a big OIST welcome when you see him. Annual Household Income Collection The CDC will be collecting proof of household income in July. Please submit a copy of your 2016 gross income for both parents in a sealed envelope to our office staff by August 7. The document can be obtained from the city office by requesting a shotoku shomei. If you did not live in Japan in 2016, please submit a copy of your pay slip along with a document of your gross income from your previous employer in If you are a single parent, please let us know. Save the Date! Birthday Party July 21 All Families are welcome to celebrate July Birthdays at 2:50 Dinosaur Park Kafuu: July 19 Nuuji: July 20 Shinka: July 21 Kadena Water Garden Shinka: July 7 Kugani: July 14 Shoreline Shinka: July 14 Kugani: July 21 Live Performance of Snow White Kugani: July 28

2 Kukuru Peek-A-Boo! Kukuru class babies enjoy playing Peek-A-Boo. The teacher hides her face with blankets, books or hands to play Peek-A-Boo with babies. Babies are curious about what will happen next and when babies see teachers uncover their faces, each baby shows us a big smile. Playing Peek-A- Boo is basic training of a baby s developmental stage. Babies learn an object is still there even though they cannot see the object (object permanence). Please enjoy playing Peek-A-Boo at home with your baby too. 2

3 Bonding With Our Toddlers I love you rituals are designed to build bonds between people so that each person in the interaction feels a sense of connection. This sense of connection creates a bio-chemistry that optimizes the function of our brain. To create these connections, we need eye contact, touch, presence and playful situations. In toddler classrooms, the teachers interact with children using delightful and interactive play such as singing nursery rhymes, finger play, using puppets and more. Ipponbashi is a great example. A Japanese teacher holds a child s hand then sings the Ipponbashi song while moving his or her fingers up the child s hand to arm as if climbing up stairs. Finally the teacher tickles the child when her fingers reach the child s body. All children love this one-on-one playtime with their teachers and always ask to do it again! Although the child already knows that the teacher will tickle his or her body at the end, the child gets excited and giggles a lot. The anticipate felt from the impending tickle creates a bond between the child and the teacher. In only a few minutes a day, these rituals enhance the children s social skill, emotional stability, and success in school. Junko sensei uses puppets to interact with Kanasan Children. Churasan children like to hug each other to show the love! Ryoko sensei plays Ipponbashi with Umusan Children. They love to get tickled at the end! 3

4 Nuuji Numeracy This month, Nuuji class have been having a lot of fun with their math skills! Firstly, we have been learning to identify and match shapes in fun activities. We personified each shape and gave the children tasks to complete. The children absolutely love practicing drawing their shapes on the board or thinking of what their shapes could create! Learning shapes in preschool are building blocks for problem solving, pattern recognition, comparison and prepare children for higher-level thinking. Our ice cream characters were a lot of fun! We have also been working on our counting skills and number recognition through our summer theme. The children created ice-cream cones of all different sizes based on correctly identifying and counting the numbers on the ice cream cones. They were great at using their imagination to replicate an ice cream shop scenario whilst practicing their numeracy. Great work Nuuji! 4

5 Kafuu Class Counts! This month in Kafuu class we have been focusing on numeracy activities and games. These activities are designed to support our children acquiring the confidence and competence in using numbers, allowing them to solve problems, analyze information and make informed decisions. We have been playing an Estimation game with marbles. First, we divide marbles into small groups and place them inside containers; then we let the children observe how full each container is and how big each pile is. We then ask them how many marbles they think are in each container and then count them together as a class. The objective of this activity is to encourage children to exercise their number sense by using an intuitive feeling about numbers and amounts which we, as adults, use in everyday life situations. We have observed how, with experience and support the children are starting to improve guessing the correct number. We have also been completing number worksheets, exploring different numbers written in letters and numerals and comparing them to number flashcards. We have noticed how our preschoolers knowledge is expanding rapidly while they have fun discussing with their friends how to write numbers. In this photo, Sakura remarked how different her number 6 looked compared to Madoka s. Using flashcards have been a wonderful compliment to worksheets and a great way for learning Math. 5

6 Kafuu and Nuuji visit XYSTUS LAND This month we had an active adventure at the XYSTUS Kids Land amusement park. Nuuji, Kafuu and Shinka classes explored one of the most exciting places for kids in Okinawa. The first thing the children experienced was a ball pit situated in the first section of this park; they immersed themselves, interacting with each other, throwing and catching balls and trying to get the ball through a hoop mounted high up. This indoor play center is divided into four main sections and a main play area. The play area itself is huge, just walking from one jungle gym to the other provided enough opportunities to play and exercise. The kids also took it in turns to try the climbing wall putting their balance skills to the test! After trying ball pits, tunnels, zip lines, climbing ropes, slides, swings, gym punching bags, and climbing walls, the children were hungry! So we sat down to eat lunch together in one of the party rooms of this facility. This fun-filled playground provided an unforgettable and unique experience that left our children asking: when are we going back to this park? 6

7 Kugani Yoga We have introduced "Children's Yoga" in our circle time this month. The main goal of introducing "Yoga" to our children was "Self control, regulating emotions". This techniques will help them with relaxation, and concentration, using yoga breathing techniques for mental stabilization to control their emotions, as well as balance of body and flexibility so we can keep a healthly mind and body. In the beginning, "Yoga" was just another play time activity but now we can see the difference in children's face expressions and body language how refreshing and relaxed they are during daily circle time. It might be a little harder posture and pose but they all say, "Look I can do it!" "Look me too!". The children also have fun talking and showing each other what they can do, this is another way for our class to widen their communication skills. We highly recommend "Yoga" as one family activity that everyone can enjoy. 7

8 Our June field trip was cancelled due to rain however, we managed to make a fun day out of gloomy day! We had fun with body painting and by watching a movie. Nothing can stop mighty Kugani class from having fun!! The children had blast doing body painting outside. We used washable paint to paint ourselves and each other... Some children had noticed the by mixing red and blue makes purple and was very excited to see the color, they enjoyed putting paint all over their bodies. After the fun outdoor activity, the children enjoyed watching a movie projected on a big screen. The lunch time was extra special for them too. We all sat on the floor with leisure sheet and enjoyed a picnic style lunch party! We are planning everyone's favorite field trip "Kadena Water Gardenl" for the month of July. All of our children are looking forward to next field trip and are already talking about it during lunch time. Kugani s Canceled Field Trip 8

9 Shinka Class Social Emotional Learning Story Shinka Class Shinka Class had another great month of learning, loving, and playing together here at the CDC. We were so pleased to see how much the children are starting to help each other without the teacher having to initiate it. On our last field trip to XYSTUS, we noticed some children helping another child who wasn't quite able to get their footing on a piece of climbing equipment. They noticed the friend wasn't able to climb up after a couple of failed attempts, then without the friend having to ask, a few kids just started pushing the child's bottom up, so she could grab the net. Everybody was laughing, and the child was able to grab on and successfully pull herself up. There was even a friend watching from above in the tunnel, and he was giving his hand for the friend to grab onto! (even though he wouldn't have been able to hold her, he still tried to help!) All the talking about being good friends and helping one another during circle time is really paying off! Shinka Builds Lego Robots Each summer, Mr. Neil and the Shinka Class builds Lego Mindstorms robots together. The children have a very hands on experience in science, technology, engeneering and mathematics. Our children are very familiar with legos, but for many of them it is their first time using code to program. Special thank you to the OIST CPR division for lending us these special legos and to our parent volunteers (Thu Van, Kun, Shoko, & Tomoko) who helped make project possible for the Shinka Class. 9

10 Shinka Class Visits Wakanatsu Park Last month the Shinka classes went to a brand new park named Wakanatsu Park. The park has a very wideopen space for the children to run around, race each other, walk across balance beams, swing on a Tarzan rope, rock climb and much more! There is also a very nice interconnected slide area with three different slides to use. The slide area has no conventional steps for the children to use, rather it has bar tunnels to climb up, chained steps that move and require balance when you go up them, a small rock climbing wall with a rope, or a large netted area to climb up. It is a great way for the children to develop their large motor skills. The kids were surprised at first when we told them that there were no steps. Some asked "how can we play", to which we responded, "you have to climb up!" The kids were excited and a little hesitant. The one tunnel required the kids to pull themselves up, them climb straight up and around in a curve. It was also quite high! But, after one child did it, the rest joined in. Another nice thing about Wakanatsu Park is that the slide area has a lot of shade for the children. It was a great way to play and kind of keep cool. After playing, the children enjoyed their packed lunches together, and then played a bit more before returning back to the CDC. It was a great field trip, and many of the children were already saying that they were going to come back again on the weekend with their parents! We can't wait to go there again next year! 10

11 Tedako Summer Fun! Tanabata On July 7, the CDC will celebrate Tanabata. Tanabata is a star festival that is derived from the legend of Vega and the Altair, lovers separated by the Milky Way. One Japanese custom is to write your wish on a sheet of paper, we will display children's wishes in each classroom. This year, we would also like to invite your child to dress in traditional Japanese summer clothes such as Yukata and Jinbei, but your child can come in his or her regular school clothes. On Friday, July 7, we are looking forward to the Tedako Children and staff in Japanese summer clothes. Suikawari On July 26 we will have our annual Suika-Wari event. Suika means watermelon and wari means break, literally the watermelon break game. This is a game is traditionally played in the summer in Japan. Children are blindfolded and try to break the watermelon open with a wooden stick. Once the watermelon is cracked, we will serve it as a refreshing afternoon snack. PATO Next Event PATO is the Parents At Tedako OIST parent association. PATO will be holding the next PATO event at the CDC. Come meet and play with your child s friends and other CDC families! Date: Friday, July 28 Time: 4:30 Venue: CDC Playground More details to follow:for more information please contact PATO at oist.pato.group@group@gmail.com 11

12 Snack Menu Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday AM Wheat Crackers/ Prunes Banana/ Milk Bread Stick/ Milk Cucumber/ Cheese Apples PM Cereal/ Soy Milk Azuki Beans/ Soy Milk Fresh Pineapple/ Yogurt Calcium Senbei/ Rasins Natto/ Rice Substitutions: July 21(PM) : Birthday Cake July 26 (PM): Watermelon Due to availability or ripeness of fresh fruits or vegetables, substitutions (such as tofu with soy sauce may occur) Young toddlers will not be fed senbei, dried fish chips or crackers. Special senbei for babies will be substituted. 12

13 Lunch Calendar Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Kabayaki Hoki Fish Simmered Burdock root Okra & Corn Salad Nameko Mushrooms Miso Soup 10 Baked Pork w/green Perilla Stir Fried Bean Sprouts Green beans Salad Onion Miso Soup 11 Herb Flavored Baked Hoki Fish Sweet Sour Pork Cooked Papaya Salad Luffa Miso Soup 12 Gyoza dumplings Thai Style Stir Fried Harusame Noodles Beans Salad Koya-tofu Miso soup 13 Rice Grilled Red Fish w/tomato Sauce Western Style Simmered Potato Kuzukiri & Kani kama Salad Vegetable Soup 14 Cooked Pork w/grated Daikon Sauce Mushrooms and Chinese Cabbage Sauté Pumpkin and Sesame Seeds Salad Yum Miso Soup 17 Shio koji Marinated Baked Red Fish Western Flavored Simmered Kiriboshi Daikon Vinegar & Soy Sauce Eggplant Wakame Miso Soup 18 Curry Rice Bell pepper Salad Custard Pudding 19 Seafood dumplings Simmered Minced Chicken & Pumpkin Okinawan Yellow Cucumber Salad Nameko Mushrooms Miso Soup 20 Stir fried Chicken w/ Green Onion Stir fried Kanpyou Broccoli Salad Luffa Miso Soup 21 Yakitori flavored Chicken & Mushrooms Sweet sour Meat balls Burdock Salad Wakame Miso soup Baked Hoki fish w/ Ume sauce Cabbage Champuroo Cooked Green vegetable Salad Onion Miso soup Seasoned Rice Grilled Chicken Stir fried Komatsuna Pasta Salad Potato Miso Soup Grilled Red Fish w/chives Soy Sauce Stir Fried Green Papaya KUZUKIRI Salad Kouya-tofu Miso soup Ground Meat Cutlet Stir Fried Cabbage Shio koji sauce Beans Salad Yum Miso Soup Grilled Flounder Fish w/ Sesame seeds topping Mabo Tofu Broccoli Salad Winter Melon Miso Soup Crab fishcake Dumplings Butter miso Niku jyaga Cooked Green Papaya & Green Perilla Salad Egg Miso soup Nitsuke Red fish Ratatouille Green beans Sesame salad Chinese soup Vegetable Homburg Stir fried HARUSAME noodle Okura & Seaweed Salad Pumpkin Miso soup Grilled White Fish w/curry Mayo Sauce Stir Fried Broccoli & Ham Cooked Bean sprouts Salad Shiitake Miso Soup 31 Fried Chicken Goya Champuroo Potato Salad Green Vegetable Miso Soup