富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

4th grade students have recently started a new topic, `My favorite place`. By the end of this topic they should be able to give directions to their favorite place in the school. For the first two classes of this topic we focused on learning the names of the rooms in the school.

We like to start class with a greeting game. Let's greet each other and praise something about our friends.
"Hello! Great smile!"
"Thank you! Nice t-shirt!"

Students try hard to make eye contact.
Good job!

Next, we did `Teacher Talk`.
"Where is your favorite place in the school?"
"It's the roof. There is a beautiful view."
"Where is the roof?"
"Turn left. Go straight. Go upstairs. Here is the roof!"
"Thank you!"

After that, we learned the names for the rooms. We learned about 6 names at a time. There are many rooms so it is too difficult to learn them all at once. "What's this?"
"昇降口！"
"That's right! Entrance!"

Next, we played the pointing game. First the teachers did a demonstration. Ms. Emily said the room name, everyone repeated it and Mr. Ota touched the right picture.


Then, some of the students did it, too.
"We got it right!"

Next, the students played the game in pairs.
They had maps of the school with pictures for each room. They had to repeat the name of the room after Ms. Emily and point to the right room.

Gradually we sped up.
You can do it!

Everyone is very focused.


Saying the room names is very important, too! Don't just point!


It was a fun activity! It got very fast at the end!
Good job!

Well done 4th grade students!

Both this week and last week during Tomilish Time we did `What's this?` quizzes. Ms. Emily and Ms. Mayumi made the quizzes.
"Good morning everyone!"

Ms. Emily gave 3 hints. "It's a snack. It's made from potatoes."
"You open it!"

"What's this?"
Can you guess?

"It's potato chips!"
Did you get the right answer?

Students watched the quizzes in their classroom. We could hear their excited voices from the broadcast room!
Everyone tried hard to answer the quizzes!
Well done!

Last week the 1st grade students visited the zoo. Before their trip we studied the names of animals in English class. As well as the homeroom teachers both Ms. Emily and Ms. Yune helped to teacher the class. Ms. Yune is very good at English!

We started the class with our greeting game.
"Hello! How are you?"
The greeting game helps us to get excited for English class.

Next, we sang the `Hello Song`. First, we sang together facing the front of the room.
Nice gestures!

After that we sang in pairs. First the students on the window side of the room sang.
"Hello! Hello! Hello, how are you?"
Then the students on the corridor side answered.
"I'm good. I'm good. I'm good, thank you, and you?"

Good smile!

We practiced the number song. Ms. Yune showed us the numbers out of order. It made it more difficult.
"What's this?"
"It's 9!"

"Let's jump on number 3!"
Jump!

After the songs it was time for `Teacher Talk`. Ms. Yune and Ms. Emily talked about the 1st grade students visiting the zoo. Ms. Emily went to the zoo with last year's 1st grade students. She saw many animals.
Look! She is counting the animals at the zoo with students last year.

She mentioned many different animals that she saw. The students told Ms. Yune what animal names they had heard.
Everyone practiced the English animal names together.
"Lions!"

The teachers also asked whether or not the students liked those animals.
"Do you like snakes?"

The students answered with gestures. They tried their best to say "Yes, I do." or "No, I don`t." as well.
Great gestures everyone!

Then we all listened to the song "Let's go to the zoo." from Super Simple Learning. First we watched the song once and tried to remember what animals appeared in the song.
The characters in the video acted like animals, too.

After listening once, we listened to the song again and this time we did the gestures, too. The students also tried to say the animal names and shout "Let's go!" as well.
"Let's go to the zoo and slither like snakes do!"

"Let's go to the zoo and swim like polar bears do!"

Singing and dancing was so much fun! The class finished with a book. Most classes had the book `Dear Zoo` by Rod Campbell. Class 1-3 had already read the book during Monday morning reading time so they read `Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?` by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle.
Ms. Emily asked many questions. "What color is this?" "What animal is this?" "How many monkeys?"

It was a very fun class! Everyone decided to say "Let's go to the zoo!" when they went on their zoo trip.

This week in Upper Grades Tomilish Time both 5th and 6th grade students reviewed English that they had studied in class.

5th grade students have been studying the phrase `What do you want?`. After greetings and practicing the Hi,friends! chant, it was time for a greeting game.
First the teachers demonstrated.
"What do you want for you birthday?"
"I want a lot of money!"
"Wow!"

The students had a lot of fun asking their friends what they want for their birthdays.
"I want clothes!"

6th grade students have been learning how to introduce themselves. First they greeting each other while talking about what they can and can't do.
"Can you play baseball?"
"No, I can`t but I can play soccer."

Then they continued writing their `This is me.` books.
They wrote about what they can and can't do.

Everyone worked hard and enjoyed looking at their friends books, too.

Good job everyone!

6th grade students have been continuing to study the topic `This is me`. In this class they focused on speaking about where they are from.

First, we started with a greeting game. The students got into pairs and their aim was to use the English they had learned to have a conversation. The students worked hard to make the conversation flow.
"What did you do on Sunday?"
"I ate soba."
"Do you like soba?"
"Yes, I do."

The teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
Good job! The conversation was very smooth!

After the greeting game, the teachers gave a demonstration.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Scotland. So, I like smoked salmon."

The students listened to the demonstration and tried to understand what the teachers had talked about.
"They talked about where they live?"
"But, Ms. Emily said Scotland. She lives in Sendai now!"
"They talked about where they are from?"
"Yes!"

After practicing the new phrases as a class the students asked each other in pairs.
"Where are you from?"

Next, they walked around the classroom and talked to many people.
Good eye contact.

Nice gestures!

Then, the students went back to their own classroom so everyone could use their desks. In this unit we will make a book introducing ourselves.
Ms. Keiko showed us how to fold the paper.

Everyone watched carefully!

After folding the paper we could make the first page by drawing our own pictures.

Good job everyone! We're looking forward to seeing all the completed books!

1st Grade students have all had their 3rd English class of the year. In the first class we studied numbers 1-10 and in the second class we learned colors. Those two classes were before summer vacation so for the 3rd class we reviewed both colors and numbers.

We started the class with the silent greeting game.
"Let's make eye contact and smile!"
Good job!

Next, we did the normal greeting game.
"Hello! See you!"
It's so much fun!

After the greeting games it's time for songs. 1st grade students and teachers love to sing and dance. We sang the `Hello Song`.
Even teachers watching the class joined in, too.

After that we sang the `10 steps song`.
The students like replacing the numbers with gestures.

"Let's jump on number 3!"
JUMP!

After the songs the teachers talked about their summer vacation.
"I went to the swimming pool many times."
"How many times?"
"4!"
"Wow!"
"How about you?"
"0!"
"Oh no!"
Then the teachers asked the students how many times they had been to the pool in summer vacation. It was a good way to review numbers.
"How many times?"
"5!"
"Nice! Sit down!"

After that, the teachers showed some spiral paintings that the students had drawn. "What's this? Who painted this?"
"That's my painting!! I painted that!!"

We used the paintings to review colors.
"What color is this?"
"Orange!"
We also used the paintings to learn some new colors such as navy, lemon yellow and light green.

Then we played the Irosagashi game. This time we had to listen for the color and the number.
"Touch 3 red things!"
"Ms. Yune's nametag lanyard is red!! 1!"

"Touch 2 navy things!"
"Your t-shirt is navy!"

"Touch 4 light green things!"
"The couch is light green!"

Lastly we read the "Where is Spot?" picture book. It was very interesting. Ms. Emily asked many questions. "What color is this chair?"
"Light green!"
"That's right! Good job!"

Well done everyone!

Recently, 6th grade students have been studying some topics that are not in the current Hi,friends! textbook. They had their first class on the topic `This is me`. We want the students to be able to talk about themselves and learn more about their friends.

For our greeting game the students used their name cards. On the back of the name cards they had written their favorite animal, color, fruit and sport. They had to guess their friends favorite things. "Do you like blue?"
Some students guess all 4 categories correctly. Wow! They really know their friends well.

Other students were suprised that they liked the same things. It's fun to learn more about each other!

To introduce the topic `This is me.` we read the book `I like me` by Nancy Carlson.

The main character talks about all the things she likes about herself.
She can dance. She can draw pictures.
If she makes a mistake, she tries again.
The students talked about the message of the book.
We want the students to be able to talk about themselves, too.

Next, the teachers gave a demonstration. The students can already talk about their likes, dislikes and what they can do. The teachers showed some new phrases to talk about themselves.
"What's your nickname?"
"My nickname is Kei. Please call me Kei."

After watching the demonstration the students practiced in pairs. Some students had to think about what they wanted their friends to call them.

Lastly the students walked around the room and used the new phrases with many people.
Nice eye contact!

Since it was the first class for the topic the students wrote a reflection card.
They only answered the middle question. They will answer the other questions at the end of the last class on the topic.

Great job everyone!

5th grade students just had their last class on Hi,friends!1 Lesson 7 `What's this?`. In the last English class they made "What's this?" quizzes. Everyone was very excited to show their quizzes to their friends.

First we did a greeting game. After asking "How are you?" the students would say something they liked and ask their friends about it. "I like soccer. Do you like soccer?"
"I like cats. Do you like cats?"

"Hmm...No, I don't."

Next, we played the ladder and snake boardgame with new groups.
Great gestures!

Then, it was time for the main activity! Quizzes!
"What's this?"

"Hmmm....hint, please!"
"It's an animal."

"Is it a dog?"
"I`m sorry! No!"

The teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
Great eye contact! Let's all remember to make eye contact!

Nice smile!

Open mind! (boys and girls talking together)

Good eye contact!

After walking around the classroom freely we asked the students to make groups of 3 students who had not spoken to each other yet. We try to make sure that the students can talk to many different people.
Nice eye contact!

Great smiles!

Lastly the students wrote their feedback card (since this is the last class for this topic). The teachers picked some students to present what they wrote.
"In the first class it was difficult but today saying `What's this?` was easy."

Good job everyone!

Today all 5th grade students gathered together for Tomilish Time. Last week in English class the students made their own quizzes. Today in English class they will give those quizzes to their classmates so in Tomilish Time they will give the quizzes to students from other classes.

After the teachers gave a demonstration it was time for the students to give their quizzes.
"What's this?"
"Hmmm....hint, please!"

"Two legs!"

"Is it a bird?"

"Yes, that's right!"

"See you!"

Good job everyone! It was fun to talk to students from other classes. Everyone had made very interesting quizzes. Well done!

6th grade students have been practicing talking about things they did and saw during summer vacation. Since they have talked about their summer vacation so much, in this last class we talked about the previous weekend.
This was our last full class on this topic. We will also practice this a few times during Tomilish Time in the future.

First we did our usual greeting game. We practiced using all the English we have studied so far. The teachers did a demonstration first.
"I can swim very well. Can you swim?"
"No, I can't."
"But, you can play basketball."
"Oh! That's right!"

The students did their best to continue the conversations with their friends using English for as long as possible.
"What do you study on Tuesday?"

"When is your birthday?"

Next, we practiced our original chant. Until now we've always used the same vocabulary but now the students are very used to the chant so we changed the words.
What did you do?
I went to my grandparents' house.
I ate rice.
I saw ghosts!
It was cold.
Thank you!

After the chant, the teachers demonstrated a conversation using today's new phrase, "I saw...", and talking about the weekend.
"What did you do at the weekend?"
"I went to a taiko shop. I saw a big taiko drum. It was great!"

The students have studied a lot of different phrases to talk about their past experiences.
Wow! That's a lot of flashcards! Don't worry. The flashcards are only to give the students ideas.

The students practiced the conversation in pairs first to give them confidence.
Nice eye contact!

Then, it was time to talk to their classmates.
Clear voices!

Nice smile!

Good job!

Lastly, the teachers picked some students to show a good demonstration.
Both students have great gestures and reactions! Well done!

Talking about our past experiences (summer vacation and the weekend) was very difficult for everyone but they did a great job!