富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

During summer vacation our ALT, Ms. Emily, will transfer to another school. Although 4th grade English classes had already finished some of the students requested that they have one last English lesson and so all 4th grade classes gathered together.

All three classes got together to play the `Chain Game`. Students took turns to ask the next person in their line a question such as `What's your favorite animal?` in turn until the whole line had finished.
"What's your favorite color?"

"What's your favorite sport?"

It wasn`t a race to see how fast the students could finish but instead we wanted to check if the students were listening to the person that they were speaking too. We checked in turn if each person could remember what the next person had said by asking the question `Do you like~?` using the color/animal/sport that they had heard.
"Do you like soccer?" "Yes, I do!"

"Do you like purple?" "Yes, I do!"
If everyone in the line got the question right all of 4th grade cheered.

Next, the representative from each class gave a small speech and gave Ms. Emily letters from their class.
"Thank you!"

Then, everyone sang a song for Ms. Emily.
Ms. Emily and some of the students cried a little!

After that, Ms. Emily talked to everyone.
"I will miss you! Do your best!"

At the end of the class Ms. Emily said goodbye to every student.
"Have a nice day!"

"Thank you! See you!"

Do you best in the future!

During summer vacation our ALT, Ms. Emily, will transfer to another school so in the last class before summer vacation all 6th grade classes gathered together. Ms. Emily had planned to do a normal class but the 6th grade students had a better idea.

We started with our normal greeting game.
"How are you?"

"Can you play the piano?"

After doing the chant the screen looked like this:

The teachers closed the screen to reveal a message from the students.
Ms. Emily thought that this was the surprise that the students had prepared but actually they had prepared much more.

Next, Ms. Emily did a demonstration with some of the students of the passport control activity.
Half-way through the demonstration the students suddenly shouted that they had another more important thing to do.

Some students rushed to the front of the class to talk to Ms. Emily while the other students prepared.
Everyone got their recorders and played a song for Ms. Emily.

It was such a nice surprise!
It was so moving!

After that then Ms. Emily gave a speech and everyone listened carefully.
She talked about teaching the students for two years and watching them grow as people. She was very proud to have taught them and would like to visit in the future.
Everyone said that in order to visit she would need a passport. Actually the students had written letters to Ms. Emily on the inside of their passport sheets. They had hidden the letters very well!

They gave their letters one by one while each saying a message to Ms. Emily.
At the end of the class, Ms. Emily said goodbye to everyone.

See you!

The students all tried to use English they had learned to cheer for Ms. Emily at her new school.
"You can do it!"

There was time for one last joke at the end of the class.
Class together was always interesting. Do your best in the future!

In their last class on Let's Try!2 Unit 2 `Let's play cards.` the 4th grade students invited their friends to play together in a `Special Recess`. Thankfully it was sunny so the students could play the `sunny version` games.

They played many different games!
"Let's play soccer!"

"Let's play baseball!"

"Let's jump rope!"

"Let's play tag!"

It was so fun! This was a great result from English class!

4th grade students had their third and last class on Let's Try!2 Unit 2 `Let's play cards.` In this class they invited their friends to play games in a `special recess` that each class will have.

After our normal greetings we reviewed the goal for the class and the English for the different games that the students wanted to play during their `special recess`.
There are many fun games to play!

Next, the teachers gave a demonstration on how to invite people to play as well as how to answer that invite.
"Let's play basketball!"
"Sorry!"

Then, it was time for the students to actually invite their friends to play. Everyone planned what game they wanted to play and invited many people.
Wow! This group is very big! Maybe they will play soccer?

"Let's play tag!"
"Yes, let's!!"

After almost all the students had decided what to play they sat down in their groups. Some of the students hadn't decided on a game so each group invited them in turn until they found something they also wanted to play.
Everyone could find a game that they wanted to play! Good job everyone!

Next, we asked the students if there was anything that they had wanted to say but they didn't know the English.
Many people had something they wanted to say! Many of the students wanted to ask the reason why their friend had declined their invite or they wanted to decline in a nicer way.

Ms. Emily taught us how to do that in English.
"Let's play soccer!"
"Sorry!"
"Why?"
"I like tag!"
"Okay! See you!"

Then, we realized that the forecast for the special recess was for rain so we decided to invite our friends again, this time with a rainy day plan.
"Let's do origami!"

"Let's play table tennis!"

"Let's play hide and seek!"

After everyone had found a game to play it was time for feedback and reflection.
Many students wrote about the English they had learned.

"I learned that I could say `Why?` and it made me feel better about my friends declining an invite.`

Good job everyone! `Special Recess` will be so fun! Let's enjoy it!

During summer vacation our ALT, Ms. Emily, will transfer to another school so in the last class before summer vacation all 5th grade classes gathered together. Ms. Emily thought it would be a normal class to practice the alphabet but actually the students and 5th grade teachers had prepared a surprise!

Ms. Emily gave a dot-to-dot quiz to the students.
They pretended to follow what she said but actually they were all acting. They are good actors!

Suddenly everyone started singing and dancing the alphabet song.
"Let's dance!"

Wow! What a surprise!

The students made a circle and held up their papers. Actually it was a letter from the students made up letter by letter.
Ms. Emily had to spell out the message in order to read it.

Next, everyone sang a song for Ms. Emily.
It was very moving!

Then Ms. Emily collected individual letters and messages from all the students in turn as the other students sang.
"Thank you so much!"

Lastly, Ms. Emily gave a speech to all the 5th grade students.
"Class with you was so fun! Do your best in English class! You can do it!"

Lastly we all took a picture together.
It was a great memory!

During the last Tomilish Time before summer vacation the different grades mixed together. 5th grade students helped the 1st grade students to practice simple greetings and asking each others names.
"What's your name?"
"My name is..."

The other grades gave each other quizzes about their favorite foods while using adjectives such as `spicy` as hints. The students gave each other quizzes in pairs.
Good smile!

Nice eye contact!

Great gestures!

At the end of Tomilish Time the teacher asked a pair to give a good demonstration.
Wonderful smile! Good job!

Let's enjoy Tomilish Time after summer vacation, too!

2nd grade students visited the Umi no Mori Aquarium earlier this month so for their second English class of the year we studied about the different animals that they saw there.

Before doing the greeting game the teachers and some of the students did a demonstration.
"Hello!"

Everyone tried to make eye contact and smile.
Nice eye contact!

Good gestures!

After the greeting game we sang the `Hello Song` first as a class and then in pairs.
"Hello! Hello! Hello, how are you?"

Next the teachers talked together and the students listened to what they said.
"Look at this picture. We went to the aquarium last week."
"Oh nice!"
"Have you ever been to the Umi no Mori Aquarium?"
"No, I haven't. What animals are there at the aquarium?"
"Everyone! Let's tell Ms. Emily about the different animals."

The teachers showed pictures that they took during the aquarium visit.
The students recognised the animals and said their names in Japanese. Then, Ms. Emily taught their English names as well as a gesture for each animal.

The students enjoyed practicing the animal names while doing the gestures.
"Sea lions!"

"Alligators!"

They studied 11 animals in total.
Then we asked the students if they liked or disliked each of the animals.

"Do you like sharks?"
"Yes, I do!" "No, I don`t!"

After that we played the `Nemo Game`. The students swam around in a circle while the music played.
When the music stopped they had to listen to Ms. Emily and do the gesture of the animal she said.

Can you tell what animal she said?
"Penguins!"

"Jellyfish!"

Everyone had to listen very carefully because if she said `sharks` they had to hide like Nemo.
"Sharks!"

"Let's hide!"

The students who were caught by the shark could help to choose the next animal.
"Let's say `Frogs` next!"

Lastly we read the book `Curious George goes to the Aquarium`. The book was very small so we used to projector so everyone could see the book more easily.
"Crabs!"

The students really enjoyed listening to the story!
Good job everyone!

Early this month 2nd grade students had their first English class for the year. In this class they reviewed what they studied as 1st grade students.

We started class with our usual greeting game.
"Hello!"

"How are you?"

"I'm good!"

Next, we reviewed the English for zoo animals that we studied last year. Ms. Emily gave a 3 hint quiz for each animal.
"It's big!"

After the students had guessed the right animal we counted the animals together.
"How many penguins?"
"1...2...3..."

Then we sang the song "Let's Go to the Zoo!" by Super Simple Songs while watching the DVD. Everyone sang and danced together.
"Let's go!"

Can you tell what animal they are being?
Snakes!

Finally we read the book `Brown Bear, Brown Bear` to practice animals and colors.
"What color is it?"
"Yellow!!"
"That's right!"

It was a fun class! Everyone is looking forward to the next one!

At the start of July 1st grade students had their second English class of the year. In the previous class they had studied the numbers 1-10 and in this class they focused on colors.

We started class with two greeting games. First we did the `Silent Greeting Game` and then we did a normal greeting game. For both games the teachers gave a good and bad demonstration and asked the students to pick which was better.
"You had nice eye contact! It was the best!"

Then it was the students turn to greet each other.
Great smiles!

Next, we sang the `Hello Song`. We sang it two different times. First, we sang it together as a group.
"Hello! Hello! Hello, how are you?"

Then, the student got into pairs and sang it as a conversation.
"I`m good. I'm good. I'm good, thank you, and you?"

After that we sang the `10 steps song` that we had learned in the previous class.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!"

The teachers then talked to each other about the upcoming Tanabata Festival.
We also sang the star song `Twinkle, Twinkle` in English and the students picked out the words they knew such as `sky` and `diamond`.

Then everyone showed Ms. Emily about tanzaku which are used to write Tanabata wishes and come in many colors.
"I like yellow!"
"Here you are."
"Thank you!"

Ms. Emily introduced the colors by giving hints such as "Lemons. Bananas."
"黄色?"
"Yellow! Yes! Good job!"
Each color was introduced with hints in this way.

Next, after demonstrating, the teachers asked the students if they like each color.
"Do you like pink?"

The students answered "Yes!" or "No!" while doing gestures.
In later classes the students will learn to say "Yes, I do." and "No, I don't."

Next, we played the 色さがし game. Everyone had to listen to Ms. Emily and touch something of the color that she said.
"Touch something white."

"Touch something pink."

"Touch something blue."

Finally we read the book `Color Surprise` together.
It was a very fun class. Everyone enjoyed it very much!

Earlier this year 5th grade students interviewed their classmates to find out the most popular shape in order to add it to their class flags for sports day. You can see that class here. We would like to show the results of that class.

In each of the three classes `stars` were the most popular shape. The theme for 5th grade at sports day was `Pirates of Tomizawa` so `crosses` were also popular.

Here are the completed flags:
Class 5-1 added a big star over their class number.

Class 5-2 added a star for each member of their class.

Class 5-3 added stars to the sail of their pirate ship.

Here are some pictures of the flags in action during sports day:
The flag holders led each class out on to the field.

The waving flags helped to encourage each team during the kibasen.

It was a great to use what we studied in English class to make something that each class can use for the rest of the year.