HJIS Sendai Aoba - Summer School 2024: Summer School 2024 - Week 1

This week's theme: Keeping Cool

Kia Ora, welcome to the 2024 blog. It's great to have you with us as we enjoy our super fun summer school together. Our theme this week is all about keeping cool. Summer is super hot and humid, so it is a must that we learn different ways to keep cool whilst having a fun time.

Curriculum Highlights:

On Monday, we had our craft theme activity. For this, we looked at the animals that we can find in the water, specifically the ocean. We also enjoyed shaking sand to decorate our little marine life pictures.

On Tuesday, we enjoyed keeping cool with our sensory exploration activity. For this activity, we had a pompom pool which we could use various tools and toys to play with the pompoms in the water. This was a great tactile activity that promoted the use of fine-motor skills. Our friends used tools such as scoops and tongs to separate the pompoms from the water.

On Wednesday, we had our coolest activity for the week, painting with ice. This was a great activity that allowed our friends to experience various temperatures, and also what happens to ice in hot temperatures. It was so interesting to see our friends problem solve and find new and inventive ways to paint using the ice cubes.

On Thursday, we learnt about keeping our animal friends safe in and round water. There was an "oil" spill (black paint) and our friends took on the roles of animal rescuers and helped save our little friends but cleaning them and drying them nicely until they were all better. This activity allowed our friends to gain some awareness of problems in nature and how we can protect and take care of those around us. It was an important lesson for learning about cleanliness and care.

On Friday, we finished the first week of summer school with beach shaker cups. Our friends used sand, toys and decorations to design and create their own cute beach themed cups. This can be used as a shaker and a drum. After everyone had made their shakers, we used them to play along with a drum song. Our friends practiced saying colours, and item names.