Hello Cockatoo Class Summer School families!
Morning & Afternoon Meeting
During our morning meetings, we decided our classroom helpers for the day. We also listened and sang a morning song and tried a follow-along dance routine. Because we had many new friends in our classroom and returning friends from elementary school, we did a short self-introduction every morning. We introduced our names, our age, and our favorite color/animal/food etc.
In our afternoon meetings, we shared some some Class Dojo photos sent in by our families and students. We often listened to a story and reflected on our topic exploration for the day.
Language Exploration
We had two week-long projects that students worked on throughout the week. The first was writing a script and performing a puppet show in small groups. Each team had 3 members consisting of elementary and kinder students. They decided on their characters, setting and story. They then wrote their script in English and then made their puppets. On Friday, we held a short performance for each of the groups.
We also had a mini comic contest where students worked individually and made their best English comic. They asked many good questions about how to spell unfamiliar words in English, and had many good ideas and stories. On Friday, the teachers chose the best comics from the Kinder group, the Elementary group, and the overall best artwork.
In the afternoons, we had a bit of a quiet time where students would write in the Summer School Journal. Based on the day's topic, the students were encouraged to write a few words or sentences about it and draw a picture.
Physical Activity
Each day we had some time before lunch to have some physical activity in the Big Room. We had different kinds of games that worked on difference movement skills, such as sprinting, agility, throwing and catching. For example, on Tuesday, when we played "4 Corners", we practiced running and walking quietly so that the person who is "it" couldn't hear which corner that the students were hiding in. When we played "Mat Ball" on Wednesday, students practiced throwing a small ball to a teammate standing on the mat a short distance away. Lastly, on Friday, we played with the rainbow parachute and worked on rhythm and upper body strength moving the parachute up and down.
Topic Exploration
Our topic exploration for the week was "Summer Activities". Each day had a different theme of a well-known summer activity which included a discussion about the theme, a short video about the theme, sometimes a game involving the theme and an afternoon art or craft activity related to the theme.
On Monday, the daily theme was "festivals" and we made scratch board fireworks art using crayons and black paint.
On Tuesday, our theme was "fishing". We talked about different sea animals that we can catch when fishing, and did a magnetic fishing rod craft in the afternoon.
For Wednesday, the theme was "barbecue". We looked at different foods and methods of barbecuing around the world. Then we made a paper barbecue skewer craft where we put our favorite foods onto our skewers.
On Thursday, the theme was "the beach". In the morning we learned how to Hula dance, a famous dance along the beaches of Hawaii. In the afternoon we did a beach scene art using real sand and shells.
Lastly, on Friday, we made a paper tent and mini campsite. Many of our friends were good at being creative and putting interesting additions to their camping scene.
Free Play
Here are some more pictures of friends playing together in the classroom during free play.
Whether it was learning a new game, doing an interesting craft, or making new friends, we hope that that Summer School at Horizon Aoba was a memorable experience for all of our participants. Thank you for joining us this summer and please have a wonderful and safe summer with your families.
- The Cockatoo Class Summer School Team
