Our neighbourhood

This month in pre-school we are going to be talking about our neighbourhood, so we thought it would be a good idea to get our shoes on and have a little look around.


The first thing we did after the hot summer (it was too hot to venture out, really) was rediscover our river, which is only a trickle at the moment. We disturbed a heron, and from the bridge we could see what he was looking for. Brown fish. We didn't see any ducks, or the troll (he lives under the bridge, eats frogs and mice, and isn't very nice!). We saw spiders, butterflies, dragonflies, dandelions, and grasshoppers.

We found a truck with some workmen repairing wires overhead. They had hard-hats on, uniforms, and safety shoes. Opposite, were some men fixing a house. They also had hard-hats on, but soft plimsoles for gripping the scaffolding they were putting up.And baggy purple pants.

We found a lot of uncollected rubbish in red plastic bags (today is 'burnable day') - everyone has to put their name on their rubbish, can you believe.


We saw a stupid lad racing around on his noisy motorbike wearing shorts & a t-shirt ("He'll learn", said Jim), and some old people driving very carefully. At the barber's we found a lot of tomatoes, and we saw a recycling warehouse full of newspapers. We couldn't find a toilet at the little temple, so we had to scamper back to Luna! A big, black dog barked at us.

Lunch was a very busy time today - everyone got the call of nature so Jim & Naomi barely had time (nor the appetite!) to eat. Would you like to see what Japanese pre-school kids have in their lunch boxes? Jim is very jealous of the Thomas knife, fork & spoon set one of the children has!

A lovely day, finished off with a big book about the fruit we like - so energised they actually dived into the big bag of plastic fruit we had ready! Obviously, "We like fruit"!

We recycled paper!

Haruka welcomed Anna to class - Anna is a volcanic refugee! This is what we did in class today :)

First we made a mess in the kitchen - the blender started smoking too!

After we cleaned up & put our socks back on (serious splashing & dripping to avoid) we made this movie together. It's so easy.

As you can see, we made friends really quickly; Anna's flight changed to Sunday. so only a week and a bit getting back home. Thanks for helping us out today xxx

Recycling

Q1. Use the clues below to complete this crossword with words from the story.Then find the hidden words in the crossword.

1. What goes around the things that you buy.

2. A light silver-coloured metal.

3. The world we live in.

4. To continue for a time.

5. A strong hard metal.

6. Dangerous to animals and people.

7. A person who designs buildings.

8. A clock or radio can get electricity from this.

9. A metal container for drinks.

10. This country is very good at recycling.

The hidden word are plastic bag.

This book was interesting. People have been recycling in Japan for long time, and we are very good at it. There are words called "Mottainai" in Japan. The paper and the iron are recycling. The clothes are reuse. However, the recycling society doesn't be realized only one country. I think it's important the world country cooperates.

Recycling

Q4. What can we do about plastic bags? Here are some ideas. Discuss which are the best, and give your reasons.

a) Give shoppers a recycling bag which they can use again and again.

b) Make shoppers pay for plastic bags.

c) Use bags made from recycling material.

d) Make supermarkets pay for recycling plastic bags.

e) Make it easy for shoppers to recycle old plastic bags.

f) Give shoppers a small amount of money when they use their own bags.

I think c) is the best way in a consumer's position, by the way I got this bag by a).

However, I often forget to bring it when going to shopping.

Some (or many?) supermarkets adopt the item f) by giving stamps for discount in future. It is glad frankly as one of service, but it might not be essence for recycling.

Recycling

I read this book, I felt again we should think recycling that we don't worry to live on the Earth. In Japan, we are recycling to divide rubbish when we throw away our rubbish recently. They are bins, plastic, cans and so on. But there wasn't this thinking thirty years ago.

I feel the people overeat and drink too much in Japan. There are a lot of resturant and convenience store in Japan, People buy things that more than enough food and drink. The things are packaged more than enough paper and plastic bag also.

I will start to do something for our earth.

Choose something that interests you about recycling. Find some more information about it. Design a bag with a recycling message that shoppers can use.

I think "Don't throw away me".

Santa's grotto

We've actually stood back a bit and encouraged our little ones to contribute more to the school's Christmas decorations this year. Feels a lot more Christmassy as a result, and we're using up a big stock of cardboard boxes that would otherwise go to waste (Yes - see "Recycling" posting below!)

Jim's Tuesday lads built a colourful snow drift by numbers. We started with some simple origami, then we took turns to throw a dice and cut our patterns accordingly eg 1 - small triangle, 2 - big square etc. After that we used some old plastic sheets to add colour. Pretty fine outcome as you can see, which now decorates the tree in our main room.

Last year we tried to make reindeer, but the antlers were very fiddly/difficult for little fingers to cut with small scissors. Santa has proved to be a lot easier! Here you can see my rowdy boys getting stuck in. They followed simple written instructions on the board (reading is an issue with this class). Apart from a pompom getting chopped off in the cutting-frenzy, the result resembled the plan...we had five unique but recognisable Santas by 5:30 to dangle in the hall!

Stating the obvious, but the girls were a lot more careful and cautious - and were keen to take their trophies home, which was nice. Tana's attempts to build Christmas tree chains proved a lot more succesful than Jim's (fell to bits!) and her class coloured theirs beautifully. We're running out of walls to hang stuff on...only SIX sleeps to the big day now!

Recycling

I read Recycling. This story is very important for us. We must clean our Earth but I didn't think deeply. I recognize that we recycle many thing. I am going to bring my bag to a supermarket tomorrow.

4. What can we do about plastic bags? Here are some ideas. Discuss which are the best, and give your reasons.

Answer

・Make shoppers pay for plastic bags.

Reason

I think it becase people become not to buy plastic bags. In the result, we can reduce plastic bags.

Recycling

I learnt the volume of rubbish, and recycling of countries in the world in this book. And, I was able to know problems of rubbish.

Rubbish at home is divided in my country. However, I wasn't thinking of the meaning. I think that it is also important to do myself though making law by the government is also important. I use things a long time. And, I don't throw away things. I hope for a beautiful environment of earth without problem of rubbish in the future.

After Reading Question 3: "Add two more things you think will be true in the year, and say why you think this."

1 .　I think all things will recycle. All countries won't use landfill site of rubbish.
2.　A lot of wastes thrown away will be removed. And, the earth will return to beautiful environment.

*There are my hopes. To be true, all people should be doing.

eiji