Making Funny Faces

It never occurred to me how difficult the human face could be to arrange, until I gave my preschool class the assignment of building a face. Our theme for the week had been facial body parts, and I thought a fun activity would be for them to color, cut, and arrange their own faces on a piece of construction paper.

We spent the week primarily focusing on the vocabulary words eyes, ears, nose and mouth, because in the future we will move into the theme of the five senses, and we wanted to give them the vocabulary to use before we explain the function of each facial body part. Our daily exercise on working with facial body parts was having the children touch the part of their body which was called our by either myself or Miss. Y. For example, one of us would say, "if you can hear me, touch your eyes," and the children would all have to point to their eyes. This style of teaching encourages the children to recognize the English vocabulary as well as associate it with their own bodies.

Although the faces didn't turn out as I had imagined, the kids of Aurora each produced their very own unique picture. Miss. Y and I were laughing the whole time at the silly creations the kids were coming up with. It really surprised me that although they look at human faces all day long, when it came down to assembling one before them, they really struggled with where the pieces went.

My favorite part of the activity was the hair. For the hair I chopped up different lengths of yarn that they could glue to the top of the face's head. I wanted them to be able to work with materials other than paper, and they seemed to enjoy playing with the yarn, and giving their characters hair cuts.

The finished products were hilarious, and hung them all over the classroom so the children could share with one another their creations. Even though many of them turned out missing an eye, a mouth where an ear should be, or the nose on the chin, the main objective of the project was to review the vocabulary eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, as well as, teeth, lips, and eye brows. It was also to work on developing their motor-skills, by requiring them to work with colored pencils, scissors, and glue.

Park Adventures

Last week our class took a field trip to a local park that was on top a mountain that overlooked Matsumoto. It was the first time I had seen the city from a viewpoint, and I was amazed at how far the rooftops stretched for, in the valley below. The park itself was incredible, and reminded me of Santa Cruz, California, where I attended college. The trees towered above me, and the forest was a patchwork of all shades of green.

(It also provided us with a good opportunity to practice walking in an organized line when we are out in public, something that we are struggling with, but is to be expected with children who are only three years old.)

The children slid down slides that wrapped around trees and were built right into the woods. There was a very organic feeling about the man made play structures, because they incorporated their surroundings, rather than imposed on them. The kids looked like they were having so much fun, as they raced one another to the top of the hill, where they could slide down again, side by side with their friends. I couldn't resist going down once or twice myself.

We ate a picnic lunch on the patio and everyone was well behaved and very respectful of the public space we were visiting. I was impressed by their behavior and had a wonderful day with the Aurora class.

On the way home, more than half of the children fell asleep on the bus ride home, and a few had to be carried in for nap time, because they were so exhausted. I look forward to more adventures this year with my class.

Future of The World

The theme for last week's English topics in my preschool class were occupations and When I Grow Up. Miss. Yuki and I introduced a range of occupations to them with flash cards we made, and explained what jobs are and how most adults go to work. We had the class sit in a half circle, and as we went around from child to child, each student was given a turn to share with the rest of the class, what they wanted to be when they grew up. The children were allowed to choose from the flash cards if they didn't have an immediate idea of their own, because we didn't want them to feel pressure from being put on the spot. We explained that it was their decision in what they wanted to be and the choices were limitless. We didn't want to restrict their dreams or goals in anyway, and no answer was too silly or too fantastical. We allowed children to answer superhero or Spiderman, because being three years old,  they don't need to think seriously about future careers. What we were really looking to see is what they found interesting, or who their heros were. We were curious to know who they would like to imitate, and what reality they imagined for themselves at this age. It was also just an activity to reinforce some of the occupations vocabulary that we had introduced, as well as allow them to add to the list of vocabulary words with their own career choices. 

 When asked what I wanted to be when I was in preschool, I responded the owner of a pet shop. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved animals, and I guess at four years old, I figured that owning my own pet shop would be the best way to always be around them. Over the years I have bought a dog of my own, as well as adopted countless other animals that have needed homes.  At twenty-five years old, I can say with certainty that becoming a pet shop owner is a career choice I no longer desire, but there will always be a soft spot in my heart for all animals.

After the children shared with the class their dreams for the future, they were given a piece of paper with their occupation on it, and they drew pictures of their future selves. Among some of my favorites were the children who said that when they grew up they wanted to be like their mothers and fathers. It was sweet to see how much they loved and idolized their parents. While we change our minds throughout life when asked the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?", as of right now, Aurora is a classroom full of future astronauts, fire fighters, dancers, superheroes, photographers and even a mermaid.

One of the occupations that we introduced was a doctor, and on Friday we had a physician come to the school to give the children a quick checkup. It was the perfect way to wrap up a week of talking about career choices, plus one of our children aspires to be a doctor when she grows up. The children were beyond curious of everything the physician did, and they were so well behaved. Miss. Yuki and I are so proud of our little Aurora professionals.

Spring Blossoms

The first day I arrived in Matsumoto, there was fresh snow on the ground from a light dusting the night before. Coming from Thailand, where it was the hottest month of the year, I was shocked at how cold it was here. For the first week of school I was wearing leggings under my jeans and layering my shirts underneath a borrowed coat. It hadn't occurred to me how much colder Japan would be than Thailand, or sunny San Diego, California, where I am originally from. However, the weather has continued to improve, and in honor of the most beautiful week of blue skies since I have arrived in Japan, Miss. Yuki and I decided to focus on the theme of Spring.

Every morning we sing a song about the weather, and at the end it asks the students, "what's the weather like today?" Every day they were able to answer with excitement, "today is sunny!"

On Monday we went to the park and at the end of our free play time we had the children collect leaves and put them in a bag I was holding. We gave instructions on what size leaves they could collect, and although we asked they only pick one, some of the kids found a few and couldn't make up their minds, so I let them bring them all.

Back at the classroom, we did an art project where the students placed the leaves under a piece of paper, and using a crayon they rubbed the color over them. When done correctly this creates a nice print on the top side of the paper. While it was a little difficult for some of the students, its primary focus was to improve their motor-skills as well as work on following directions.

They also practiced cleaning up after themselves, which is something we are working on everyday.

The second art project we did this week was a picture of a cherry blossom tree. Each student was given an unique tree trunk that they were able to color anyway they wanted to. When they finished coloring in the trunk with pastels, they finger painted the cherry blossoms onto the bare branches. Aurora loves any activity that involves paint and getting their hands wet, and although I instructed that they use only one finger to paint with, somehow we all still ended up with completely pink hands. Although we got messy, they had a lot of fun, and the trees turned out beautiful.