School life

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Letters to Leaders

With their expanding skills in persuasive writing, 3G wrote opinion letters about topics important to them. Students drafted, revised, edited, and published their work. Each child typed up her/his letter to send it off to a world leader who could affect change on that subject. The class wrote to prime ministers, governors, members of parliament, cabinet secretaries, UN agencies, company CEOs, and more.

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Snowball Game

Well, other than a flurry or two, we didn’t get any snow this year in Yokohama. As winter slipped away, we finally played the Snowball Game. Students work on a small portion of a worksheet, then crumple the paper into a soft snowball. When the music starts, we have a gentle snowball fight. When the music stops, everyone has to find a snowball, open it up, then complete another section of the worksheet. Then, everyone crumples the snowball again and we play another round.

The 5th Annual Animal Museum was a smash hit! 3G and 3T combined efforts to present research on snakes, bats, koalas, sharks, spiders, whales, elephants, and frogs.

Teachers, students, and parents from across the elementary school visited our exhibits. Many said it was the best Animal Museum the ever saw!

3G has been working hard to prepare for this big showcase of our learning. Please join us if you are available.

Third graders visited Enoshima Aquarium recently. We had a thrilling time gazing at all the intriguing animals. In addition to creatures living under the sea, we also encountered penguins, sea otters, and capybaras! Students have been honing their research skills lately learning about various animals in preparation for inviting the whole elementary school to our Animal Museum in March.

What a memorable day!

We filled our marble jar today! 3G earns marbles for excellent behavior and decision-making. Today, they filled the jar to the top, which means we will have a class celebration soon! Congratulations, 3G! 🎇

January is the start of the second semester, which means we have a new Elementary School Student Council. One of our 3G students was inducted into the new Student Council at an assembly last Friday. Congratulations!

The first big initiative for this semester is a Valentine’s Day fundraiser. Anyone can purchase valentines from the ESSC during morning recess in the coming weeks. One Valentine is ¥100 or two for ¥150! Valentine senders may choose to add a chocolate or a glow stick to their card.

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Cheer Dance Club

We were treated to a performance by the ES Cheer Dance Club at the assembly. A few members of our class have been working hard with the team to prepare their latest dance. Great work, girls!

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We love to read!

This class loves to read! It is a healthy, lifelong habit. 📚

We enjoyed another Fun Day in January. The theme this time was “Active Bodies; Active Minds.” Students participated in a variety of physical and mental challenges, puzzles, games, and races. One of the cool things about this Fun Day was that students spent the day in mixed groups with students from first to fifth grade all working collaboratively. Here are a few photos from the day to give you a feel for the event.

3G embarked on a research journey this week. After learning how to navigate nonfiction books in 2024, students are now putting their skills to use researching information across a variety of texts and then synthesizing the information. First project: Studying Penguins! 🐧

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IPC – Mummies

We played a Quiz-Quiz-Trade game to prepare for learning about mummification in Ancient Egypt. We learned quite a few new vocabulary words.

We even prepared apples for mummification. We used salt and baking soda in place of natron to dessicate our apple heads.

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Golden Time

…and then some well-deserved down time at the end of the week. At Saint Maur, we call it Golden Time.

We are back to school in a new year. There is so much to look forward to and so many happy memories to recall from 2024.

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First Activities of 2025

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Spirit Day and Christmas Party 2024

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Saint Maur Elementary School kicked off the holiday season with a festive performance in the Auditorium on November 29th. Third graders sang a beautiful song Mi Burrito Sabanero in Spanish. They even added a percussion section to heighten the appeal!

During the afternoon, 3G decorated the classroom for Christmas. I think our style theme is “Christmas Explosion! 💥”

At the end of the performance, the upper elementary choir sang a medley of songs all together.

Here is the full Christmas Production video.