When the children came back to school, it was the Year of the Dog.  They were well rested and had happy faces to start the new year.

The children were soon back to their school routine, enjoying the work they chose.

In mid-January, the Montessori children joined the Elementary School students, from first to fourth grades, on Math Fun Day. It was a day to play with Numbers. The children were split into different groups with a mix of different grade levels, and went to various places in both buildings to play games. Some wore clothes with numbers on them.  The Montessori children were interested in shapes, which is geometry, a part of math, as well as making patterns.

In the afternoon, all three Montessori classes got together to play a game of Bingo. For some of them, it was the first time to play, but the older children were able to help the younger ones to identify on their Bingo cards the numbers that were called out by Ms. Sallie.

The children also engaged in various outdoor activities, playing with number-related games.  Some groups got to play games in the new temporary gym!

Medical Alert! This winter season, we had children confirmed as having contracted influenza type B. Consulting with the doctor, they stayed home until they could receive a doctor’s note to say they could return to school.

In our class, we had days when almost half of the students were out sick.  Thank you for making plans for your children to stay at home when they were sick or not feeling well, for the sake of your child and other classmates’ health.

To prevent the spread of contagious germs, we talked with the children about washing their hands thoroughly with soap, as well as covering their mouths with their elbow when coughing or sneezing.

Outdoors, it has been a very cold winter.  We even had lots of snow on one day, in mid-January, on our Yokohama campus.

In the month of February, we celebrated Setsubun. It is a fun Japanese festival to celebrate the day before the first day of spring (on February 3rd). Families celebrate by throwing roasted soybeans outside the door of their house to chase out the oni (ogres ).

Then came our favorite Valentine’s Day.  We made bunny Valentine’s cards using only hearts.

On Valentine’s Day, the Elementary School students were dressed up as Love Bugs, and the French School children next door paid us a visit to say “Happy Valentine’s Day!”  They were dressed as Lady bugs, grasshoppers, wasps and other bugs.

It’s still cold…but we can tell that spring is on its way.  And, yes!!  We just found a sign of spring on our school campus near the Montessori building, on Sister Carmel’s Kawazu-zakura tree!  It’s already blossoming in pink.

Soon we won’t need our jackets anymore to go play outside.