横浜YMCAが運営する全日制英語幼児園

YGK hosted a super cool pajama party on the 7th day of summer school! Everyone seemed so happy eating popcorn in their favorite pair of pajamas. What a chill day! 

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Look who's learning too this summer! We are!

We want to make sure we stay up-to- date with the educational research and policy.

On July 27th, we had our annual Summer Festival! Each year, after the first week of summer school, we host a Summer Festival where we have different games and activities for the kids to participate and help in! The summer school students helped us make an Omikoshi that they were then able to walk with during the Summer Festival. This year, they made a beautiful island with ocean and fish surrounding it and monkeys hanging from the palm tree! It looked great! They also helped prepare materials for each of the games that we had. We had bowling, pow the alligator, shooting, a UFO game, dancing, and fishing. They loved being able to help us prepare and then help us run the games during the Summer Festival! They were all such a big help! 

We also were able to have a watermelon cracking ceremony. This year, we prepared a watermelon piñata with candy inside. All of the children were able to hit the piñata to try and open it! Finally, one of the fathers was able to open it and all the kids ran to grab some candy. They all looked so proud with their handfuls of candy! Overall, it was such a fun Summer Festival and we want to thank all the parents and families for joining us and all the students for helping us prepare and run the games! 

And there's more!

When you have an event, the unexpected is sure to happen.  I felt the teachers were ready to manage an accident.  They were like, “whatever happens, we will manage somehow”.

There was a child who joined our practice for a short term.  The Cub children welcomed him naturally.  We also found out that another child had to be absent from this event.  I was a bit worried this might affect others when I heard this news.  However, the children accepted it as if nothing was wrong.  Their confidence built through their repeated practices and helped them accept the unexpected things.  We have tried several ways to fill in the child’s role, but nothings seemed to work well.  Then, one of the class teachers volunteered to take the role.  We said “thank you” to her.

Who could have imagined, the real accident happened on the day!  One child just had fever on the day of the performance.  We asked him to make a decision by himself if he would join or not.  He said he would like to join.  I heard that the teachers did all the support for him so that he could complete his mission.  With the teachers’ help, he could accomplish his role on the stage.

Another accident happened.  One child’s necklace broke just before her turn.  Of course, she got upset and started to cry.  She might have needed a lot of time to get over this accident, but she overcame it immediately! 

Of course, the class teachers helped them to be strong.  At the same time, I am sure that their sense of responsibility made them strong to overcome the difficult situations.  Sometimes, a situation may arise where they can’t continue.  Still, it was great that they could perform on the stage and share the pleasure with friends this time.

The teachers talked about this accident after the stage.  They didn’t forget to praise their students which was great to see.

Love from the class teachers

The class teachers kept considering the students’ arrangements and lines just to make the best for the student.  Although the program is the same every year, each child is different.  So, what was good for one child may not be the best for another child.  The teachers even prepared a stage in the classroom, putting masking tape on the floor, arranging chairs and setting a stage made by paper, etc.  They did this routine every single time even though it must have been time-consuming.  They did so just because they wanted to prepare the best circumstance for the children so that they could perform confidently in the chapel.

The teachers showed how to perform certain parts so the children could understand what to do.  They praised the children when they did great.  The children gained confidence through these experiences.

Not only that, they prepared the props carefully.  They payed close attention if the props were usable and looked real, because the props are one of the key parts of the performers’ motivation.

The practice at the chapel started.  The children woar their costumes.  They need to get used to their friends’ costumes, also.  The class teachers helped the children wear their costumes one by one.  When I was waiting for them at the chapel one day, the children came straight to me as if they wanted to say, “look at me in my costume!”  They didn’t say any word, but their eyes talked a lot!

As the operetta day came closer, the teachers seemed to start feeling nervous, because they could feel the children’s nerves.

I would like to show my appreciation toward the teachers who put forth their effort every day.  I felt your love toward the children.

This was my very first operetta I have done here at YGK.  I will never forget this day.

Here's the highlight of our last, but certainly not the least performers,  the Cub class! 

The Cubs’ Expressions

I asked them to close their eyes for three seconds before they started singing, and then I told them to pray in their heart and sing gently while I play the introduction.  After they finished singing, one child came to me and said, “I naturally tear up, I don’t know why but I cannot hold back my tears.”  Other time, I told them, “let’s deliver our song to the building over there” while playing the tunes.  Their voices became unconstrained and their arms stretched forward without their knowing.  One child came to me and said, “I felt like I was dreaming”, and others agreed.  What an awesome experience!  I looked at them and knew that they definitely shared this feeling even though some of them didn’t express it in words.  When we had the very first practice in the chapel hall, one child shined her eyes brightly and said, “my body’s shaking!”  I felt like she must have done her best!

People will not be touched if we don’t try hard enough.  They are learning something important together with their friends.

If they try their best, the audience will be touched.  They could move the audience’s hearts.  This is the evidence of their effort.

<The story of The Wizard of Oz>

They get together and work to compensate what they lack and to make their wishes come true.  There comes a time for everyone to be separate again.  Each of them takes a step forward to gain what they wish for.  It’s a wonderful thing to chase their dreams and to work together with friends.

Here's the highlight of Kitten class making "The Golden Goose" story come alive!  Please check out our blog to find out how they made it! 

The Kitten’s growth

Children love happy and cheerful songs.  However, they just screamed with all their might, no melody any more.  When they found it comfortable to sing in a gentle voice, they were ready at the doorway to grow.  I feel that every one of the kitten children have already passed this stage.  Their class teachers who motivated them and even held secret practices with them made this all possible.

The opening song was awesome.  The sang with all their heart.  I witnessed their wonderful growth.

<The story of The Golden Goose>

They tried to help a friend in need.

They didn’t give up.  When friends work together hand in hand, they show amazing ability.  That was exactly what the elves wished to tell!

Never give up and help each other.  There may be many different ways to solve a problem.  There should always be someone who watches you.

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YMCA Global Kindergarten (YGK) had just ended its first trimester with an awesome musical theater piece, Operetta! Each class showed off their artistic energy within through singing, dancing and acting. To find out how they worked hard to come up with such amazing performances,  please check out some good remarks written by our dear music teacher, Akiko sensei!  

For Puppy class

In April, the Puppy children had just started their school life.  Some cried the whole music class.  Others stayed silent because they were nervous.  Some felt sleepy because they were full after having their lunch.  At those times, the class teachers tapped their back gently trying to wake them up.  In spite of their efforts, the children floated away into their dream worlds.  But soon, I was amazed how fast they grew!  The more lessons we had, the less children started to fall asleep.  I was happy, when one day they weren’t falling asleep.  Then, some children started running around the classroom screaming happily! 

Those lovable children made their best on the stage today!  Not only that, they could cheer their friends!  What an amazing growth they have had!

＜The Story of "The Carnival of the Animals"＞

Today is Princess Lion’s birthday.  Many animals come to celebrate her.

Whoever you are, you are a prince or princess on your birthday.

Many friends will come to see you, that is the most precious gift for you!

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In Kitten Class, we learned about zookeepers and decided to pretend to be a zookeeper in our lessons for Literacy Play. Literacy Play is one of the students' favorite lessons.

First, we read some books about zookeepers to know more about them. Then, we had an opportunity to “interview” zookeepers about their jobs when we went to the zoo as our field trip. Students were so excited to ask lots of questions such as “ Do they (animals) sleep outside at night?” “How many times do they eat?” This experience has helped students to understand the theme of zookeepers more deeply.

After coming back from the field trip, we started to brainstorm our ideas to make our zoo in the classroom. It was so amazing because many ideas actually came from them!  We decided to make signs and animal “houses”(cages) for meerkats, cheetahs, and camels in our Art Time. 

When they saw our pretend zoo for the very first time, they were amazed, “Wow! We’ve really made our zoo in our own classroom!”

After learning about some phrases, students were ready to be zookeepers. We divided into three groups and took turns to be visitors and zookeepers. Because we also provided them Q&A time in their conversation, visitors (students) enjoyed asking zookeeper's questions freely and zookeepers (students) were proud of answering the questions! Students also enjoyed pretending to be zookeepers and taking care of our animal dolls in Free Play.

Throughout our one month long project, students really loved learning about zookeepers. They enjoyed communicating with friends in English, thinking by themselves and reflecting their ideas on our project! Let's see what we will be learning about in the next Literacy Play time.

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Last Monday, we had a short story telling about the famous Tanabata story in the Kitten Class. 
It was entertaining and inspiring to watch about the wonderful story of Hikoboshi and Orihime.