Japan - the land of the rising sun
Mel and I decided that it would be a great idea if we could get all our Grade 2 pupils down onto the beach to see the sun rise ....... after all Japan is known as 'The Land of the Rising Sun'. We were thrilled that everyone in both classes were able to be there to witness the sun rise - for many it was a first ( even for some parents!) THANK YOU parents!
We all traipsed down onto the beach and after waiting patiently the sun rose midst great excitement.
We started off the morning with some yoga ...... thank you to Mrs Gaylard who kindly led them.
We realized that few children would eat traditional Japanese food - fish and soup - for breakfast so we gave them hot chocolate and muffins but the muffins had to be eaten with CHOPSTICKS!
We had explained to the children at the start of our theme about how the earth moves around the sun. We conducted an experiment to show them this fact. We divided the children into groups, used a stick as a marker and got them to draw around a group members shadow. Just before we left we compared their shadows once again.They were amazed at how different their shadows were and could not believe how much they had 'moved'!
The next activity was met with a mixed response. As Japanese eat a lot of fish and our phonic sound for the week was the 'sh' sound, we decided to dissect a fish! Some of the children were horrified at first but the more involved they got, the more their inhibitions vanished! By the end I was proud to see that everyone was messily involved!
We left the beach at 8.30am with many of the children asking if when they returned back to school would it be second break!
A special THANK YOU must go to Mel for managing to capture these beautiful moments. Such a privilege to teach with her.
