Spring time has come to Star Kids International Preschool

Spring Time is Here

Wow, it seems like forever since our last update. Time really does fly when you are having fun and we’ve been having a blast here at Star Kids! Spring has come at last, bringing with it a world of life and wonder. We’ve seen the cherry blossoms bloom and fall, and new leaves sprout on the trees. The grass on the ground is fresh and green under our feet and the parks and gardens are full of color! Spring is simply wonderful!

And while we have been watching the flowers grow, our little school has been growing too with even more new faces joining the Star Kids family. We want to say a big welcome to our newest members. You have only been with us a short time but we love you so much! We are so happy to have you with us.

In the Classroom

So what has been going on here at Star Kids over the past few weeks? Good question! Well, we wrapped up our unit on Health buy talking about our teeth. We learned all about how to take care of our teeth, we practiced flossing and brushing, we made some great crafts and even learned several different ways to paint with toothbrushes! We also wrote an original rock song called “Brush Your Teeth!”. It was so much fun! Now the children know all about their teeth and how to avoid cavities.

In addition to writing an original song, we also adapted a classic children’s song to make it all about teeth brushing. Perhaps you can sing it at home! Here are the lyrics.

B.R.U.S.H. (to the tune of B.I.N.G.O.)

Don’t forget to brush your teeth
Brush them every day
B.R.U.S.H.
B.R.U.S.H.
B.R.U.S.H.
Brush them every day

Spring School

Following on from our unit on Health, we spent the next two weeks learning all about spring. On the rainy days we stayed inside and made some amazing crafts, and on the sunny days we went outside as often as we could to enjoy the warmer weather and to marvel at just how much everything was changing day to day. We saw the plum blossoms disappear and the cherry blossoms bloom, then we said goodbye to the cherry blossoms and hello to fresh green leaves. We explored the gardens and parks, and talked all about the insects we found and different colors everywhere. We also had a lot of fun spreading dandelion seeds far and wide! And, we wrote another original song, this time all about spring!

Here are the lyrics of the song. If your child is a Star Kid you might here them singing it at home…

Spring Time is Here

The grass is growing
And the river is flowing
See the flowers and the trees
Hear the buzzing of the bees

Grey skies and blue
The sun is shining too
The birds are singing high on a nice cool breeze

Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer

Butterflies are flying
While the raindrops are drying
And the rainbow is shining it’s light on through
The world is full of color
Pink and green, red and yellow
The gardens are bright with purple, orange and blue

Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer
Spring time is here, let’s everyone cheer

Summer School

With Spring School now behind us, our 2016 Summer School is fast approaching! We will have six fun filled weeks of summer fun from July 25 right through to the end of August. We will be posting more detailed information about the different sessions soon. In the mean time, why not send us a message or give us a call to reserve your place. We can’t wait to see you!

Goodbye

While we have been blessed with so many new faces, we did have to say goodbye to one of our students who had to return to England after a brief stay with us here in Japan. In true Star Kids fashion we also wrote an original song to help us say goodbye and remember all of the wonderful things about our friend. We miss her very much but we hope she is having a great time wherever she is!

Story Time

Changing things up a bit we have added four new books to our story time. With more than one April birthday, “The Secret Birthday Message” by Eric Carle and “Happy Birthday Moon” by Frank Asch have both been popular. “The Secret Birthday Message” is a great book for learning all about shapes whilst being wonderfully mysterious, and “Happy Birthday Moon” is a fun, interactive book good for getting the kids involved, especially as they get up and shout their messages to the moon. “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss is a fantastic book for the more advanced readers in class. We’ve been reading it in teams, with the students reading the lines for “Sam I Am” while the teacher reads the part of the unnamed grumpy character who doesn’t like green eggs and ham (until he tries them). Lastly, we’ve just started reading “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett. This book is great for sparking the imagination, telling the story of a far away place where it rains orange juice and lemonade and food falls from the sky!

Circle Time and Active Time Songs

As you know, we like to keep things fresh at Star Kids. We do that by adding new songs and dances to our daily class routine, while keeping many of our old favorites too. Of course, our main Circle Time songs (hello Song, days of the week, months of the year, how’s the weather) remain the same, but we keep adding more and more.

Here are just some of the new songs we have been singing in class:

You Are My Sunshine
Mr. Golden Sun
Shake And Move
The Hokey Pokey
The Itsy Bitsy (Eensy Weensy) Spider
The African Alphabet Song

For more songs (including video links) please check our previous blog updates here (http://starkids-japan.com/staying-healthy/), here (http://starkids-japan.com/health-and-safety/) and here (http://starkids-japan.com/setsubun-fun/). Please check the YouTube links below for some of our new songs.