School Update

I have many cherry blossom pictures to share, but I've also had a school update post percolating in my head for a while, so, well, first things first.

Overall, we're hanging in there. Some days, everything goes smoothly and we remember the library books and the two towels and our indoor shoes and our water bottles and our hats. Other days, we work on resolving to do better tomorrow:

Jacob walks this landscaping path every morning 
on the way to school; he calls it "going hiking."

As an aside, I didn't actually like the book Wild for lots of reasons, none of which likely merit much discussion (and all of which serve to alienate me from the Wild-lovers, regrettably). However - even years after reading the book - I'm struck by something the author wrote, which was that although her days hiking got easier as she got more fit and got more accustomed to making and breaking camp each day, that wasn't the same thing as the task being easy. I think about that a lot - the distinction between "getting easier" and "easy."

 Easy, it isn't. There's plenty of woe to go around in the world, so I won't even pretend that this is anything like the struggles of too many people in far too many places. We're incredibly lucky to be here. But, still, some days are easier. And some days aren't (I'm looking at you, flu and strep in the same kid all within two months).

So we're slowly getting the hang of things. 

 
But, of course, things keep changing. What is it? Everyone wants change, but no one wants to be change? That. So just as we got adjusted to Jacob's class and felt confident that we were at least close to being on the right page with the teachers (or they are just really, really polite - always a possibility), then the new school year began in April and he moved up a class. 

I think the move will, ultimately, be good for him. These are all similarly aged kids, so there will be a little more emphasis on potty training (pleeeeeease let it be so) and a little more music, which I think he'll really like. But starting this class is, like, a really big deal. This is the equivalent of a pre-k1 year, so for many kids it's the first time they've gone to school. So we had a meeting in early March where we covered the school supply list. And then another meeting in late March to review the supplies we'd purchased and have the kids start learning the school routines.

And then, two weeks ago, we had the School Year Opening Ceremony. This was A. Big. Deal. The assistant director very kindly told me that this was a dressy event. We obliged. It was adorable. And Jacob wasn't even the worst-behaved kid there. Be still, my beating heart.

The teachers in the new class are really nice. But, still. Change is hard.

For those keeping score at home: New backpack, new outdoor news, same indoor shoes. Also, I've just learned that I'm supposed to be washing the indoor shoes each week. With a special detergent. Of course.

Natalie also got new shoes. Based on my observations in the shoe store, Japan does shoes for six-year-old girls exceptionally well.

Natalie's school is chugging along. They celebrated the 100th day of school back in January. Natalie brought in a plastic bottle filled with 100 pipe cleaners (or whatever you are supposed to call them now). My initial suggestion of 100 grains of rice was rejected. What can I say? I like cheap and easily available for celebrating fake holidays like this. Kid, back in my day we only got to celebrate on the 180th day of school....

When we were still in Texas, it came out that Natalie was actually very upset about the potential of missing this "holiday." I'd promised her then that we'd celebrate our 100th day in Japan as a family. And so we did (in late March).

 
Back to Natalie's school: after the unit on light (the unit in which they had the sleepover to play with flashlights and shadows), they did a unit on stories. Natalie made some great books and illustrated some awesome story pictures for this unit.

As part of the story unit, the kindergarten class also formed the chorus in the 4th grade production of Oliver Twist. Natalie's number was called "Food, Glorious Food." There might be a video around of her singing the song. If I find it, I'll put it in a separate post. Here are Natalie and Mike with some post-performance flowers.

  
Reading Week (a celebration of books and readers and reading) also fell during the story unit. For an activity one day, the kids were asked to come as a book character. We were working with limited props, but I think we did okay!

The current kindergarten learning unit is all about homes and shelter. Accordingly, the class took a field trip to Tokyo to visit a museum that an interactive old-style Tokyo village. This was pitch-perfect for the kindergartners, right down to the 200 year-old potty (not pictured; you're welcome).

 

As an aside, chaperoning a kindergarten field trip to Tokyo, including changing trains, is not for the faint of heart. I say this even though each kid was required to bring a parent on the field trip. I say this because I was that parent.  
 

My mom (who happened to be visiting) also came on the field trip. When I asked her if she learned more about old Tokyo or more about kindergartners, she said it was a toss-up. We all learned that we needed a snack and a coffee in a cafe post-field trip.

We also just had a parent-teacher-student conference at Natalie's school. Natalie's doing great! No photo of the conference, but here's a photo of the day our conference was originally scheduled for, but then cancelled when Natalie's teacher got sick. When life puts a monkey wrench in your plans, you take your monkeys for crepes. Duh.

We're still keeping up with the work from Natalie's old school. We practice our sight words on the train rides and work on our writing on the weekends. Here she is writing in her journal (after a little chocolate donut inspiration, of course).

(Also, I promise my version of parenting involves more than just feeding my kids sweets. Sometimes I let them drink water, too.)

Natalie's really becoming an independent reader - but happily, she still loves it when I read aloud to her before bed. We've been using our Texas library cards to check out ebooks which we read on the iPad - that's been a real lifesaver, as we've read all the books we brought about 20 million times each by now.

Jacob also enjoys reading.

 
Natalie's school goes until the end of June. Between Jacob starting a new school year in April and Natalie's school going a month longer than schools in Texas, I'm all school-calendar-confused. Natalie's in for a short summer this year, but that's the price of international adventure! We did register her for some fun camps once we're back in Texas, so, well, we'll make summer count!