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Looking back the first year of Keio Yokohama Elementary School

- Sougo Katayama, Teacher, Keio Yokohama Elementary School

Update:June 2, 2014
Looking back the first year of Keio Yokohama Elementary School

One year has passed since our school welcomed new pupils for the first time on April 6, 2013. The first graders who were at first overwhelmed at the size of the school building and play ground are now running around freely on the beautiful green grass during break time, and day by day, growing up strong.

One of the pupils’ favorite places is the biotope space. From spring to summer, they would look for underwater creatures or pile up rocks to block the water flow, and in autumn, they would run around the grass field holding insect nets. Some pupils have become insect experts, enough to explain to friends that a certain insect is rare. When winter came, as soon as they noticed that the pond has frozen, they would beak the ice with their feet, or hold a piece of ice in their hand in excitement. In this place, which is surrounded by abundant nature, they will surely nurture their five senses.

Pupils also get a lot of stimulation during classes. In our language class, they develop their expressiveness and vocabulary through activities such as analyzing pictures and dictating stories they listen to. In the “way of life” class, they picked acorns at a nearby park, made tops and played with them, and also made masks using leaves. Other seasonal activities include flying kites, playing Hyakunin-isshu cards and making Christmas wreaths.

Our pupils also experienced various events. In the first semester, we held the opening ceremony of the school and also went to watch the Waseda-Keio baseball game, which made them realize that so many people love and support Keio. At the opening ceremony, the 108 pupils all sang together the school song in front of many Keio graduates. For a while after the Waseda-Keio baseball game, a huge chorus of Keio fight song “Wakaki-Chi” would start in the hallway during recess.

The second semester was also full of events. On our field day, since there were only first graders, we had many parents participate in the event. Although it was held on a record hot day with temperature exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, quite unbelievable for mid October, many participants were surprisingly energetic, and it turned out to be a very exciting event. At the school concert, pupils sang 9 songs including English songs. Some parents came to tears watching the children sing so proudly on stage. Theses events are important opportunities to realize how much the children have grown up.

By the way, at Keio Yokohama Elementary School, the school lunch is offered in the lunchroom. At first, it took quite a while for the children to finish their meals, but today, almost all pupils can eat up their lunch in time. It feels really nice to see all the leftover trays empty.

On the other hand, there were difficulties due to the first year of the school. For the first graders, there are no senior pupils who can show them positive examples, so as for commuting to and from school, we had to repeatedly remind them what to be aware of, and the faculty and staff patrolled around the school. It was a burden to set detailed rules one by one, but the faculty and staff present ideas from each standpoint on a daily basis and discuss together to solve each problem.

I really feel that the pupils are starting to feel affection towards Keio day by day. We look forward to seeing how they behave as senior pupils when we welcome the new first graders in spring.

*This article appeared in the 2014 spring edition (No.282) of “Juku”.