News
Tsukuba International School Report – August 2011
August seems like it should be a quiet month, but it is actually a very busy month of preparations for our new school year, which started on August 30.
STUDENTS
Student Enrollment
As of August 31, 2011, we have 14 students in Tsukuba International Preschool, 56 students in our Primary Years Programme, and 16 students in our Middle Years Programme for a total of 86 students. (We had 84 students before the March 11, 2011 earthquake. As we have added one more teacher for this school year, we were hoping to have at least ten more students by this time, so we will continue our recruiting efforts.) The following nationalities are currently represented in our student body: Bangladesh, China, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
Units
Here are our first units for this school year.
Preschool: We use our senses to understand and explore the world around us.
Grade 1: People have a universal need to stay healthy.
Grade 2: Listening to other people’s perspectives and communicating our own points of view help us to live together more harmoniously.
Grade 3: The human body is a complex combination of intricate systems.
Grade 4: The human body is a complex combination of intricate systems.
Grade 5: We have a responsibility to understand what is happening in the world around us.
If you have any resources or ideas that we can use in these units, please let us know! In particular, we are interested in finding out about experts in our community who might be able to come in and talk to our students about these topics, or field trips to places in our community that might help our students understand these concepts. We would also like to invite you to join our TIS Brain group on Facebook if you are interested in continuing to contribute to our school knowledge community on a regular basis through social networking.
(The Grade 3 and 4 students are doing a similar topic this year, but next year the Grade 3 class will focus on the human body and the Grade 4 class will be studying diseases and disease prevention.)
PARENTS
Parent Orientation
We held our parent orientation meeting on Friday, August 26. We were very happy to see so many families at the orientation, both of continuing students and new students. After the meetings, parents and students had a chance to meet their new teachers.
TEACHERS
New Staff Arrive in Japan
Two of our new teachers arrived in Japan this month. Mr. Jared Dano arrived in Japan from Manitoba, Canada on August 9 and Mr. Jordan Breithaupt arrived in Japan from Idaho, US on August 12. Both of them have lived in Japan in the past, so they are settling into their new lives here easily. (All of the other new teachers already live in Japan, but three of them moved to Tsukuba over the summer.)
Professional Development of Teaching Staff
Ms. Skye Wheat (preschool) and Mrs. Dianne Suzuki (Grade 1) attended a literacy workshop by Maggie Moon at Nagoya International School on August 13 and 14. Both teachers were able to come away from the workshop with lots of fresh ideas for the new school year.
Kabuki Performance
On August 19, Mr. Okyne (Grade 4 teacher) and Ms. Crawford (principal) went to Enbujo Theatre in Shinbashi to watch a kabuki play. The Grade 4 class is doing a unit on traditions and values and we are looking into the idea of having the class travel to Tokyo to watch a kabuki play in January. We are in talks with Shochiku (the company that puts on the plays) about arranging for a kabuki workshop and a possible backstage tour. Stay tuned for more details!
SCHOOL
Donations and Volunteering
Juwa Transport donated a large number of slippers to the school. We are now able to have meetings with parents and not have to ask everyone to bring their own slippers!
A few people donated computers and computer parts to the school. Ideally, we would like to have enough computers to have one for every student in the computer room (already accomplished) and one for every student in the Middle Year’s Programme (not yet accomplished). If you have any computers or computer equipment that you would like to donate to the school, please see our post on this topic.
Many parents came to the school to volunteer their time to clean up the school at the beginning of the school year. We were able to clean all of the classrooms, the verandah, all of the bathrooms, and do some grounds maintenance. We were also able to reorganize the library and put the picture books in alphabetical order on the shelves. We are extraordinarily lucky to have such helpful parents at TIS!
During August, Team Tsukuba made four trips to Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture to help with the tsunami recovery efforts. We were able to bring large amounts of donated fresh fruits and vegetables and also help with cleaning up the Watanoha neighbourhood (cleaning out the ditches on the side of the road, clearing a field of debris and weeds so a summer festival could be held on the lot, etc.). We are planning one or two trips in September and at least one trip in October.
Summer Camp
The second week of Tsukuba International Camp was held at the beginning of this month. In the first week, we had 17 students and in the second we had 28 students. Our camp counsellors were from Brazil, Israel, Nigeria, Russia, and the US. The program included arts and crafts, singing, learning about other cultures, and doing science experiments. We also had special workshops with a professional drama club and a professional soccer club. We are planning on holding this camp again next summer (Week 1: July 23-27; Week 2: July 30-August 3, 2012).
Facilities
The Tsukuba International Preschool building received a new coat of paint and one of the windows in the foyer was replaced over the summer.
The elementary school now has wireless internet throughout the whole building. Every classroom has an access point so computers can be moved freely around the classrooms.
Power Conservation
Despite the heat, we are trying to keep our use of the air conditioners to a minimum. We have portable fans in every classroom and the rooms on the second floor all have ceiling fans too. We are all trying to be careful to drink lots of fluids every day.
Radiation
We used a “REN 200 x gamma radiation monitor” to take some radiation readings around the school with the help of one of the TIS parents. We took measurements in a variety of locations around the school. The readings were generally between 0.14 to 0.22 microsieverts/hour, which is basically in line with other readings that were taken at a variety of facilities in Tsukuba on June 20. However, we did find some elevated readings at the base of the eaves pipes on the southwest corner and near some pipes in the wall beside the preschool fence. Another parent has bought a device to measure the radiation, so we will combine the readings and report on them to all parents.
COMING UP
Here is what we have in store for the future.
September
September 12 – Open School Day for current parents, Parent Circle
September 14 – School Tours for prospective parents
September 17-18 – Mr. Dano, Dr. Kolba, Ms. Crawford attend MYP In-School Workshop
September 17-18 – Mrs. Suzuki, Mr. Breithaupt attend workshop at Yokohama International School
September 18 to 24 – FBC Fundraiser for TIS
September 19 – School Holiday
September 23 – School Holiday
September 26 to 30 – Parent-Teacher Conferences at TIS
October
October 5 to 7 – Parent-Teacher Conferences at TIP
October 10 – School Holiday
October 20 to 21 – PYP Authorization Visit
October 27 – Fall Festival / Volunteer Day
If you have any questions about this report, please feel free to contact us.
TIS Brain on Facebook
We would like to invite you to join our TIS Brain group on Facebook.
This group helps teachers at Tsukuba International School find online and offline resources to support the school’s curriculum.
At the primary (elementary) level, the school year is divided into six transdisciplinary units. At the beginning of each unit (and throughout the year), we look for resources that the teachers can use in the classes and that students and parents can use at home to come to a better understanding of the concepts in the unit.
We would like to ask for help from our community in locating relevant, interesting, and compelling online and offline resources to support the learning at TIS. Online resources can include websites, videos, images, blogs, etc. Offline resources can include books, people who the students and teachers can consult as experts, potential locations for field trips, etc.
We will post requests for resources in this group, but we would also like to encourage members to submit interesting resources that they come across. Even if the resources do not match what we are doing right now, if they present a learning opportunity for students, we want to know about them!
The resources that we come across are archived on our TIS Brain website.
Thank you for your help in making Tsukuba International School a place where learning is supported by the community!
Wanted: Used Laptops/Desktops for School
School has started, so it’s time for our annual plea for computers! If you have any old laptops or desktops that you aren’t using, please consider donating them to Tsukuba International School. We have a few more students this year, so we are looking for a few extra machines for our computer labs and classrooms.
If you have a computer that is in good mechanical condition, has at least 512 MB of RAM, and at least 40 GB of space on the hard disk and you are interested in donating it to the school, please get in touch with us. (If you aren’t sure about how much RAM or space your computer has, please get in touch anyway.) We can pick up any donated computers within Tsukuba, and will even consider paying for shipping computers from outside of Tsukuba depending on the specs.
We can install a free operating system (e.g. Ubuntu or gOS) on the computer, so don’t worry if your version of Windows is old or not work working well. Also, we can install free office software (e.g. Open Office), so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have MS Word or other office applications. We really just need the computers for office applications (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations) and accessing the internet, so as long as the computer is in good mechanical condition and it meets the minimum specs, we will be able to use it.
We are also interested in receiving flat-screen monitors and other peripheral devices such as scanners, web cameras, microphones, and speakers if they are in good working order. USB keyboards and optical mice (mouses?) in very good condition are also welcome. Finally, it is unlikely that any of you have spare projectors lying around, but just in case you do, we would be very happy to find a new home for one here at TIS!
Thank you for your continued support of Tsukuba International School!
Greetings from the Chairperson
(The following is a message from Mrs. Chieko Kano, the chairperson of our school.)
２０１１年夏のご挨拶
2011年8月22日
9月からつくばインターナショナルスクールの新しい学期が始まるのを前に、一言ご挨拶申しあげます。
3月18日に夫加納正康が急逝してから、早いものですでに５ヶ月がたちました。亡き夫がこの地に木造二階建てログハウス風の新校舎を建て、学校法人TSUKUBA GLOBAL ACADEMYとして茨城県知事より認可され、新しいTsukuba International School（TIS）が始まってから、２年と４ヶ月になります。夫の急逝を受け、３月末に開催された臨時理事会において、私が法人理事長を、シェイニー・クロフォード女史がTIS校長を引き継ぐことが議決されました。５月には正式の理事会および評議員会が開催され、当面の運営について対応策が図られました。今日まで、いろいろな困難に直面いたしましたが、多くの皆様に支えられて2010-2011年度を終えることができましたことをご報告いたします。
昨年9月に中学1年生と2年生の中等教育部を設置し、今年３月の時点で、小学1年生から6年生までの生徒を合わせると、16カ国からの生徒65名（両親とも外国籍の生徒が約3割、両親のどちらが外国籍の生徒が約3割、両親とも日本国籍の生徒が約4割）が在籍しておりました。就学前のTsukuba International Preschool（TIP）の生徒も合わせると80名余りとなり、TISの前途に明るい光が見えてきた矢先、3月11日に東日本大震災に見舞われました。続いて発生した福島第一原子力発電所の事故の影響も重なって、東日本の多くの地域から外国人が続々と帰国する事態が起こりました。TISでも、外国籍の生徒とその家族が次々と国外に退去していきました。そんな状況の中で、亡き夫は筑波研究学園都市の将来やTISの行く末を大変憂慮しておりました。そして震災から１週間後、夫がくも膜下出血で突然倒れ、帰らぬ人となったことで、TISの生徒やその家族、そして支援者の皆様にも大変なショックとご心配をおかけすることになりました。
すべてが突然のできごとであり、一時は生徒数もかなり落ち込み、TISの前途が危ぶまれました。しかしながら、シェイニー新校長をはじめ、アメリカ、カナダ、オーストラリアの母国で教職免許を取得した優秀な先生方と日本語担当の先生、そして事務スタッフおよび芸術･体育等の非常勤講師の方々による献身的な指導の下で、残った子どもたちは次第に元気を取り戻して勉強を続け、６月末に無事に2010-2011年度を終了することができました。この間、学校法人の理事、評議員の皆様から弛まぬご支援・ご助言をいただき、特に茗渓学園の高島渉先生および茗渓学園卒業生の石井治美さん、橋本哲さんにはボランティアでTISの運営を手伝うというワーキング・グループを結成していただきました。そのほかにも、茨城県やつくば市の関係の皆様、近隣の皆様から多くのご支援をいただくことができました。このような皆様からのご支援、ご協力なくしては、ここまで来ることはできませんでした。心から御礼申し上げます。
さて、震災から半年近くを経て、TISをめぐる状況は大きく改善されています。ウェブ・サイトにも報告されておりますように、夏休みに入ってから、7月11日〜15日に英語によるサマー・プログラムが行われ、9名の参加者がありました。また、7月25日〜8月5日に開催されたサマー・キャンプでは、前半の週に17名、後半の週には28名もの参加があり、この地でTISが果たせる新たな役割をも実感することができました。そして、2011-2012年の新学期、TISはおかげさまで72名の生徒を、そしてTIPの方も12名の子どもたちを受け入れる予定でおります。教師陣は、6月で任期満了して帰国、あるいは新天地へと移動する先生方が多かったため、シェイニー校長は大変な苦労をいたしましたが、新たに優秀な先生方をお迎えすることができ、9月から8名の専任教師と6名の非常勤教師の体制で臨むことができることとなりました。
TISの存在価値をさらに高めるためのニュースがもう一つあります。震災の影響で延期となっておりました国際バカロレア初等教育課程（PYP）の最終認定訪問を今秋10月に受ける運びとなりました。国際バカロレアにつきましては、今年3月に公表された文部科学省の国際交流政策懇談会の最終報告書においてもその重要性が指摘されており、TISの目指してきた方向性が正しかったことに意を強くしているところです。一方で、つくば市、筑波研究学園都市を世界に開いた日本の窓として再構築しようという試みも進んでいると聞いております。TISは、新しい先生方、生徒たちとともに、ぜひともPYPの認定を受け、さらに中等教育課程(MYP)の認定をも目指して、グローバル都市としてのつくばの実現に微力ながら貢献できるように、準備を進めてまいりたいと思います。もとより、TISは、外国人の生徒たちのみの教育を考えているわけではありません。日本人のお子さんの教育も重要な責務であります。重要なことは、外国人とか日本人とかいう垣根を越えて、このグローバル化した世界、多文化共生社会を共に支えていけるような次世代を育てることだと考えます。そのためには、日本の行政、社会の慣例も見直しながら、よりよい教育制度を作り上げていく必要があるのではないでしょうか。TISの先生方も同じ思いです。実際、先生方はこの夏休みに福島の被災地でのボランティア活動をするために何度も出かけてくださっており、日本の社会にも貢献してくださっています。
このように、TISはなんとか息を吹き返しています。しかし、実際には今年度、茨城県から教員の給与補助など、格別の支援をいただいていることも事実です。TISが自力で立って行くには、まだまだ皆様からのご支援、ご協力が欠かせない状況です。健全な事業体として確立するには、さらに生徒数を増やす必要もあります。お知り合いに外国人の方、国際教育を望んでいらっしゃる方がいらっしゃいましたら、どうか広報にご協力いただきますよう、よろしくお願いいたします。
皆様、ご多用中のところと拝察申し上げますが、どうぞ、実際のTIS、TIPと元気に学ぶ生徒たちの様子を見学にいらしてください。毎月1回はスクールツアーを開催し、実際の授業を見学していただいております。ウェブサイトhttp://www.tis.ac.jpをご覧いただき、事前にご連絡いただければ幸いです。
今年はさらに教育内容を充実し、生徒共々、教職員一同心を合わせて、世界中で尊敬されるような人材の育成に尽力していく所存でございますので、更なるご指導・ご支援をよろしくお願い申し上げます。
学校法人TSUKUBA GLOBAL ACADEMY 理事長
加納 千恵子
Tsukuba International School Report – July 2011
Despite the fact that the school was officially closed for the summer holidays, we still had a busy month.
STUDENTS
Student Enrollment
We are currently expecting 72 students to enroll in Tsukuba International School for the 2011-12 school year. In addition, there will be 12 students at Tsukuba International Preschool.
Summer Program and Summer Camp
During the summer, we ran three weeks of special activities: the Summer Program (which only includes Tsukuba International School students) for one week (July 11-15) and Tsukuba International Camp for two weeks (July 25-29, August 1-5). All three weeks were filled with special activities and learning experiences for the campers. In addition to the regular programs, students also experienced a few special treats. During the Summer Program, students visited the Geological Museum on July 14, and at Tsukuba International Camp, students were able to participate in a professional theatre workshop by Gekidan Kurie and be coached by professional soccer coaches from Aseno Soccer Club.
PARENTS
Informal Get-Together
Our parents organized an informal family get-together on July 17 at Doho Park. A few parents of our younger students were in attendance, along with one staff member.
TEACHERS
Hiring of Teaching Staff
The final staff lunch was held at Milky Way in Kamigo. We are all sad to see some of our teachers go, but we are looking forward to meeting the new teachers in September. We will have eight full-time teachers and six part-time teachers.
SCHOOL
Donations and Volunteering
We received large donation of books from Mr. Michael Chartier and the Weisburd family.
The staff of Tsukuba International School has continued to help with the tsunami recovery efforts in the Watanoha area of Ishinomaki, Miyagi. From July 6 to 10, TIS staff and other friends from Team Tsukuba donated several appliances and dug the debris out of ditches in the neighbourhood. From July 18 to 19, two staff members made another trip to donate several large appliances and a car. Future trips are planned for August (2 trips) and September (1 trip).
During the first week of Tsukuba International Camp, we received a large donation of nokogiri kuwagata (stag beetles) from a local breeder. These insects were shared amongst the campers.
School Tours, Open School Days
As we do not hold Open School Days or School Tours during the summer, we arranged for private visits for families who were interested in seeing the school. We welcomed two such families this month, on July 21 and 26.
Facilities
The preschool received some repairs over the summer. One window was replaced, we put in a new floor in the bathroom area, and the building received a new coat of paint.
Power Conservation
We continued to have energy saving measures in place during the summer. We have kept the air conditioners set to 28C and used them only for short periods of time and then shut them off. We used fans and the natural breeze from the cross-winds in the classrooms to stay cool.
COMING UP
Here is what we have in store for the future.
August
August 1-5 – Tsukuba International Camp – Week 2
Auust 3 – Kurie Drama Club at Tsukuba International Camp
August 5 – Aseno Soccer Club at Tsukuba International Camp
August 5-7 – TIS Staff volunteering in Ishinomaki
August 13-14 – Ms. Suzuki and Ms. Wheat will attend a literacy workshop in Nagoya
August 22-29 – Teacher Work Days
August 24 – Parent Volunteer Day
August 26 – Parent Orientation / Violin Sizing (10am to 12 noon)
August 30 – First Day of School (bring school supplies, indoor shoes, new emergency supplies)
August 30-Sept 5 – Student Orientation at Tsukuba International Preschool (half days)
September
September 12 – Open School Day for current parents, Parent Circle
September 14 – School Tours for prospective parents
September 17-18 – Mr. Dano, Dr. Kolba, Ms. Crawford attend MYP In-School Workshop
September 17-18 – Ms. Suzuki, Mr. Breithaupt attend workshop at Yokohama International School
If you have any questions about this report, please feel free to contact us.
Tsukuba International Camp 2011
An international summer camp for children aged 3 to 12 will be held at Tsukuba International School this year. There will be two separate weeks (July 25 to 29 and August 1 to 5) with two separate programs. Campers are welcome to join for one or both weeks.
If you are interested in having your child participate, please see the Tsukuba International Camp 2011 page on the International Tsukuba website and fill in the application form at the bottom.
Tsukuba International School Report – June 2011
This month was one of our busiest yet! The end of the school year is always a busy time, but it seems like we were trying to pack a whole year into a single month this time. Can you believe we did all of this in June?
STUDENTS
Student Enrollment
Registration for 2011-12 school year started on June 1. We are currently expecting our enrollment to be around 80 for the 2011-12 school year. (We had 84 students before the March 11, 2011 earthquake.)
Units
June’s units were:
Grade 1: Finishing up Life Cycles
Grade 2: Finishing up Inventions
Grade 3: Finishing up Energy and doing a mini unit on Money
Grade 4: Finishing up Weather
Grade 5/6: Finishing up Consumerism, PYP Exhibition (final project for the PYP)
Field Trips
Tsukuba International Preschool visited the Ibaraki Livestock Research Center where the students and parents made butter and ice cream and milked some robot cows.
Grade 1 visited the Ibaraki Nature Museum as a part of their units on “Forests” and “Life Cycles”. The students were particularly intrigued by the model of the enlarged cross-section of the plants and animals that live inside the soil.
Grade 2 visited the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention as a part of their unit on “Our Dynamic Planet”. Students were able to see a map of Japan with earthquakes happening in real time.
Grade 3 visited the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno as a part of their “Energy” unit. It was an exciting finish to a great year of inquiry for the Grade 3s.
Grade 4 visited the Meteorological Research Institute as a part of their unit on “Weather”. Students learned about the many different techniques that scientists use to forecast the weather and they also got a chance to see the institute’s supercomputer. After returning to their classroom, the students got to see what is inside a desktop computer and compare it with how the supercomputer looked.
Grade 5/6 visit the National Institute for Environmental Studies as a part of their unit on “Consumerism”. This is the “exhibition” unit for these students, so they had many questions about how products that we use every day have an impact on society and the environment.
Experts
Dr. Tokio Ohska (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) visited the Grade 3 and Grade 5/6 classes to talk to them about nuclear energy.
Enrichment Programs
This month’s enrichment programs were gardening, puppeteering, musical theatre, Spanish, sports, cooking, recorder, and violin. The musical theatre enrichment program staged its performance of Little Red Riding Hood. It was a great delight to watch!
Student Assessment
The final report cards for the year were sent home on June 24.
Classroom Events
The Grade 2 and 3 classes had a special drama class hosted by Ms. Kristie Collins, a professor at the University of Tsukuba. The students memorized their parts and put on a mini production in just two hours!
The Grade 3 students held a bake-off with the solar cookers that they designed as a part of their unit on “Energy”. One student was able to get her oven up to 80C! The Grade 3 students baked cookies in their ovens and shared them with the other students and staff. It was a successful engineering project for all!
The Grade 3 students also travelled around to the other classes to tell stories with puppets they created. The puppets represented a character in a particular story, and the story that the students told were from the perspective of that character (not the original main character). This was an interesting way for students to learn about the concept of perspective.
The Grade 3 class made a giant model of a town showing its power sources and points of consumption. They invited the other classes to come and hear their explanations of the model.
The Grade 5/6 class put on their PYP Exhibition on June 16. The students gave presentations on their unit of “Consumerism”. The central idea of their presentation was that the products that we use every day have an impact on society and the environment. Students chose a particular product and researched the life cycle of the product. They then determined what kinds of impacts the product had on society and the environment throughout its life cycle. Many parents attended the exhibition. The students worked hard on their reports and can be proud of their efforts.
All grades had a picnic lunch together with their classmates on the final day of school.
Graduation
The P3 class at Tsukuba International Preschool graduated to Grade 1 at Tsukuba International School and the Grade 5/6 students graduated to the Middle Years Program (MYP). From next year, Grade 5 will be the final class in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Grade 6 will be the first year in the Middle Years Programme.
PARENTS
Parent Conferences
Optional parent conferences were held at the end of the month for parents who had wanted to talk with the teachers about their children’s report cards or progress throughout the year.
TEACHERS
Hiring of Teaching Staff
We hired Ms. Rio Nagakura as a full-time core teacher. She started to work at the school on June 1. As many of our core teachers will be leaving at the end of this school year, we wanted to have one teacher start early to help us make a smooth transition.
Two new teachers for the Middle Years Programme (MYP) were also hired to start in August. Their names are Mr. Jared Dano (English/Humanities teacher from Canada) and Dr. Clifford Kolba (Math/Science teacher from the United States). This completes our hiring of core teachers for the 2011-12 year.
We hired two new teachers for specialty subjects: Mr. Davidson Onuoha (Nigeria) for Physical Education and Mr. Samir Cavalho (Brazil) for Art. This completes our hiring of specialty teachers for the 2011-12 year.
Professional Development of Teaching Staff
Ms. Thorneycroft (Grade 5/6 teacher) and Ms. Crawford (principal) attended the PYP Exhibition at K International School in Tokyo on June 3. Ms. Nagakura (new core teacher) and Ms. Crawford attended the PYP Exhibition at Tokyo International School on June 9. These visits gave us some insight into the exhibition and provided some great ideas for our students this year and in the future.
Congratulations!
Ms. Ava Richardson (Grade 3 teacher) married her fiance, Mr. Zenryu Owatari. A special celebratory weekend was held at the lodge in Nikko where the couple first met. Many TIS staff members were in attendance.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tsukuba Global Academy Working Group
A few members of the Tsukuba Global Academy Working Group met to discuss the future of the school. They discussed ways to raise the profile of the school and how to go about fundraising. One suggestion of the group was to start a regular newsletter so that the community can be more aware of the activities of the school.
SCHOOL
Donations and Volunteering
Intel donated around 20 large storage cabinets and a number of smaller desk cabinets to the school. We were able to put one large cabinet in every classroom, which will let the teachers store more resources in their classrooms. We also put several cabinets in the art room, resource room, and offices.
A student from the University of Tsukuba started to volunteer in the TIS library this month. She is doing an internship program as a part of her degree in Library and Information Science. She is working on labelling the fiction and non-fiction books and helping us to classify our non-fiction books so that they will be easier to find and keep track of.
The Grade 3 class was given samples of coal for their unit on “Energy” from the Geological Museum.
One of the parents donated pebbles for the walk in front of the school and some cleaning supplies for our end of year clean up.
Many parents came to the school to volunteer their time to clean up the school at the end of the year. We were able to put together some desks for the new Grade 8/9 classroom, clear stray branches and weeds, put down new pebbles on the walk, clean out and rearrange the art and science supplies, and clean the classrooms and common areas.
Many parents donated appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, fans, rice cookers), bicycles, and mosquito coils to families in Ishinomaki. Several staff members will be leading a team of volunteers to help with tsunami recovery efforts in Ishinomaki from July 6 to 10 and we will deliver the donations at that time.
School Cat
A cat appeared on our sports field this month. We tried to find a new home for her, but were not successful. The students begged us to keep her as a school cat and Mrs. Okubo (our art teacher) agreed to take her home during school holidays, so we decided to do that. The students love having a cat at school (in addition to our beetle larvae, fish, and worms) and they have asked many questions about her. They are learning about how to care for a pet, including the importance of spaying or neutering animals in order to control the pet population. The cat’s name is Kiki Noki (キキ 野木). I hope you will get a chance to meet her the next time you come to the school!
Open School
An open school day was held on June 8 for current and prospective parents. From the next school year, we will hold school tours for prospective parents and open school days for current parents.
Summer Camp
It was decided that Tsukuba International Camp will be held at the school during the summer. The goals of the camp are to give students opportunities to be creative and engage their minds with challenging activities, to give students a chance to practise their English over the summer, and to give students a chance to meet people from other cultures.
Facilities
Since Mr. Kano (our principal from 2008 to 2011) passed away, we have had to find people to fill the many roles that he played at our school. One very important role was that of groundskeeper! He was very diligent about cutting the grass, keeping the weeds down, and maintaining the forest. We have decided to hire members of Tsukuba Silver Jinzai to help us with our grounds from now on. A team of men came and helped us with the forest and a team of women helped us with the weeds in our parking lot. Mr. Zenryu Owatari (husband of our Grade 3 teacher, Ms. Ava Richardson) weeded our entire front lawn with the help of many of our students during school breaks.
Power Conservation
We all promised to use our air conditioners as little as possible, despite the heat. We purchased 11 fans for the classrooms and offices to help to keep the air circulating. We found that the downstairs classrooms stayed cooler than the upstairs rooms. The classrooms at the ends of the second floor were especially hot. Students were encouraged to drink water often and we turned on the air conditioners at high settings (28C) and for short periods of time when the heat became too much for the students to bear.
Radiation
We used a “REN 200 x gamma radiation monitor” to take some radiation readings around the school with the help of one of the TIS parents. We took measurements in a variety of locations around the school. The readings were generally between 0.12 to 0.16 microsieverts/hour, which is basically in line with other readings that were taken at a variety of facilities in Tsukuba on June 20. However, we did find some elevated readings at the base of the eaves pipes on the southwest corner and back of the school. The pipes themselves had normal readings, but on the ground, the readings were higher right beside the pipe. If we moved the monitor away from the base, the levels returned to normal. At the base of the pipe at the southwest corner, the reading spiked up to 1.0 microsievert/hour briefly and then went back down again, so we are not sure how to interpret that reading. The bases of the other pipes at the back of the school were generally under 0.5 microsieverts/hour. We will continue to monitor the radiation levels at the school and will report on our findings.
COMING UP
Here is what we have in store for the future.
July
July 6-10 – TIP/TIS staff volunteering in Ishinomaki to help with tsunami recovery efforts
July 11-15 – TIS Summer Program
July 17 – Informal Family Get-Together at Doho Park (11am to 2pm)
July 25-29 – Tsukuba International Camp – Week 1
August
August 1-5 – Tsukuba International Camp – Week 2
August 13-14 – Mrs. Suzuki will attend a literacy workshop in Nagoya
August 22-29 – Teacher Work Days
August 24 – Volunteer Day
August 26 – Parent Orientation / Violin Sizing (10am to 12 noon)
August 30 – First Day of School (bring school supplies, indoor shoes, new emergency supplies)
August 30-Sept 5 – Orientation at Tsukuba International Preschool (half days)
September
September 12 – Open School Day for current parents, Parent Circle
September 14 – School Tours for prospective parents
September 17-18 – Mr. Dano, Dr. Kolba, Ms. Crawford attend MYP In-School Workshop
September 17-18 – Mrs. Suzuki, Mr. Breithaupt attend workshop at Yokohama International School
If you have any questions about this report, please feel free to contact us.
Kiki Needs a New Home
We found another kitten on the TIS campus. (We found a male kitten named Manabu last year. He is currently living very happily with a family in Tokodai. The father of the family loves Manabu very much and they have become best friends.)
This year’s kitten is all black except for two white patches (under her chin and between her legs) and is about 8 months old. The kids have named her Kiki (which is the name of the witch in Kiki’s Delivery Service who has a black cat named Jiji).
We took Kiki to the vet and confirmed that she is healthy. The vet tested her for feline AIDS and leukemia and she was negative for both. He tested her stool (feces) and found that she has no intestinal problems. He gave her some preventative flea and tick medicine and then vaccinated her against five cat diseases. She will have her sterilization operation on June 6 and her second set of vaccinations on June 20.
Kiki only weighs 2kg and she is a delight to have around. She is very friendly and loves kids. She has been very tolerant of the students trying to get to know her. When we first met her on Wednesday, she was extremely hungry and would gobble up all of her food at once, but she has now started to leave food in her bowl. She spent most of the day today sleeping in the school hallway and didn’t even flinch when all of the students started moving around the building between classes. She has a big scar near her left eye, probably from her life in the forest, but she is otherwise healthy and happy.
We are hoping to find Kiki a new home as soon as possible. We will pay for her upcoming surgery and vaccinations. We have made a poster (available here) and we hope that some of you will be able to help us out by printing the poster and putting it up in places where people might see it. (On the poster it says that she has already had her vaccinations and surgery since it will probably take at least two weeks to find someone to adopt her.)
We appreciate anything you can do to help Kiki find a new home!
TIS Open School Day: June 2011
Tsukuba International School has an Open School Day once per month to allow people to come and visit the school, observe some classes, and talk to the school staff. If you would like to have more information about the school, these Open School Days are a perfect opportunity for you to see the school in action. Click here to make a reservation to attend one of the Open School Days.
The Open School Day for June 2011 will be held on
Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
Schedule
9:30am: Introduction to Tsukuba International School
10:00am: Visit Language Arts Class
10:30am: Talk to off-duty teachers during recess time
11:00am: Visit Science or Social Studies Class
11:30am: Finish
Reservation
If you are interested in attending one of our Open School Days, please fill out this form to make a reservation. Or, if you would like to see the school, but you are not available on any of these days, you can use the form to request a private tour on another date.
Future dates can be seen on our school calendar.
Kamiyamori Concert in Memory of Mr. Kano
A concert will be held in memory of Mr. Masayasu Kano on May 15, 2011 from 2pm at Kamiyamori Loghouse (the Kano residence). The title of the concert is “Pipes and Harpsichord — Baroque Music for Mr. Kano” and the performers will be Youichi Henbo (music teacher at Tsukuba International School), Ms. Tomoko Kakuma, and Mr. Jari Puhakka.
Space is limited so please send an email to Youichi Henbo (nakal[at]hotmail.co.jp) to confirm your attendance.
Please see Kamiyamori Concert Series website for more detailed information in Japanese.
http://kamiyamori.wordpress.com/
