Week 1 - Day 2, 3 and 4

Hi parents,

We had a great finish to the week at Primary Summer School! One of the favourite early morning games we played was charades. Students had to perform the actions of a typical activity, for example, doing the dishes, washing the car, riding a horse, and students would guess what they were doing. It was very entertaining. Then we got into our work on our topic on Outer Space!

Over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we looked at the stars, astronauts and finally we delved deep into the earths crust. Student created their own star constellation patterns and also made clay replicas of the Earth. At the end of the activity we cut them open to see all the various layers that made up the Earth.

On the Friday, we had the older guys present their group projects. We heard about different planets, like Mars, Neptune and Jupiter. It was really interesting to listen to.

We look forward to seeing the kids again next week, when we look at foreign countries.

Day 1 and 2 of Week 1

Hi parents,

We had a great first couple of days at Primary Summer School! We started with a fun icebreaking activity called Space Fruit Salad to get the kids talking and making new friends. Then we got to work on our topic on Outer Space!

We spent the last first two days discussing the moon and the planets. The students worked on an art project of their favourite planet.

Then on the Tuesday after a discussion about the moon, we created our very own moonviewer to understand the phases of the moon. After lunch we created a great poster that showed all the different phases of the moon, as it passes around Earth.

Welcome HJIS Summer School for Week 1

Welcome to HJIS Summer School for Week 1 (July 10 to 14)!

I am Steven Palmer, and this is my first time teaching summer school at HJIS. I am originally from Australia, and have lived in Japan with my wife and son for about 3 years. I have been teaching in a number of different parts of the world such as Australia, Malaysia and now Japan. I think Japan is a wonderful place to teach as I have found the students to be incredibly hard-working, but also really caring and considerate to their classmates. My favourite subjects to teach are Maths, History and Physical Education. 

I look forward to having meaningful and rewarding experiences with your child over the coming weeks. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at spalmer@horizon.ac.jp.

Thank you, Mr. Palmer.

Pool Time
Don't forget pool days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Students can bring their own water toys but they are responsible for them. Instead of pool time, students can also play sports like basketball and soccer on the playground.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Main Teacher

Steven Palmer spalmer@horizon.ac.jp

Assistant Teacher

Mr. Koc (Pronounced Coach)

Helpers

One high school student from Horizon

One high school student from Hakuho Girls' High School

School Secretary <hjis@horizon.ac.jp> Please send questions about school lunches, payments, and school buses to the secretary.

Topic for the Week Our theme for this week is Space and the Solar System.
Here is the newsletter for Session 1.

Day 5 of Week 4

Our topic today was making space (lunar) landers!

We spent the morning making them and they did a fantastic job! The landers had to be dropped from 1 meter and had to keep an alien (table tennis ball) safe.

After snack, students presented the research posters they had worked on for the whole week.

Then it was pool time!

After lunch, students tested the landers and packed up.

For the last hour, we just relaxed in the ICT room and played some games.

Day 4 of Week 4

We started the day by learning about crayfish and getting our supplies ready.

Then we had a small Science Challenge. They had to make a tower out of balloons and tape. It was a lot harder than they thought.

Then students worked on their research posters and they look great.

Finally, we went to the creek to catch crayfish after lunch.