Curriculum

July 2023 - Like most field trips, this field trip allowed the students to practice aspects of the Learner Profile, specifically in being communicators, risk-takers, and principled. Additionally, the students have been working hard on self-management ATLs such as interpersonal skills and emotional skills. The Grade 3/4 students worked together during the set up for our School Festival and practiced these skills in the context of group work. This field trip gave them the chance to apply these skills to a different environment and context, namely negotiating what kind of play they were going to do, where and when they were going to eat, and who was going to lead. It turned out to be a successful and fun last field trip of term 1!

July 2023 - Grade 2 had a great time at the Hamagin Space Center. It was extremely hot so they were happy to be indoors for their final field trip of Term One. Students learned about astronomy and explored the Yokohama sky. After that, they played games and did activities related to gravity, time, friction, relativity, patterns, and sound.

Students were able to practice their ATL and Learner Profile skills by cooperating, making good choices, and transferring knowledge and concepts.

July 2023 - This was a great field trip. It’s close to CGK and indoors (which was great because of the Summer heat).

We went to Hamagin as part of the passion project subject. Some of the students wanted to do computer programming and Mr. Martin knew that Hamagin did special programming classes.

The programming class was fantastic. Students had to program a small vehicle to make its way through a puzzle. It was a really good activity that all the students were engaged in. It linked in a really engaging way to ICT ATLs.

June 2023 - Grade 2 visited the Kanagawa Plaza for Global Citizenship (Earth Plaza). This was quite an informative trip as students were able to learn a lot about different countries. They saw traditional games, clothes, fruit and food, instruments, and modes of transportation. Students were able to experience the way of life for people around the world. This trip fit perfectly with their UOI for How We Express Ourselves that focuses on how cultural beliefs and ideas are shared around the world. Students were also able to practice some ATLs by working in pairs to complete a mind map about the themes and ideas that they were encountering.

June 2023 - This trip was designed specifically to link to the UOI for How We Organize Ourselves. This unit in grade 1 is about trade. The students had previously learned about customs and how they prevent certain items being brought into a country. This quick visit to a local museum allowed the grade 1 students to see some interesting displays about illegal items. They also had a look at some of the tools that customs uses to find illegal items that might be hidden in containers and suitcases.

Before going to the museum Grade 1 had a quick snack and play at Yokohama park, working on gross-motor and social skills, as well as being Balanced and Principled.

June 2023 - This field trip was an opportunity to practice and focus on ATLs (self-management skill), the Learner Profile (Principled), and PSPE learning outcomes. Students were given a collective goal in order to show that they demonstrated self-management skills and social-emotional awareness enough to partake in a fun physical field trip that required a certain amount of trust.

The class was given a set number of marbles. When students broke the rules that they agreed to in their class contract, they lost a marble. The class as a whole needed to have at least one marble left in order to go on the field trip. Fortunately, they did, and they were able to go!

They went to a beach park and ended up practicing additional attributes of the Learner Profile, including being risk-takers and communicators. Students had to create their own games and fun as there was not a lot of climbing equipment or built-in activities. The students ended up enjoying the field trip so much that they asked to return to the same park again in the future!

June 2023 - This field trip connected to How We Express Ourselves and our Arts learning outcomes. The students had a remarkable day and were fully immersed in art. They enjoyed the Water and Garden sections. They experienced the TeamLab Planets interpretation of a number of different natural elements, from black holes all the way to a garden that allowed you to “become one with flowers.” One student said, “If everything people make can be art, then we are art.” What a profound statement from a 7-year-old.

The Grade 2 students had an enlightening day exploring art with all their senses. In addition, they had ample opportunity to put the social skills they had been practicing in class and apply them to a new context. The students are becoming more skilled at regulating their emotions and managing conflict.

June 2023 - This trip was designed specifically to link to the UOI for How We Organize Ourselves and the central idea of “People trade for a variety of reasons”.

One of the questions that came up in class is “Should people or countries be forced to trade? The class had a discussion about that with most of the group falling on a both “Yes and No” answers. The students said it depended on whether the trade was with kind people or countries, and whether they could trust who they were trading with.

After that, the class learned about Commander Perry and the Black Ships coming to Japan. They thought about whether Japan should have been forced to trade with America, and whether it was right that America forced them to do so under the threat of war.

After this, the class took a walk down to the Yokohama red brick warehouse, a place that was built not long after the agreement to trade between Japan and America was reached.

June 2023 - This field trip links to a future UOI for Sharing the Planet and our responsibilities to protect limited resources. The students had a lot of fun interacting with the different science displays and learning about the world we live in. They had a great time playing with robots, writing messages to the future, seeing real-life rockets, and learning how the internet worked. Exposing students to some of the concepts that they will inquire into in the future is a great way to activate interest and prepare the students for in-depth learning.

May 2023 - This field trip connected to our visual arts standards, such as students enjoying experiencing artwork, describing what they notice about an artwork, and describing similarities and differences between artworks. Students used this experience to start exploring Matisse’s work in depth, comparing techniques, color palettes, and composition. Students then created their own Matisse art which became central to their School Festival activity and part of fundraising for a charity benefiting those affected by the war in Ukraine.

May 2023 - For Grade 2’s unit in the theme How We Express Ourselves, the students were exploring the central idea of “Cultural beliefs and values are shared and expressed throughout the world.” This field trip helped the students to see the central idea in action. They were able to learn about different cultures around the world.

They also practiced some ATLs by setting learning goals prior to the visit and reflecting on what they learned.

May 2023 - The Grade 1 classroom was still exploring the Who We Are theme with the central idea of “Our body is a collection of different systems that depend on each other.” This field trip again allowed the children to make connections between their actions and how their body feels. When Grade 1 went on this field trip, they had more time to learn about and understand connections between their actions and their bodies, such as learning about neurons and reaction times.

April 2023 - The Grade 1 classroom was exploring the Who We Are theme with the central idea of “Our body is a collection of different systems that depend on each other.” This field trip allowed the children to make connections between exercise and health, movement and heartbeat, and thoughts and action.

Physical field trips are also a chance to practice attributes of the Learner Profile, especially being a risk-taker, balanced, communicator, and principled.