Sea Paradise Visit
Last week the Sky (5-year-old) Class embarked on a very special field trip to Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Recently during Japanese Class Ms. Nahoko has been doing a deep dive into marine life of all kinds. This month they will take what the students have learned and put it into action by talking about the role society can play, both positive and negative, in the health of our shared waters. This theme also ties into the work the children have been doing to prepare for our upcoming Summer Festival. The children are learning to sing ocean-themed songs and have been creating lots of aquatic decorations which will be displayed around the school.
In the morning of the field trip the kids were brimming with energy despite the day's high temperature in the upper thirties. We saw walruses, sea lions, penguins, sharks, a polar bear and too many varieties of fish to count. There were even piranhas! Ahhhh!
After touring the aquarium, the Sky Class arrived just in time to watch the dolphin performance and were really amazed by the white dolphins and how high they could jump out of the water.
Afterwards, the kids enjoyed eating their bento lunches in the auditorium outdoors. Because the children usually eat the same school lunches, they were very excited to show off their unique lunches and compare them with their friends'.
With the remaining free time, we toured other parts of the aquarium and the kids even had a chance to pet a real sea lion!
Given how much we explored and how warm it was outside, it was no surprise that many Sky kids took a quick nap in the bus on the way back to school. It was a really fun day and after mostly knowing these marine animals through books and videos, the kids really loved being able to finally see them in person.
