HJIS Sendai Aoba Class Blogs 2026-27

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Hello, Desert Class families!

Morning & Afternoon Meeting

During our morning meetings, we sang our hello song, weather song, and day of the week song. We also discussed classroom responsibilities, with students taking on roles such as caretaker, line leader, and lunch helper. The students had lots of fun singing and dancing to “Dynamite” as we practiced for our upcoming Sports Day.

In our afternoon meetings, we read The Color Monster and The Feeling Book. The students were encouraged to participate by joining in with repeated phrases and actions throughout the stories.

Language & Literacy

Preschool

This week in Language & Literacy, we learned the letter Nn and practiced recognizing its sound through a variety of hands-on activities. The students practiced identifying initial sounds in words such as net, nose, and other /n/ words. We also began simple blending practice to help build early reading confidence.

The students enjoyed taking part in a variety of phonics activities throughout the week. We matched words and pictures to their correct initial sounds, completed phonics puzzles, and practiced letter formation through paint letter tracing using q-tips. A favorite activity this week was the phonics ramp challenge, where the students rolled toy cars down ramps and identified the letters they landed on. They also enjoyed letter road tracing activities using toy cars.

We also practiced initial sound matching games and enjoyed a phonics cup hunt where the students searched for hidden objects under lettered cups and identified the matching sounds.

Maths

Preschool

This week in Math, we focused on learning the numbers 6–10. The students practiced recognizing numbers, counting objects, and matching numbers to quantity through a variety of hands-on activities and movement games.

The students enjoyed our number swap activity, where they worked together to place jumbled numbered cones into the correct order. We also explored number finger painting by creating colorful caterpillars using paint and fingerprints to represent numbers.

Another exciting activity was the number chair race, where the students listened carefully for a number called out and raced to find the matching numbered chair. We also practiced number recognition through color matching worksheets, number races using cups and ping pong balls, and our roll and count cup game using dice.

The students used MathLink cubes to practice counting and matching quantities to numbers, helping to strengthen their one-to-one correspondence skills through hands-on learning. One favorite activity this week was the puddle jump number game, where the students jumped onto the correct numbered puddles after listening to number prompts. We also enjoyed our hedgehog number pinning activity, where students clipped the correct number of clothespins onto the hedgehog’s spikes.

Topic Exploration

This week’s theme was All About Me: Feelings. The students explored different emotions and practiced identifying and talking about how they feel through a variety of hands-on activities, music, and crafts.

The students enjoyed using playdough to create different facial expressions and practiced labeling emotions while looking in mirrors during our emotions mirror activity. We talked about feelings such as happy, sad, angry, excited, and calm, and practiced expressing them through our faces and voices.

We also enjoyed musical activities using egg shakers and tambourines, where the students practiced rhythm, loud and quiet sounds, and different beats while singing and moving together.

For our craft activities, the students created feelings faces using paper circles, yarn, and googly eyes. They used the yarn to create different hairstyles and facial expressions such as happy and sad mouths while talking about emotions and how we feel.

The students also made finger puppets by adding googly eyes and drawing different facial expressions to show a variety of emotions. We used the puppets to talk about feelings and emotions in different situations.

One especially exciting activity this week was our exploding bag experiment using baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. We used the activity to talk about how anger can build up inside us when we keep our feelings bottled up. After the experiment, we practiced calming strategies together and discussed ways to calm our bodies and express our feelings safely.

Free Play

Here are some more pictures of friends playing together in the classroom, in the Big Room, at the park, and enjoying other topics, events and activities at school.

Books of the Week

Song of the Week

If you're happy

Important Dates

May 27th - Parents Day 1

- The Desert Class Team

Hello, Jungle Class families!

Morning & Afternoon Meeting

It was a delightful week to learn and grow again in school. We started singing good morning songs , months of the year, seasons song, and weather song. It was followed by checking our calendar time, assigning class jobs, doing a movement song and sharing about our whereabouts through our Class Dojo photos. Our little learners were certainly coping well and having a great time with their friends throughout the week!
In the afternoon, we ended our day by reading a storybook and singing a goodbye song.

Language & Literacy

Pre-K

This week, we kickstarted our lesson through lots of engaging and fun activities to review our phonics and sight word knowledge. First, we read our Raz-Kids book entitled, "Bedtime COunting" , talked about the pictures and the words in the book and did a related worksheet afterwards such as phonics. Then, we learned about our literacy lessons. These are the activities that we did: Short Vowel Ii lesson followed by Pig In the Mud activity wherein they searched for i words, washed it, and read the words, CVC word forming in a sand activity, short vowel i pig word crafts through cutting and pasting pictures, Letter formation through Mat man song, and phonics worksheet. Last, we began using our different booklets to hone our writing and reading or blending skills throughout this term. This booklet is individualized and self-paced activity wherein, once they finish it, hey move to next colored booklet like a "level-up game" for them to keep them motivated and challenged as well.

Kinder

Regarding our literacy Kinder focused on studying new word blends (an, ad) and identifying high frequency words (from, run, up) alongside strengthening their familiarity with Literacy comprehension via an array of actives and crafts including playing matching games, reading books, etc.

Maths

Pre-K

This week, we talked about nonstandard and standard measurements on Length through songs, play-based and fun activities. We had various activities to hone our numeracy skills as well as our fine motor skills. These are the activities that we did for this week: Footprint Tracing and Measuring activity using cubes, Measure My School Things activity using a ruler, length interactive game, Choose My Favorite Thing Measuring group activity, length-related worksheets, and our Math booklets. We have continued using our drawing booklets that they can utilize anytime they want to hone their drawing skills and fine motor too.

Kinder

For Week 7, Kinder focused on strengthening their familiarity with numbers and better understandings how to use number bonds as a strategy for greater addition/subtraction. We made many crafts, including a rainbow number bond ornament, pixel art canvas', and played new games using units up to 1,000!

Topic Exploration

This week, we explored our "Feelings". Acknowledging it and knowing the names of our feelings are important for our little ones in order for them to verbally express themselves much better. We also explored on learning to manage our emotions by breathing exercises and yoga actions. Here were the meaningful and fun activities: read the book about Feelings by Todd Parr and color Monster by Anna Llenas; Blow-Art Painting using straw , paint and google eyes; Color Monster painting and cutting activity; and Mindfulness Calming Down Bottles Paired activity. For our Music time, we listened to the feelings song and threw balloons gently like the slow song to help us manage and control our different emotions through the song, "Jump by Patty Shukla". Next week, we will explore about our senses.

Free Play

Here are some more pictures of friends playing together in the classroom, in the Big Room, at the park, and enjoying other topics, events and activities at school.