HJIS Sendai Aoba Class Blogs 2026-27: Week 15

Hello, Desert Class families!

As we come to the end of Term 1, we would like to say how proud we are of all of our Desert Class students. It has been a wonderful term watching everyone settle into school, build new friendships, and grow in confidence each day. The students have adjusted so well to classroom routines and have become more independent while developing their communication, social, and learning skills. It has been amazing to see how much each child has grown in such a short time. We are incredibly proud of everything they have achieved this term and are excited to see how much they continue to learn and grow when we return for Term 2. Thank you to all of our families for your continued support throughout the term. We hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing summer break!

Morning & Afternoon Meeting

It was a fun and exciting, although short, week in Desert Class! We began each day by singing our Hello Song, Weather Song, and Months of the Year Song. We also reviewed our calendar, discussed our classroom responsibilities, and enjoyed sharing photos of what our friends like to do at home through ClassDojo. The students loved talking about their families and favorite activities while learning more about one another. As Wednesday was the final day of Term 1, we took a break from our usual routine to celebrate together with a special Summer Party. It was a wonderful way to end the term and celebrate all of the friendships and memories we have made together. During our afternoon meetings, we enjoyed reading stories together and ended each day by singing our Goodbye Song.

Language & Literacy

Preschool

This week in Language & Literacy, we reviewed all of the letter sounds from Jolly Phonics Sets 1 and 2. The students practiced identifying letter sounds through a variety of engaging, hands-on activities while continuing to build confidence with letter recognition and phonics. Throughout the week, the students enjoyed a water letter-picking challenge, where they carefully used a stick to pick up a floating letter before identifying its sound. They also completed a letter-sorting activity by placing uppercase and lowercase letters into the correct groups, reinforcing their understanding of letter recognition. As part of our review, the students also practiced identifying previously learned letter sounds through a variety of games and activities. A favorite activity this week was the water letter-picking challenge. The students loved carefully catching a letter before proudly saying its sound.

Maths

Preschool

This week in Math, we reviewed our 2D shapes. We began by singing our shape song before practicing shape recognition through a variety of fun, hands-on activities. The students completed a shape-matching activity by placing shapes onto their matching outlines and later became shape detectives using shape viewfinders to search the classroom for circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and other familiar shapes. A favorite activity this week was using the shape viewfinders. The students were excited to hunt for shapes around the classroom and discover them in everyday objects.

Topic Exploration

This week, our theme was Friendship. Together, we talked about what makes a good friend and discussed ways we can show kindness, share, take turns, and use kind words with one another. The students explored friendship through a fun color-mixing experiment. Working with a partner, each child was given a different color, and together they mixed the colors to create a brand-new color. This hands-on activity showed that when friends work together, they can create something new and wonderful. Later in the week, the students created friendship bracelets, decorating them before exchanging them with a friend. Everyone enjoyed giving and receiving their bracelets while practicing kindness and celebrating the friendships they have made throughout the term. A favorite activity this week was exchanging friendship bracelets. The students loved sharing their creations and seeing their friends smile.

Last Day Party

To celebrate the end of the term, we took a break from our usual schedule and enjoyed a fun-filled Summer Party together! We started the day with singing and dancing before working together to make our very own piñata. The students wrapped a paper bag with colorful flower paper and filled it with handmade confetti created from flower paper and origami paper. They also created beautiful butterfly sun catchers using laminated sheets and colorful cellophane. The students are excited to take them home and hang them in a sunny window to watch the colors shine through. Next, we headed to the Big Room for some exciting group games. The students had lots of fun playing with the parachute, bouncing balls on top and taking turns running underneath. The biggest excitement came when it was finally time to break open the piñata and watch the colorful confetti burst out, bringing lots of smiles and laughter! To finish our special day, we relaxed together by watching Sing while enjoying popcorn and apple juice.

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.