Lost and Found
There are three hats in our classroom without names. If one of these hats belongs to your child, please send me an email. Thank you!
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Warm Clothing
UST Jacket(s)
Outdoor Jacket
Hats
Gloves
Scarf
Please continue to send your child to school with their UST jacket(s), an outdoor jacket, and other items he/she may need during the colder season, including hats, gloves, and scarves. If the weather is nice and it is not raining, we try to go outside for lunch and recess at least twice a week (on days we do not have Swimming or P.E. class). It is important that your child has everything he/she needs to stay warm.
Thank you for your help!
Mystery Reader - Parent Volunteers
Dear Parents,
Please take a moment to visit the Mystery Reader calendar. We are looking for parent volunteers to read a book to the G1 students during Term 2. After selecting a week, please email your child's homeroom teacher to let them know and we will work with you to select a day/time for your visit.
Mystery Reader Calendar - click here
Thank you!
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Tuesday, Jan. 28th
Dear G1A Parents,
G1 students are going to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum on Tuesday, January 28th for a Social Studies field trip focusing on life today and long ago. We will leave UST at 9:00 am and return to school at 2:45 pm.
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum website: https://www.tatemonoen.jp/english/
2 Parent Chaperone Needed
For this field trip, we ask that two parents from each grade 1 class accompany us. If you are interested in being a chaperone for this field trip, please send me an email letting me know by Monday, January 20th. If more than two parents are interested, I will mix the names together and pick two.
Are you ready for the field trip?
Please help your child bring these items to school on the day of the field trip:
- Orange UST shirt (P.E. shirt)
- Regular snack and lunch (We will eat snack and lunch at the site.)
- Water bottle
- Restroom Towel
* Students will bring their backpacks on the field trip. Inside they will have their snack, lunch, water bottle, and restroom towel. All folders will be left at school.
Field Trip cost per student - ¥200
*Admission is free for students, teachers, and chaperones. ¥200 will pay for the bus and van parking fees. Please send your child's field trip money to school in an envelope with their name on it by Wednesday, January 22nd.
P.E. Class - INDOOR SHOES
Dear Elementary Parents,
I just wanted to send another reminder about the correct footwear for PE. If next week your child doesn't have the correct footwear they will sit out so as not to get any avoidable injuries. If you have already got the correct sneakers for your child please ignore this mail. If you're still unsure what the correct footwear is please check the pictures from my previous email.
Next week we will be indoors at the Olympic center on Tuesday (21st), Wednesday (22nd) and Friday (24th). Thursday (23rd) will be outdoors (we couldn't book the gym).
The following week we will be mainly outdoors with Tuesday (28th), Wednesday (29th) and Thursday (30th) outdoors and only Friday (31st) indoors at the Olympic center.
If you have any questions please feel free to send me a message.
Best regards
Coach Adam
UST P.E. Teacher
LICE - Note from UST Office
Dear Parents,
A few cases of head lice have been reported at UST this week. It can be spread to other students, so please check your child’s head at home.
Head lice is spread without regard to age or state of cleanliness. The most effective method for control of head lice would be for you to check your children's hair, especially behind their ears and at the backs of their heads before sending them to school.
ALSO: Please advise them not to share combs and brushes, hair bands, hats and towels.
Since head lice can be contracted only from direct contact (they don't leap or fly) with individuals or their clothing or hairbrushes, etc., elimination of the problem will occur when affected children are identified promptly and kept at home until treatment is effective. Please inform the Office if your child has lice or nits (tiny clear or white eggs stuck to the strands of hair) so we can check the other students in the class.
Signs/Symptoms:
• itching and scratching of scalp
• small, flat, wingless, grayish-white insects
• small clear-white eggs (nits) cemented to hair shafts, near the ears, back of neck
Actions:
Considering that children across all grades interact with each other during ECA and on the bus, please check ALL children regardless of age and grade.
• If you detect lice, please start treatment as soon as possible. After shampooing, nits must be manually removed. Shampooing alone will not remove them.
• Keep student at home until treated and entirely nit-free
- Keep checking for any nits and lice daily
• Students with lice may not ride the bus. If your child is found to have lice at school we will call you and ask you to pick up your child. After treatment, bring your child to the Office to be checked and cleared. When cleared the student may be in class and ride the bus again.
• Check and treat entire family if necessary
• Wash combs, brushes, bedding, and clothing in strong detergent and hot water and use a very hot dryer to dry these items to ensure that the lice and nits are dead
• Repeat treatment in about one week - this is very important in order to prevent any new lice from reoccurring
• See your doctor to verify diagnosis and suggest treatment if you wish
Anti-lice Products
Sumisurin (or other lice shampoos) is available at Japanese pharmacies or on Amazon. For use, first wet the hair, then use 20ml of shampoo and rub into the hair. Leave on for 5 minutes before rinsing. We commend disregarding the product instructions and instead applying the following dermatologist recommended application of the shampoo: Use the medicated shampoo for 3 days in a row, as described in the instructions, and then take a break for 4 days (this makes 1 week). Repeat this cycle again for another week (bringing the total to 2 weeks).
Please call us if you have any questions. For an upbeat view and more information, try www.headlice.org
Thank you for your help.
Reading
Dramatizing Characters and Deepening our Comprehension
As readers, students continued practicing how to get their voice right while reading and acting like the characters in their books (tone, expression). Our class was introduced to dialogue tags (said, yelled, answered) and paid attention to punctuation (end marks . ! ?) to match their voices to the story and guide their reading.
We also learned about directors. Students practiced becoming their own directors by thinking about what is important in the story and acting out the scene from the story in their mind. We said, "Think first! Act it out in your mind!" Before acting, we discussed what we could do with our voices, facial expressions, and body to make the character come alive.
Writing
Persuasive Writing
Students revised, edited, and began publishing their persuasive writing pieces this week. We will have a writing presentation next week and each student will share their published work with the class.
Poetry
Rhyming Poems
This week students began working on rhyming poems. First, they picked a topic and wrote words to describe and tell about their topic. Next, they listed rhyming words that could be used in their poem and started their draft. I will help students revise, edit, and publish their poems next week.
The week of Jan. 27th students will bring home one of their poems to memorize and practice reading aloud. We will have a presentation day in class for G1A students to recite their poem, then 2 students will be chosen to participate in the UST poetry slam on Friday, January 31st.
Grammar
*Review nouns & adjectives
*Introduce verbs
During Grammar students learned that some verbs show action. They brainstormed different verbs and acted them out. We practiced reading sentences and identifying the noun(s), adjectives(s), and verb(s).
Math
Numbers to 20
*Comparing Numbers
*Number Patterns
*Number Order
*Place value (tens, ones)
This week we focused on comparing sets and numbers.
Example:
Set A has 15 books.
Set B has 12 books.
Set A has 3 more books than Set B.
Set B has 3 fewer books than Set B.
We practiced using place value charts to help us organize tens and ones, then compared the amounts in the different sets.
Set A: 1 ten, 5 ones
Set B: 1 ten, 2 ones
Both sets have 1 ten. Look at the ones. 5 is 3 more than 2.
We also practiced making patterns and ordering numbers.
Examples:
11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (+1 each time)
12, 14, 16, 18, 20 (+2 each time)
19, 18, 17, 16, 15 (-1 each time)
17, 15, 13, 11, 9 (-2 each time)
2 more than 15 is ___.
5 less than 17 is ___.
___ is 3 more than 10.
___ is 2 less than 16.
Math Vocabulary
greatest
least
greater than
less than
more than
Social Studies
Maps - What is a map?
We started a new Social Studies unit this week. We will answer the question, “What is a map?” Our next unit is titled Life Today and Long Ago. To help our class learn about maps we listened to a story about a first grade classroom, then created a map on our rug using pictures of the items in the classroom. Afterwards we drew a map using symbols to stand for the classroom items. I introduced the class to new vocabulary: symbols, map key, compass rose.
Have a wonderful weekend!
- Ms. Allison