Katahama Elementary School

After our vacation, Becca and I started our working days at Kata-Elm.  We visited about 10 classes over two days, and had a lot of fun!  Here we are reading to some of our new friends! (:

And, of COURSE, we had to take some group pictures!  On the left is a class from day one, and the right day two.  I think Becca really enjoyed seeing what schools are like in Japan, even though she couldn't speak with the kids very well! (:

After school one day, we were invited to a 'meeting' of some kids (below).  We still aren't sure what it was for, but it was cute to watch the big kids mediating everything, while the first graders sat and got bored. (:

This other picture is of their 'cubbys' in the classroom.  Becca thought they were so cute and had to get a picture. (:  You can see their identical (REALLY expensive)  (with an occasional bl lunch-serving aprons  cute, huh? (:  Becca

backpacks--girls' are red, boys' blue ack).  The little cloth bags are for their and hats, and sometimes utensils.  How thought they were really fun!

AFTER SCHOOL

This is the students' entrance to the school.  They have cubbys here

for their shoes, changing from outdoor to indoor when they enter and leave. (:  It was a rainy day... can you tell?  The little kids (third and younger) are required to wear those helmets on their walk home.

Now, on to KATAHAMA JUNIOR HIGH!

Katahama was my fifth school.  It was a nice bike ride away from home... about twenty minutes--generally pleasant, but there was one scary intersection.... heh.  It was a smaller school, so I only worked with two teachers: Mr. Uchimura and Mr. Sueoka.  When I arrived here, it was the beginning of the Japanese school year, so it was interesting to see how things started. (:  I went to the first years' classes, to their very first English lessons ever!  That was  really interesting.  English is such a big part of Japanese life these days, that they knew a lot of basic vocab before even having class!  (Animal names, foods, countries and the like... Simple, but a lot more than WE Americans can say about our kids,  don't you think? (:

I guess I got really bad about taking pictures near the end of my stay... But at Katahama, I got some nice pictures of the teachers' room (to the left) and some of the classrooms there.  You can see, in the staff room, three groups of desks, one for each year of kids (they divide the teachers up and they are kind of like sponsors or homeroom teachers for that grade).  Becca got a special spot next to my desk, with the first year class' teachers. (:  Thanks so much, Katahama teachers!!  We really enjoyed our visit to your school!

These are some shots of the classes.  The desks and even the cubbys look just like the elementary ones... don't they? (:  The yellow 'cushions' double as hoods--during fire and earthquake drills.