Origami

During Developmental Play, our Japanese exchange students taught some of the Preps how to make origami. They made different types of paper cranes and boxes.

Japanese Science

Minasan konnichiwa! 

This week we made towers in Japanese Science to see which was the tallest.  

Waa! Sugoi!

Ben Sensei

End of Term Japanese Party!

As a special, end of term treat, the Preps had a Japanese party with Ben. First off, the Preps learnt about the history and rules of Sumo Wrestling (even real Sumo Wrestlers aren't allowed to hit, scratch or punch). Then it was the Preps turn to be the wrestlers! 

At the beginning of each wrestle, Ben measured up each pair of wrestlers to check if the contest would be fair. Next, the wrestles had to stomp their feet, as loudly as they could, to scare off any bad spirits, and to scare their opponent as well.

It is very important to show respect to your opponent, so before any wrestling occurred, the Preps bowed.

Then the audience yelled "san, ni, ichi" (3, 2, 1) and the wrestling began!

Here are some (very cute) videos which show the whole process (only viewable on the blog):

After all of that hard work, the Preps built up an appetite. Ben served some delicious miso soup and the Preps were asked to rate their soup in Japanese.

What a great way to learn about Japanese culture!

The Preps

Family Maths and Science Night

On Wednesday the 14th of August, Moreland Primary School celebrated Maths and Science Night. Families moved around the school to different stations and one of these was run by Kellie, Natalie and Mary.  The 'Will it Sinking or Float?' activity required students and their parents to choose an object and 'predict, observe and explain'. One of the most interesting activities was the two oranges experiment, with one having its skin on and the other one was skinless. Which orange floated? Which one sunk? Try this at home and find out the answer...

The Preps were very inquisitive and provided detailed explanations about their predictions. Overall, the Preps got the most answers correct, well done!!

Prep Sumo Wrestling (!!!)

As a special, end of term treat, the Preps got to do Sumo Wrestling in Science/Japanese!

First we watched some information about Sumo Wrestling and learned the rules (even real Sumo Wrestlers aren't allowed to hit, scratch or punch).

Ben measured up each pair of Sumo Wrestlers to check if the contest would be fair... (these two look about right!)

After that, the wrestlers had to stomp their feet really loudly to scare off any bad spirits, and maybe scare each other too!

Then - bow to your opponent...

Get ready, get set....

GO!!! The wrestling begins!