Japan Day #9: Small Group school visits, again!

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Homemade sushi, a restaurant and an aquarium made entirely by kindergarteners, a lunch of ramen and an afternoon of dodge ball? My group was super happy today…

Lots of cuteness here…

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Kindergarten in Japan? Priceless!

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

My small group spent the morning in kindergarten with 4 and 5 year olds!

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Japan Day #8: sightseeing day in Tokyo

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Today was a day of morning sightseeing and afternoon lunch and shopping, then back to host families at the usual time…

We saw some interesting sites: The Tokyo Tower, The outside of the Imperial Palace and a famous Buddhist Temple. Then we enjoyed some of the funky local color….

Tomorrow, back to schools for another round of visits.

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Japan Day #7: Each group to a different school…

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Given the raucous conversations at the end of the day, each group had some terrific opportunities to interact with students ranging from kindergarten through 9th grade.

I have a few pics of other group activities, as well as mine…

Pretty sweet.

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Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, Japan, leadership, leadership in children, literacy, Seven Hills Japan Trip 2016, Seven Hills School Walnut Creek, social emotional learning | Tagged | Leave a comment

Day #6 The first day of school visits

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

What an amazing welcome we got: from the school’s band playing “All Hail the Chief as we filed in” to an amazing set of performances by their marching band and orchestra, to the lovely school song and speeches, we were amazed and impressed by the reception we received. You will see our girls were all put in kimonos. It was spectacular!

Seven Hills Students sag their Beatles tune from graduation and did the jitterbug as planned.

Then we had a lesson in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, flower arranging and a delicious school made lunch of ramen noodles with one of the Japanese classes.

A little recess and it was off the mayor’s office for an official welcome of another kind, more speeches and gift exchanges.

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Day #5, Part 2, Arrival in Kita City

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Tons of excitement and the right amount of pomp and circumstance greeted us in Kita City. What a lovely opening assembly. What an honor!

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Day #5 Happy Birthday Grace! …and the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo!

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

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Grace turned fourteen in Japan on Sunday. There was a free morning and then we gathered up all our things to get to the bullet train for the ride from Kyoto to Tokyo.

First we waited in the station. Ryan and Hanalo bought sudoku books and are very busy getting right to it!

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then we boarded the train…

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Hanging along the window are the Happy Birthday lights for Grace and friends.

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We have discovered that you can buy just about anything with Green Tea in it… Not all Green Tea flavored products get thumbs up. Kit Kats? Yes! Oreos? Not so much.

There’s a little anticipation in the air as we get ready to meet host families…

Onward!

 

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Day #4 Part 2 Samurai Land

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

The lesson of the day: what happens in Samurai Land stays in Samurai Land. Well, sort of…

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

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The evening ended with a group dinner all together at a traditional Japanese meal!

More on Samurai Land as the truth trickles out over time….KM

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Japan Day #4 Part 1

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

This morning, after our performance rehearsal, we visited the Kiyomizu Temple.

Beautiful vistas of Kyoto, an amazing Buddhist Temple and a walk through village area with gift shops and foodie items. Notice Mr. Roquet’s new Hello Kitty  fan! Some students were blindfolded by the Love Rock to see if they would find true love; others drank from one of three special springs where they could choose ONE wish: academic achievement, a good love match OR a long life. Many wanted to more than one, but were told they had to choose just one. (There was a love theme today!)

The afternoon was spent at an amusement area of sorts. Think Universal studios meets Samurai movies. It was a hit with the kids.

Group dinner this evening, and then bullet train to Tokyo tomorrow where we will start home stays tomorrow night and for the remainder of the trip.

Slide show from Kiyomizu Temple.

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Getting ready to perform when we get to Tokyo

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

We have been performing, flash mob style, in various venues in Kyoto to practice for our host schools.
Here we are on Saturday morning in the lower lobby of our hotel!

Now we are off for a day of sightseeing!

More later!

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