School Days
It is finally cooling down a little bit here in Japan. That means that it has gone from stifling to just ridiculous. We are still using the AC at night to sleep, have fans blowing on us regularly, and taking multiple showers a day, but I know it's cooling down because Jaxon has stopped putting ice down his pants while he watches TV.
Many of our US friends are heading back to school today and tomorrow. Admittedly, I'm sad that we are not there doing the whole back to school thing. Seeing all the pictures on Facebook and reading posts about my fellow teachers getting their classrooms ready is a little tough.
I figured I'd take this opportunity to share a little bit about school supplies in Japan. Of course all the kids wear uniforms so the back to school clothes shopping is very easy. I love, love, love that! I don't understand why the uni shirts have to be white... but at least they are inexpensive so I can frequently replace Jaxon's. Also, the kids carry those crazy backpacks, randoseru. The bags are firm sided and super high quality, meant to last for the child's entire elementary school career. I guess in that light $300 isn't so bad for a bag. (I'm still very thankful we got ours free!)
The kids each have their own painting set and calligraphy set (for learning to write Japanese characters), recorders, and then some of the more basic school supplies like pencils, glue, etc. Even though the pencils are just pencils, they are pretty cool. And the pencil cases - I would have loved one as a kid!
The pencil cases are firm and have a hinged door that opens, on both sides (so there is a top part of the box, then you flip it over and there is another compartment). Inside there is a space for all your things and many have a built in sharpener.
My favorite part is the little flap thing that holds your pencils (seen below). It has little spaces to protect your lead and keep your pencil sharp.
If you have a regular zipper type pencil pouch then you probably have these cool pencil caps. Lids for your pencils, so they stay sharp in your pouch.
Did you notice the eraser in the pencil box? It's nothing special, but, kids hear erase everything. A small mistake? Erase. An imperfect letter? Erase. I am used to kids (Lily and Jaxon) that just cross out their errors and write above them or write really dark on top of them. Not sure if if is pride in their work or just training, but it certainly makes for neater papers. Speaking of...you know those worksheets where you match things by drawing a line across the paper? Here, done with a ruler. Straight beautiful lines.
Remember that the kids all wear special shoes to and from school, as well as inside the school? On the right is a photo of the cubbies where the students keep their shoes and umbrellas. There are cubbies exactly like this inside every elementary school I've been to. Each student gets their own spot. Pictured are the outdoor shoes, or the shoes that the kids wear to school and on recess. When the kids are wearing their outdoor shoes, their indoor shoes will be in the cubbies. At the end are all the umbrellas. All the same. Bright yellow, to make the kids more visible I guess. They also wear a bright yellow hat when they are going to/from school.
There are multiple other things the kids have to provide - cleaning cloths, aprons for serving lunch, red hats for break time, chopsticks...the list goes on. One thing that I find really interesting is that the text books that the children use here are all paperback and disposable - meaning that kids each get their own that they throw away (to be burned) at the end of the school year. I'm not sure what that's about - it seems to me that it would be more economical to have books that they re-use, but I guess that getting new ones each year means that they are up to date.
So, my kids return to school on Monday. They are looking forward to it. Even a 6 week summer break was a bit long. What I like about the summer break here is that the kids are given homework that they have to do while on break, lots of it. And, when they take their break it is in July, the middle of their school year (the school year runs from April to March). Because of that, they return to the same classroom and same teacher. The new school year learning curve is not there, or at least minimized. Here's to a great (rest of the) year!
Many of our US friends are heading back to school today and tomorrow. Admittedly, I'm sad that we are not there doing the whole back to school thing. Seeing all the pictures on Facebook and reading posts about my fellow teachers getting their classrooms ready is a little tough.
I figured I'd take this opportunity to share a little bit about school supplies in Japan. Of course all the kids wear uniforms so the back to school clothes shopping is very easy. I love, love, love that! I don't understand why the uni shirts have to be white... but at least they are inexpensive so I can frequently replace Jaxon's. Also, the kids carry those crazy backpacks, randoseru. The bags are firm sided and super high quality, meant to last for the child's entire elementary school career. I guess in that light $300 isn't so bad for a bag. (I'm still very thankful we got ours free!)
The kids each have their own painting set and calligraphy set (for learning to write Japanese characters), recorders, and then some of the more basic school supplies like pencils, glue, etc. Even though the pencils are just pencils, they are pretty cool. And the pencil cases - I would have loved one as a kid! The pencil cases are firm and have a hinged door that opens, on both sides (so there is a top part of the box, then you flip it over and there is another compartment). Inside there is a space for all your things and many have a built in sharpener.
My favorite part is the little flap thing that holds your pencils (seen below). It has little spaces to protect your lead and keep your pencil sharp.
If you have a regular zipper type pencil pouch then you probably have these cool pencil caps. Lids for your pencils, so they stay sharp in your pouch.
Did you notice the eraser in the pencil box? It's nothing special, but, kids hear erase everything. A small mistake? Erase. An imperfect letter? Erase. I am used to kids (Lily and Jaxon) that just cross out their errors and write above them or write really dark on top of them. Not sure if if is pride in their work or just training, but it certainly makes for neater papers. Speaking of...you know those worksheets where you match things by drawing a line across the paper? Here, done with a ruler. Straight beautiful lines.
Remember that the kids all wear special shoes to and from school, as well as inside the school? On the right is a photo of the cubbies where the students keep their shoes and umbrellas. There are cubbies exactly like this inside every elementary school I've been to. Each student gets their own spot. Pictured are the outdoor shoes, or the shoes that the kids wear to school and on recess. When the kids are wearing their outdoor shoes, their indoor shoes will be in the cubbies. At the end are all the umbrellas. All the same. Bright yellow, to make the kids more visible I guess. They also wear a bright yellow hat when they are going to/from school.
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| Boy's hat. |
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| Girl's hat. |
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| Indoor shoes. Red for girls, blue for boys. |
So, my kids return to school on Monday. They are looking forward to it. Even a 6 week summer break was a bit long. What I like about the summer break here is that the kids are given homework that they have to do while on break, lots of it. And, when they take their break it is in July, the middle of their school year (the school year runs from April to March). Because of that, they return to the same classroom and same teacher. The new school year learning curve is not there, or at least minimized. Here's to a great (rest of the) year!
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