About next week (December 14)

It was exciting to start work on our new project today! I'm still checking to see if the Voicethread website has properly invited you to access your Voicethread account. About next week, remember we've decided to have an end-of-year party, so don't forget to prepare your "secret Santa" gift -- no more than 500 yen, ok?! We'll try to have a sweet treat, and why don't you bring your lunch to have here with everyone? We'll do a little work next time - I just want to see if you're making progress with your research on the project. Bring your notes so I can have a look at them, ok? See you next Saturday!

Today's class (December 7)

Please bring your computer today (if it can connect to the Internet...) See you later!

Interesting Video

Thanks to Graeme's introduction to interesting science videos, I've been watching a few lately. Here is one that's really cool - it gives us a clear idea of what 200 calories of various kinds of food look like: I haven't checked with Maya and Sophie yet - did Graeme assign any homework? Please be sure to do it if he did! See you on Saturday...

It's been a long time since I've posted! Sorry...

It was nice to see most of you today. Ren and Natsuko - we missed you! We decided that we're going to take a break next Saturday, November 23. It's a national holiday, so we won't have Kidz Group. Let's get together again on November 30. Christie has to teach some classes at her university, but Graeme will be here to handle things. Homework from today is to do a final revision on your "food" paragraph and to post it on your blog!! I'm looking forward to seeing those new posts.

Homework for next Saturday, October 26

I'm updating the blog right away!! Yay me!!

Homework #1
- Type your paragraph into a MS Word document and send it to Christie by e-mail.

Homework #2
- If you have time, think about good games for our Halloween party! We decided to hold it on Friday, November 1 from 7-9. So far, everybody wants to do these things:

1. doughnut race
2. balloon drawing
3. mafia game

But let's do a little internet research and come up with some new ideas, too, ok?

Homework #3

- If you haven't watched any science videos (see last week's homework blog post), try to find a little time to do that. Some of them are really interesting!

Science video homework!

Sorry I'm late posting these links. Remember that Graeme introduced us to a lot of interesting science video websites? Part of your homework was to watch a few videos and find TWO that you are interested in. Click on the titles below to visit the various science video websites.

Veritasium

minutephysics

minuteearth

CGP Grey

scishow

Vsauce

The OTHER part of your homework was to keep working on your paragraph about a FOOD-related topic. Please bring your paragraph to class on Saturday.

Thanks!

Homework for October 12

We've all got a good start on our food paragraphs! I think this is what everyone's doing:

Jojo - Tapioca
Ren - Chanpon
Nozomi - German Potato Dumplings
Sophie - Dango
Richie - Doner kebab
Angus - Waffles
Maya - Dried fruit
Natsuko - Okonomiyaki
Moni - Pumpkin pie

For your homework, please write a first draft of your paragraph, including a good topic sentence that explains what the paragraph is going to be about. Next week we'll take a look at your first drafts and work on improving them.

See you then!

Homework for September 28

Hi guys! Did you have a good long weekend?

There are a few things to remind you of.

1. The link to Jojo's blog (see it on the right?) was wrong, so I have fixed it. Jojo wrote a lot about his summer vacation, so please check it out!

2. Homework - Unfortunately, nobody really did Graeme's homework (writing 1/2 page about reptiles and amphibians last week.) C'mon, guys! This is Jojo's favorite subject - if you do Graeme's homework, you might become more interested in it, too! Graeme and I are looking forward to reading your writing about reptiles and amphibians.

3. Christie also gave you some cursive writing homework - please do the cursive writing practice, and bring the print to class. We'll discuss the "candle" quote and see if we can paraphrase it. (Remember, "paraphrase" means to say/explain it in your own words.)

See you Saturday!

Moni's holiday!

This summer I had a great time. First I went to Fukuoka and visited Papa, Grandma and my aunt. I also went yukata shopping with Mami-chan, and went to a summer festival with my friends. After a couple nights in Fukuoka, I went to Canada with Sophie. In Canada I stayed one week at a summer camp called Blue Lake Camp, stayed two weeks at Munroe Lake and stayed another week in Vancouver. At Blue lake I made lots friends and learned lots of songs. At Munroe Lake, I played in the lake every day and went tubing. In Vancouver, I met Yuka and stayed a couple nights at her place. I also met my Aunt Kelly, and stayed two nights with her. I had a great great time in Canada and I would really like to thank my Mom, Dad and the Provenzanos for arranging the trip, and taking me all the way to Canada. 

Flying Moni!

About class on Saturday, September 14th

Hi everybody!

Just a quick note about this Saturday - EVERYBODY is going to write on their blogs about summer vacation, right?! (Ren already did... click HERE to read what he wrote about his trip.)

This Saturday you'll meet at the Provenzanos' as usual, but Christie won't be there. Graeme will be taking care of the whole group, so be NICE!! Some kids usually stay after class to play, but there will not be an adult to supervise after class, so everybody will need to go home right after class this week.

Have a good class!

Tomorrow!

Hi everyone!!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone TOMORROW (September 7)!!

See you then
:-)

Things to think about...

We've had small groups recently because lots of people have been busy with school and travel! Last week it was just Jojo, Maya and Sophie. Sophie's got a little paraphrasing homework, while Maya and Jojo are going to post some writing about foxes on their blogs.

Graeme and I were talking about a fun pre-summer vacation activity for the group and we remembered how fun it was to go to the waterfall! I'd like to know which kids/families can attend and which day is best. We were thinking either

Saturday, July 20 (Maya will still be in Japan)
or
Saturday, July 27 (Maya will be in Canada)

We'd go up in the morning, swim, play, eat lunch, and leave after lunch. Please let me know tomorrow so we can make plans!

Lights, camera, action!!

As we discussed in class last week, this coming Saturday (June 22) is a video day!

The bus team (Ren, Jojo, Richie and Grame) will meet in the Ropponmatsu Subway station next Saturday at 10:25 a.m. in the sitting area over by the vending machines. Please be on time!  Please bring money for bus fare and to use for the video (getting change, paying for your ride). Graeme has offered the use of his camera.

The subway team (Sophie, Maya, Natsuko and Christie) will meet at the Ohori Park Subway station at 10:25 - 10:30 a.m. This team will also need some money to show how to buy a ticket.

See you on Saturday!!

Homework for next Saturday, June 1

We missed Natsuko and Nozomi today, but did some good vocabulary/sentence writing work.

We are ALL going to do a little writing for homework. Let's write a paragraph to describe a routine that you have.

Angus, Sophie, Richie and Natsuko, I'd like you all to write a paragraph to explain a typical sports practice (Angus - tennis; Sophie - swimming; Richie - track & field OR your recent weightlifting routine; Natsuko - figure skating). In the paragraph, I'd like you to use at least 4 "sequencing" words. We looked at words like these:

First, ...
Then ...
After that ...
Next ...
Finally ...

Remember that your paragraph should have a topic sentence to introduce your sport. Here is my sample paragraph:

About two months ago, I started to work out at the Chuo Gymnasium with a friend who is an athletic trainer. He is teaching me a lot about exercise and helps me have a good workout every time. We spend about an hour doing a variety of activities. When I first arrive at the gym, I always warm up for about ten or fifteen minutes. I stretch the muscles in my legs, torso and arms by doing some yoga poses and other stretches. Then I work on strength training. Some days we focus on my lower body, so I do exercises such as squats and walking lunges. Other days we focus on my upper body, so I do bench presses, push ups, and other arm and chest exercises. After those exercises we usually work on making my torso stronger by throwing a heavy medicine ball or holding a "plank" pose for a long time. We finish up with some slow stretches. I always look forward to exercising these days, because I feel stronger and fitter.

The blue sentence is the topic sentence. The red words are the sequence words.

Nozomi, Maya, Ren, Jojo and Moni, you can write a sequence paragraph, too, but it doesn't have to be about sports - you can write about any kind of regular routine that you do: a typical weekday morning or evening, how school lunch is served, how you usually spend summer vacation - whatever you like!! E-mail me if you need some ideas!!

I can't join Kidz Group next Saturday, so please send me your paragraphs by e-mail!! The deadline is Friday night!!

Long time, no post...!

Hi Kidz Group Gang -

Sorry I was MIA last week (ask Richie what that means... it's a military expression!). I heard from Sophie and Maya that you were writing the ending to a story - I have read their crazy versions and would love to see everyone's this coming Saturday. Sophie and Maya told me that your homework is to proofread your story endings - that means you need to check your spelling, look for missed capital letters, periods, etc. Please bring the stories to class on Saturday.

See you then!

Homework for April 27

We were missing a few people last Saturday, but we have A PLAN for the next step in our video project. For next week, a few people have things to do:

- Moni, Angus and Kyle are going to think about and write an introduction to Nishijin
- Nozomi is going to write an introduction to Praliva
- Jojo is going to write an explanation of what mentaiko is
- Sophie, Maya and Christie are going to make a master plan chart of the video project so we can fill it in when we get ideas
- Ren and Natsuko are going to come this Saturday with lots of good ideas for places to visit and introduce in our video!!

Homework!!

Sorry, guys - I totally BLEW my New Year's Resolution this week (remember I said I was going to try hard to update the Kidz Group Blog right away every week?).

ANYWAY, as I promised, I've made a few more sentence prompts for you to try.

Part 1:
Add a dependent clause to each of these independent clauses:

1. The air in Fukuoka was terribly hazy.
2. I am not ready for the test.
3. He is really good at playing the piano.
4. Christie thinks the bugs in her house are scary.
5. Finding Nemo is a great movie.

Part 2:
Add an independent clause to each of these dependent clauses:

1. _______, but his father wouldn't give him any money.
2. When she reached into the dark cupboard, _______.
3. _______, so she couldn't sleep all night.
4. _______, especially in the morning.
5. Because the wind was blowing so hard, _______.

After Kidz Group on Saturday, April 20, the Provenzanos are going to go to this event:

Does anyone want to come with us? We're going to have lunch there!!! Leaving our house by bicycle at 11:45 (unless it's really raining... then we'll probably go by car or bus...). The festival is always a good chance to buy lots of books!

A little bit of homework

Today we practiced writing dependent and independent clauses, and I thought you would like to do a few more for homework! REMEMBER THE RULE: No killing, blood, guts or poop!! Write your sentences on a piece of paper and bring it to class. (Please write the WHOLE sentence, not just the part you made up yourself.)

Part 1:
Add a dependent clause to each of the following sentences.

1. You have to try hard.
2. They watched the bird fly.
3. I'm going to tell you a story.
4. They met at the park.
5. He was pulling my leg.

Part 2:
Add an independent clause to each of the following sentences:

1. No matter what she does, ________.
2. _______ if you sit quietly.
3. As the sun set, _________.
4. _______ when I finish my homework.
5. Although he had a lot of free time, ________.

-------------------------------------------
AND

Here are the categories we brainstormed for our Fukuoka video. Can you think of any more?

• Food
• Shopping
• Sightseeing
• Festivals

Please start to think of shops/restaurants/places to include in each category. For example, Nozomi suggested introducing Praliva in Nishijin as a good shopping place.

Presentation Videos - Great Job, Guys!!

All about Paper!!

The Internet - Past, Present and Future

Recycling - Now and Then

Tiiiiiiiiime is on my side (yes it is!)

Things to do for the 16th

Ren and Maya - you need to practice your presentation by Skype and think about how to introduce each section.

Sophie and Jojo - Finish coloring visual aids

Richie - write group's introduction and work on PowerPoint slides ... Maybe come to Provenzanos' place one evening this coming week?
Nozomi - practice, practice, practice
Natsuko - make sure your script and slides are ready so you can practice with your group on the 16th.

OK!! I'm getting excited about seeing these great presentations!!

Homework for next class

Our presentation projects seem to be moving along well - this week, everyone has something a little different to do.

Ren -
Research the amount of paper that people use in modern times and work on your PowerPoint slides. Remember IMAGES = good, but TOO MUCH TEXT = bad!

Maya -
Finish typing your script, and talk with Mom about your PowerPoint.

Angus -
Send your script to Christie by e-mail to be checked.

Moni -
Send your sentences to Christie by e-mail to be checked.

Nozomi -
Finish your "structure" PowerPoint slide AND write an explanation to go with it. At least 5 full sentences!

Natsuko -
Continue to work on your script.

Sophie -
Color your poster (as much as possible in between studying for your tests).

Jojo -
Color your poster.

Richie -
Write one paragraph about how "brick and mortar" stores may decline as people switch to Internet shopping in the future. Do as much as you can, but don't neglect your test studies!

See you Saturday!!

Hi everybody - how are your projects coming along? Looking forward to seeing everybody on Saturday at out usual time.

See you tomorrow!

Hi everybody!

I'm back from Thailand and I'm ready to hear all about your projects. See you at the Provenzanos' place at the usual time!

For Saturday the 26th

Your travel brochures look FANTASTIC!!! I am so impressed by the time you all took to research and write about the countries you were interested in. Now there are a lot more countries on my list of "Places I Want to Go".

Christie will be away next Saturday, but Graeme and Doug will be here to introduce our next project. I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas for project topics when I come back from Thailand!

Look! I'm posting early!!!

It was great to see everyone on Saturday and to hear all about your New Year's resolutions. Graeme suggested that we keep our resolutions somewhere, and that at the end of the year we can look at them again and decide if we have succeeded in keeping them, so I have SCANNED everyone's paper. Check it out:

At the end of the class, Nozomi gave us all some really nice souvenirs from her trip in the winter holiday. I realized that we didn't really talk much about what we did in the holiday, so I'd like you to write a comment on this blog post explaining about your holiday. Talk about what you did and what was your favorite thing that you did. I'd like to read at least 5 sentences by each person!!

See you tomorrow!!! (Saturday, January 12)

Happy new year, everyone!! The Provenzanos are back and we're ready for Kidz Group! See you tomorrow at our house, ready for a 10:30 start. People who are not finished their travel brochures yet can work on them. People who are finished can discuss a new project.

See you!!