Noah's first ensoku/field trip as a first grader

Sorry you guys but both Branden and Noah go on Summer break after school lets out tomorrow at 11am. I devoted 2 posts about Branden's overnight stay. One was the packing and prep and the other was the pictures from the actual trip.  And fair is fair. I received pictures from Noah's first field trip and I failed to write anything about it, I did do a blurb post about Noah's first ensoku but didn't have any pics from the actual event and when I finally got them, I dropped the ball totally, I am so sorry Noah. And I just feel, it wouldn't be fair to one son if I didn't write anything. Especially since I also wrote about Branden's first ensoku in detail years ago. So Noah kiddo....this is for you. And thank goodness for me writing stuff and details on my calendar. So here goes. Noah, Friday May 11th is when you had your very first class field trip as a 1st grader. This was just for the first graders. You went to the Narita Yume Bokujo (farm). You brought a paper a week in advance asking for your parents to circle which ice cream flavor you'd like. Your choice was green tea, milk and chocolate chip. You picked chocolate chip. Lunch and thermos was required. And on that day, I made your lunch, packed your little leisure sheet and whatnots into your Mario backpack and off you went. You were so excited to go to the bokujo that day. That I remember clearly. Anyway this is your class photo from Friday, May 11,2012. You were 6 years old and the one wearing yellow of course.  Your sensei, the Yuka-sensei is the front row far left. Sera is in the front row 2 down from the Yuka-sensei and wearing purple. Also from my memory this was an interesting day weather wise. Some days were warm and you could almost wear shorts and some days were quite chilly still in the mornings. So it was a big question mark how to dress you that day. I did open the upstairs window and feel the temperature. It felt chilly to me, so that's why I dressed you in jeans and a long sleeve. Also forecast said it might rain. It did not rain, but it started sprinkling when the bus dropped you off at the front of our housing community. But only for a few minutes and it stopped by the time you and I walked by the tennis courts.

Here you are Noah, with all of your good friends you made. You made friends real quick. And you have a really good bunch/set of friends you always hang with.

Here you were enjoying icecream. And I see Sera right there smiling and giving the peace sign. Anyway Noah I enjoyed watching you enjoy the first grade so far. Anyway if anyone ever asks, where your *first ever* field trip was in the first grade, now you can tell them. Tell them you went to the Narita Yume Bokujo. And you can tell them all the fun you had that day.  I love you. : )

Branden and Noah's observation day last week

Last Friday, June 8th was observation day at our local elementary school in our town. This was Noah's 2nd observation at the elementary school. For the first class the 3 of us showed up to support Noah! The Yuka-sensei was teaching Math. All of the kids did awesome. You could show up anytime in the day. So just a handful of parents were there for the first class, but they did come to other classes also. 

Every child has many of their work, essays or projects proudly displayed along the walls of the classroom. Those particular papers, each child wrote their feelings about how they enjoyed taking care of their morning glory. Each child is given a morning glory to water, care and take care of, even on Summer break they will bring them home. After Noah's first class, we waved see you. And we told Noah we were now making our way to Branden's class.

Inside Branden's class (again all 3 of us went and showed our support for Branden same as we did for Noah). Remember I mentioned the kids all had make shift aquariums and have teeny tiny fish from the rice fields the school has. These are them. They're cool. The kids enjoy watching the life cycle of the fish and things that are part of our country living. Cost for this? Free. Each child brought their own used bottle and the fish and rocks etc were collected in nature. The sensei bought a big bottle of fish food granted, but yeah it's a really cool thing Branden and his classmates are doing and learning about.

Branden in the green tee.

My dad finds their school so cool! : )

Again each class proudly hangs lots of each childs work. This was Branden's essay about how he enjoyed planting the rice.

More of the kids stuff written on the wall. Branden's is on the bottom right.  What that is, is each child has a picture up that the sensei takes. They were all standing near the cherry blossoms. They give their blood type. Their astrological sign. : ) And like, a small questionnaire. Who do you look up to? What would you like to work on? Just fun questions. And last but not least draw a picture in this box. Kids choice, as long as it can fit into the box. I liked seeing what each child picked to draw. More farther left, is book report done well, on the wall. What class did we get to watch of Branden's? English class. How did we luck out with that? I have no idea, we knew in advance we would watch Branden's 2nd class, it just happened to be English for that day. Go figure!  So the video below in from Branden's English class. They have listening, understanding, writing, conversation. It was a cool hour to watch the English class. I think on a fair note, it was a little nerve racking for the English teacher to have 2 Americans sitting at the back of the class watching. I felt so sorry about that. But honestly I even said it on my blog last week we were planning to attend the 2nd class for Branden. So as all of you now, it really and sincerely wasn't intentional, honest. You could almost hear her heart beating from the back of the class. English is not her native language (which is totally fine), but I think she did a great job. And I like that my children do get English at elementary a couple times a week. She did come to the back of the class and asked me and my dad if we'd like to participate. We both politely declined and said we'd just prefer enjoy observing. Like all the other parents/grandparents. : ) Noboru told me, you guys are making her nervous by being here (he didn't mean it to be mean). Which again I had no idea which class it would be to begin with,since observation day they usually have a different schedule then their normal schedule classes. There wasn't anything I could do about it really. And I did tell her, I enjoyed the class afterwards. : )

Okay so after 2nd period English class. They announced on the speaker system all kids would go outside and get some fresh air and exercise for the morning. 15 minutes. So Noboru left at that point. He had to get himself ready for work, but I was glad he could watch both Branden and Noah's 1 class each, at least he showed up. So he rocked for that. Meanwhile my dad and I made our way to the school grounds. Btw (by the way) my dad told me about a month ago, while he was out walking with friends. He goes for morning walks with a small/handful group of guys and gals in his age group from his church most mornings. Anyway it rained earlier and as they were walking from the sandy beach to the sidewalk, my dad walked over some wet rocks (from the rain) he thought he could make it over them but he slipped. He went to the docs a month ago nothing broken. But apparently he had some ripped ligaments and tendons or whatever. Anyway, since I heard this over the phone, well skype but ykwim and he hasn't mentioned it since. I was very surprised when I saw my dad when he arrived walking as slowly as Willy Wonka walked (Gene Wilder Wonka) before he let them enter the chocolate factory gates. @_@ I had no idea his leg was THIS bad. And I had planned for us to watch at least 2 classes each for Branden and Noah. But I quickly scrapped that idea when I saw how badly my dad's leg was the day before. When my dad walked up the hill of the school, I was up the hill and we waited a few minutes for him to catch up. My dad is always healthy and super genki so it was sad his leg is like that. His doctor said it should heal within a few months but since he's older things take longer to heal. Bummer. And when we were in the genkan of the school, he took so long to take his shoes off, the secretary came out to ask if he was okay. @_@ So I relay in English for my dad.....She wants to know if you are okay dad. Please tell her I'm fine he told me. So I relayed back....Yes...he's fine. So, I walked to the field, my dad slowly walked with me. : )

As you know, I am an only child. I have no siblings. So, these are my dad's only 2 grandchildren he will ever have. He sat there watching, smiling.

Noah and his class doing the hula hoop.

The Yuka-sensei, Noah in the yellow and some of his classmates.

And the 5th grade #2 class.  Doing the unicycle.  Fwiw, Noah learned the unicycle since April of starting here and he would like to have a unicycle now here at home.

The 2nd graders are growing mini tomatoes. Each class grows something at our school. Whether it's rice, tomatoes and so on. : )

This says...Noah. This is Noah's morning glory.

First graders morning glory's.

Part of their school.

So, with my dad's leg the way it was, I said we'd go into Noah's class for a minute or two before leaving and heading home. My dad wanted to attend Branden and Noah's observation day very much and he did. However my dad's leg and healing of said leg was also on my mind and worry for me. So, I said, we will leave after a few minutes. This was Noah's displayed artwork on the outside of his classroom.

We entered Noah's class for the 3rd period. All the kids were drinking from their thermos's. They were all hot from all that active play. Noah's hair was damp from sweat. Which is why his hair style looks different then his first class. : )

We were the only folks in there observing this 3rd class, just my dad and I. So, I said quietly to Noah, we will leave now and we both waved, he waved back and we quietly left.  I suggested to my dad, I run down the hill go and get the car and swing around and pick him up from the front entrance of the school, but he said he was fine to walk down the hill (I really think he wasn't). My poor dad hobbled down the hill. He rested at home. I prepped dinner. And my dad and I talked about maybe him staying at my house while I walked the kids home from disaster day practice. Or what should we do? My dad felt somehow he would be letting down his grandsons. Which of course I said he was not. They were so happy he was there. He did enough. But he is stubborn also so he wanted to be there for disaster practice.

Disaster practice was to start at 2:50pm, but considering my dad's leg, we left the house at 2pm. Figured he'd need the extra time getting there.  We watched the last 10 minutes of Noah's last class. And then the disaster prep happened outside. First graders stood in one spot, 2nd graders next to them....and so on. My good friend Rumi-san chatted with us. We talked about my dad's leg with her and basically she's an amazing friend and my neighbor who lives 1 block away. The announcement said, go and stand with your child. However I have 2. So, my dad said, you go stand with Noah and I'll go stand with Branden (the announcement said if you have more then 1 child here stand with the younger child, but again my dad doesn't want either grandson to feel left out). So, my dad might have walked quite slowly but he got there! At this point it was pretty much obvious to us and the school we weren't going to walk all the way home. However considering everyone saw how my dad's leg was, nobody would have blamed us a bit. They knew he had injured his leg and they've also seen him before to know it is just a temporary injury not a permanent one. : ) So, there you have it, Branden and Noah's observation day and disaster drill in a nutshell.

The weekend before the big day

So no real rushing going on here in April, since we prepped in March before we took off to Honolulu. But it was Branden who jumped in to save the day. Branden kept insisting that the clay we bought was not the right one, as I mentioned earlier. And after checking, sure enough Branden was right. Thank goodness we didn't send Noah to school with it. Branden kept saying that's the kind, that is the one that once it gets hard it can't be molded again. So the kid knew his stuff. : ) Also while swinging there getting the correct clay, also Branden mentioned, I had a clay mold plate/square, Branden had a yellow one. When we went back to the local DIY they had the same kind, and yellow so we bought that which is pictured. To make shapes and stuff with. And that was true, so I went ahead and got that also. And it turns out that was also on the list of what to buy. So the overlooked clay mold and the right clay.
They did have the donut tape. @_@ Both boys wanted it. So, what the heck. They each picked which kind of donut tape they wanted. They had whip cream, chocolate, etc, etc, they each picked mango.
The last but not least most kids have charms on their backpacks. Either you get a "good luck with your study" one from a shrine. Or the kids in our area have all sorts of charms. We have had these and I've had them tucked away for the past year. 2 crocs, in Noah's favorite colors, yellow and orange. Easter Sunday evening, we went upstairs and put them on Noah's randoseru. And went through the list had everything sitting in the genkan for the big day!

A practice run

Noah's entrance ceremony doesn't start until this coming Monday, April 9th, like I mentioned before. But with today being Friday, we had a practice run. Reason being, Noah used to start yochien 9:30am. And we'd leave the house around 8:30-8:45am-ish. Time for the drive plus a bit of time for him to play before the bell. We had been wondering, would Noah be able to wake up so much earlier and be able to eat, and be ready to leave the house by 7:20am? So, last night, I said, tomorrow will be a test run. So, at 6:00am, I woke up came downstairs checked emails and had a cup of coffee. At 6:20am, I went upstairs, went to both bedrooms and woke up both Branden and Noah.

I was surprised how quickly Noah got out of bed. He quickly dressed, went to the restroom. Branden usually will watch cartoons for a few minute downstairs, then eat breakfast, then dress and brush his teeth.

It surprised me to see their different styles of getting ready, which either way is fine. Noah got dressed first came down and sat at the kitchen table. I said, you have choice of cinnamon roll oatmeal and toast. Omelet with toast or rice. Noah asked for cold cereal, and toast. Branden asked for cheese omelet and toast. This pic is of them eating together.

All in all the practice run went pretty well. Noah actually asked if he could take his randoseru in the car with us. @_@ I said, no...it's a practice run but that's a bit too much for just today. : ) So, we took Branden to the plaza. And Noah waved and I said to Noah as we both drove home together...next week, you'll be walking up the hill with Branden. : )

Noah came home, switched back to his comfy clothes. And has been keeping me company all morning so far. Hanging the laundry etc.

Branden is at school now, until 3:45pm. And we'll be taking Noah to swim club as soon as I pick up Branden. All four of us. What's for dinner tonight? We're going out to eat tonight. We haven't decided what yet though. : )

Branden's entrance day!!! The beginning of our elementary school years!!! : )

On April 9th, 2008! Marked the start of my son's next 6 years, he will be spending in elementary school! So, on this very day, it all began for our family, this gray cloudy Wednesday morning, kicked off, the day of his entrance ceremony! Grandma Mitsuko had flown in from Osaka the day before! And we were ready! No nervousness, no tears! Just ready to begin this new journey, straight on! : )

We first went into his classroom, along with the other parents and kids. We all lugged all the stuff that was required and we put his seat cover with cushion on his seat, put his yellow drawer where that needed to go, which was into his desk. He saw were he will be placing his backpack each day and so on. We basically got our kids all settled into their seats and got them situated. Then us parents left and went into the big gymnasium and the kids stayed behind in their new classroom with their new teacher and we waited for the ceremony to begin! The entire school, was waiting, yes all the other grades were also there to welcome the new ichinensei!!! Meaning the new first graders! And it was only fitting that the oldest class, which was obviously the 6th grader's escorted the youngest/tiniest class which is the ichinensei/first grader's into the gymnasium! Here is Branden being escorted by two of the 6th graders! : )

We live in the country side of Japan, and so it's quiet and not so crowded with people. The first grader's this year, is only made of 2 classes total. And the classes are only made up of 20 kids per class. So they will get a lot of individual attention from the teacher. I also was very fond of our teacher. In fact she is a mother herself, her son just started elementary school the day before (he's an ichinensei too). So, she knows how to deal with kids and she also knew our feeling as parents, since she went through that same exact thing herself, the day before. She explained that to all us parents. And she changed schools because she apparently can't be a teacher where her child goes to school? And so she is a new teacher to our school this year, although she is from the next town away, so she's from this area. So, she's a friendly mom basically, so we do really like this teacher. : )

As you can see from this picture, for entrance ceremony in Japan, the kids all wear little suits. But instead of pants, most parents opt for the little boys to wear shorts. I really like that and I find the boys all of them, looked so sharp! : ) The little girls also looked quite beautiful too, I might add, they wore little dresses! And one little girl was actually wearing pearls! Branden's suit, I looked for high and low, we got him a really nice one, and it had a pink shirt and a matching pink tie and hanky for the pocket with suspenders and the whole shebang! Ha ha ha. Ah well, it was a once in a lifetime thing! We wanted him to feel really good walking in there today and he did! And he had some black loafers, but all kids in Japan wear the white indoor shoes, as you can see by this picture : )

Bowing to the older kids! During this point, the man speaking was saying to the new class, the first grader's. To greet the older classes and bow, to them! Translating it into English what he was saying is quite hard but I will do my best, but basically, they are saying to the older class, "can I join you?" or perhaps more of a..."I'm new here, do you mind?" again so basically..."can I join?" Ah, well I hope you all know what I mean! : )

Meanwhile the older classes, sang 2 songs for the new first graders. Welcoming them! The man way in the back standing, also told the older classes, that they are to look out for the ichinensei from now on! That they go to this school now and they should try look out for them and protect them, because they are littler then they are, and whatnot. They bowed in return to the ichinensei, accepting them. And welcoming them! : ) It was so sweet! Again it's totally different then how we start school in America, but I really can respect the way it's done here. It's really quite sweet actually! : )

There was a lot of standing and sitting action going on back and forth, ha ha ha. For the kids and also us in the audience!

And then it was over! And you can see a blurry pic of B walking out! Also, I wanted to point out here, look at all the video taping in the background! And that's nothing, you shoulda seen on my side, one father was even standing on a chair, until people gave him a few dirty looks and then he got off! ha ha ha. But seriously everyone had a video camera and we were no different. Noboru was video taping and I was taking pics on this camera! Ha ha ha! : )

Noah behaved perfectly and so quiet!

There's grandma behind Noboru sitting, watching the kids file out!

There's Branden's seat! You can see his 2 handmade bags hanging on the side of his desk and his seat cover is on his seat. If you look really close you can see his yellow tray inside his desk. And the kids monitor/alarms on each child's desk were given for free by our school! I accidentally set the kids alarm off in Branden's room tonight.... I didn't know how loud it was, I tested it, all I can say is, I pulled the emergency cord out, it was so loud, it scared the bejesus outta me and then I got so nervous I couldn't get the blasted thing slipped in right to stop the noise. Ha ha ha. Darn it's loud! Lordy, it's loud! : )

Here's what the classroom looks like. An adorable yawning Genki-kun in the background there! So glad B's best friend and partner in crime (wink) is in his class this year! : )

The kids leaving their classroom! Genki in the white, right in front of his best bud, Branden! Two peas in a pod, they are! : )

Two of these are in Branden's classroom and they are actually all over the entire school, and hallways and bathrooms, just everywhere, even in the gymnasium, ha ha. Central heating in the winter and central air conditioning in the summer, typical/standard in America but uncommon in Japan, so it's lucky that our school is new. It's a very comfortable school, ha ha. : )

What a long morning! Ha ha ha. We all left soon after this picture was taken. All the kids got their backpacks and then we all left. : )

Noah hanging with the ichinensei!!! Ha ha ha! : ) Noah's lucky when he starts first grade, he gets to go with Branden and Genki! He'll have protection, ha ha ha, lol! : )

The teacher at the front of the classroom.

We all went to Coco's after it was all said and done! : )

So, after brunch, we all went home and changed clothes. Here is grandma chasing the 2 boys in the backyard! : )

They nominated grandma to be the oni/goblin! So they ran away from her and she chased them! Ha ha ha! : )

So after playing in the backyard, we all headed to swim club! Grandma too! : ) You guys who read my blog can keep up with our family every week and for the most part, you all know us, know what we are up to. And my family too. : ) But for grandma Mitsuko she really has no idea what we are up to every week, not even every month. I try to send 3 video tapes of the kids each year (every 4 month's or so) and pictures about twice a year (every 6 month's). But a nice sized photo album amount though. But for the day to day type stuff, she has no idea at all. For example, she had no idea B went to the compressed swim course, no idea what level he is. You know what I mean, I hope : ) the day to day mundane type stuff, our daily stuff, I think : ) So, for her, today she got to watch her grandson in the pool! And as you can see by this pic, she's the one wearing the white cap. She was watching Branden so much, watching him swim lap after lap. She enjoyed it thoroughly and that made me so happy she enjoyed it so much!

We came home from swim club and we lit up the grill. With the high winds, but thank god it didn't rain on B's entrance day though, but it was windy, really windy actually. So, we had to put the BBQ, on the side. We had yakiniku. Our first BBQ of the season! We ate indoors, because it was bitterly cold, but it was delicious, all in the same! Ha ha ha : )

We had yakiniku, beef and chicken, grilled bell peppers and mushrooms. My mil wanted grilled cabbage, that was a new one for me! Ha ha ha. But I didn't mind! And we had 3 times the meat in this pic. I think we BBQ'ed too much meat. Ah well, leftovers for tomorrow night, ha ha ha. : ) And no fancy place mats tonight. We were ready to eat and get down to business meaning the eating, lol! Some serious munching going on at our house that night! : ) It was a good visit from my mil this time. And it was an excellent entrance day, whole day and night actually, pretty A-okay, smooth sailing today! Oh my gosh you guys, my boy is a first grader, I can barely believe it!!!! : )