kodomo No Ie

KNI Newsletter

July & August 2012

1: Tanabata (Star Festival) event at the Huntington Library
2: KNI Supermarket
3: Sleepover
4: From Our Garden
5: We Had Fun!
6: Thanks for the volunteering!


In August, our summer school transitioned to a three-day a week schedule (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). Even though we had a more relaxed schedule, we still put 100% effort into making summer school fun and exciting for the children.
Even under the scorching sun, the children enjoyed themselves, laughing and screaming for joy, and the heat didn’t bother them at all!
They all seemed to grow so much through this fun summer experience.
Now that the summer school is over, we look forward to seeing all the children back to school in September.

Tanabata (Star Festival) event at the Huntington Library

The KNI Star Festival was held at the Japanese Garden in the Huntington Library on July 7th.
The children looked wonderful with their yukata on, and enjoyed themselves at the craft booths, cutting and pasting origami papers to make tanabata ornaments and writing down their wishes on tanzaku, strips of colored paper.
They also performed the songs they had been practicing for the event on the stage, and looked so happy when they received enthusiastic applause from their parents and the visitors.
(Ms. Hashiba)

KNI Supermarket

The long-waited KNI Supermarket was open on July 25, 26, and 27th.
Last year, we made a decision to hold the KNI Supermarket as a fundraising event for the Great East Japan Earthquake relief fund. The children made crafts to sell at the KNI Supermarket event (25 cents per item), and we sent the proceeds from the event to Shishiori Elementary school in Kesennuma, Miyagi.
In July, the children worked very hard to make crafts so that they could help the children suffering in Japan. On the event day, there were many things displayed at the hall for sale. The children were busy walking around to check what to buy, and some bought enough to fill a whole bag! They all enjoyed shopping with big smiles on their faces.
The proceeds from the event amounted to $519.29.
Thank you so much for your support and cooperation.
(Ms. Kanno)

Sleepover

The annual event “Sleepover” was held on August 10 and 11th.
This year, we had sixty-seven participants signed up for sleepover, which is the second highest turnout.
The children showed up with a great excitement, carrying their big bags happily.
They all looked very happy to see their old friends after a long time.
Also those who graduated from KNI a while ago came as volunteers to help the children.
For dinner, we cooked curry and rice, and had watermelon boats for dessert.
Some children cried out, “my eyes hurt!” when they cut onions.
The curry tasted wonderful, especially because they all worked hard together.
After the dinner, it was time to go to “the Haunted house”!
Volunteers helped the groups of young children proceed to the haunted house. Some children got scared and needed to stop once in a while, but they all encouraged each other to move forward and finish.
Before bedtime, they all enjoyed hanabi, and sang the song “ Kyou no hi wa sayounara (Farewell to Today)” and appreciated that they all had a wonderful day.
They all experienced so many things through the sleepover, and they seemed to grow a little more with confidence when they woke up the next day.
(Ms. Hachiga)

From Our Garden

We harvested
- Huge corn which was taller than 2meters!
- Big, red tomatoes! More tomatoes to harvest.
- Green peppers and Japanese chile peppers. Kids love them!
- Big eggplants. They are much bigger than the ones at stores.
- Surprise! We grew so many Cantaloupes!
- Three striped Kodama watermelons.

We Had Fun!

July
We made merchandise for the KNI Shopping Mall event.

August
Played with Cornstarch: We enjoyed the smooth, thick texture that the water and cornstarch mixture created.

Hand-Made Fans: we made our own hand-made fans with dyed coffee filters.

Free Drawing: We free-drew on big paper spread out in the yard.

Fishing: We caught our had-made fish.

Roller Painters: Roller painters create unique design. It is very artistic!

Colored Water: The kids became the colored water specialists and created our unique colored water.

Body Painting: Paint all over the body from head to toe! Everyone is so colorful.

Catch the Goldfish: let's catch the goldfish swimming in the pool.

Circuit: Our front yard turned into water land!

Playing with Slime: When you mix laundry starch and magical water.....it's slime! We made balloons by blowing air into them.

Boat Race: Our own flagged boats race down the two-leveled water channels. It was such an exciting race!

Water Balloons: water balloons explode like fire crackers! We scared the ghost away with water balloons at the haunted house!

Bubbles: We made our own bubble solution.

Make Our Own Water Cans: we watered the garden with our special water cans.

Vegetable Stamps: Cut up vegetables became unique stamps.

Finger Painting: it's so ticklish to use our fingers to paint.

Rain Jacket: It was fun to be in the shower if we put on our own hand-made rain jackets.

Washing Day: We thanked our toys by giving them a good wash. They are sparkling!

Thanks for the volunteering!

- Ms. Narikawa (kindergarten teacher from Japan) came to visit KNI with her family. Thank you for your help!

- The following graduates came to volunteer for KNI summer school this year.
We are so grateful for their continuous support.
Kamari Ogino, Saeri Ogino, Yujirou Goto, Hikari Kikuchi, Ryosuke Wada, Masanao Yonami, Asana Onishi, Mirei Yamagi, Yui Yamamoto


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