Last week, we welcomed the students back to school after a long summer vacation. Mostly we have been busy preparing for Ishida Sports Day. This will take place outside in the yard on September 28th. If the weather is not good, it will be moved to October 5th. All Ishida classes will participate on this day.

Preparing for this day has been very lively at the school. A racetrack was drawn in yard in white chalk. There will be races, exercises, dances, songs, karate, opening and closing ceremonies, and more! We hope your family members can attend. Some parents were at the school today to help pull grass out of the ground in the yard. We appreciate your help! It was fun for the students to practice with people watching. There will be a proper rehearsal for Sports Day on 9/20.

All Year-1 students will enjoy Sports Day festivities together. Lately we are working on lining up together, staying in a line, and running in a race. The students dash in groups of 4 to the finish line and then cheer on their friends until everyone is finished. It is testing students’ ability to stay still and listen to instructions. There is also an obstacle course race which we are calling the “monkey game”. The students zig-zag through pylon cones, hop through hoops, and climb wooden boxes. It’s a lot of fun!

The Year-1 students are also preparing three special songs for Sports Day and a speech for the opening/closing ceremony. Yes, it has been very busy. The songs are a sports day song, an Ishida song and a banana song. The banana song is for Y1 students only, it is very cute!

September topics in the Rabbit class are body parts and prepositions. This is helpful to learn while we prepare for Sports Day. The students are learning how to use their bodies and how to follow directions. I am impressed with their memory and how fast they learn vocabulary.

We are all looking forward to the Sports Day. Lately the weather has been hot, and stormy. Please help us hope for good weather.

（先週，長い夏休み明けの子どもたちを迎えました。普段は運動会に向けて忙しくしています。

運動会は９月２８日に園庭で行われます。もしお天気が悪ければ１０月５日に延期になります。石田幼稚園のお友達は全員出席します。

運動会の練習で幼稚園はにぎやかです。園庭には白線でトラックが引かれており，かけっこや体操，ダンス，歌，空手，開会式や閉会式などが行われます。家族のみなさまが参加してくださりますように。数人の保護者の方が今日，園庭の草引きをしに来てくださいました。本当にありがとうございました！子どもたちにとってお客さんの前で練習するのは楽しかったようです。９月２０日は予行練習の予定です。

年少組さんはみんな運動会を楽しむでしょう。近頃はならびっこをして並んだまま歩いたり，かけっこの練習をしたりしています。４列で走り，ゴールまで行くとみんなが走り終わるまで応援します。列で待ったり，合図を聞いたりできるか見ることもできます。「おさるのさんぽ」という障がい物走もあり，コーンをジグザグに走ったり，フープを跳んだり巧技台を上ったりします。とても楽しいですよ！

年少組さんは他にも運動会に向けて歌や，開会式・閉会式の言葉も練習しています。はい，とても忙しいですね。歌はうんどうかいのうた，園歌，ばななくんたいそうがあります。ばななくん体操は年少組さんのもので，とてもかわいいです。

ラビット組の９月のトピックは身体の部位と前置詞です。これらは運動会の練習にとても役立ちます。子どもたちは身体の動きや，向きなどを学んでいます。私は子どもたちの記憶力と言葉を覚える速さに感動しました。

私たちは運動会を楽しみにしています。最近とても暑く雨も強いですが，いいお天気になりますように…。）

-Shane先生より