JBC JLS/NAKAYOSHI PRESCHOOL SCHOOL-PTC NEWSLETTER

October, November, & December 2017

Notes from Nakayoshi Preschool	  The summer season with the sun glaringly
down is now over, and there is a chill in the morningand at night.
The Nakayoshi children haveadjusted to school and their new classes. In early
September, teachers picked up crying children or
took a walk with them outside in order to comfort
them. Now I hear the children singing to theteachers’ pianos. They sit down and eat theirsnack politely. During outside time, they ridetricycles and cars, observe tomatoes andstrawberries, and play in the playhouse. Also many
children enjoy physical activities.
I hope thechildren feel that the preschool is a fun place
where they can play with friends and teachers
together and discover a variety of things.

However, it is more difficult to maintain Japanese
language if they stop learning it. In 4-year-oldclasses, children will learn Hiragana, concepts ofmath, as well as the fundamentals of the attitude
about learning such as “listening to others” and“expressing yourself”. After all, they will continuelearning skills when they go to kindergarten,elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Director Keiko Damiata
Daily Teachers
PenguinYuka Nayuki (Master), Naoko SaitoRisu
Naomi Inoue (Master), Shoko Cilano
Shiho IwagoeBanana
Ryoko Nakawake (Master),Michiyo Mejia, Risa Arvan
Melon
Toshie Kimoto (Master), Kae Miyoshi
Bara
Emiko Hasegawa (Master)
SumireTomoko Nakagawa (Master)Hisako Takamura

Almost all the Nakayoshi preschool children
go on to attend local elementary schools (Englishschools). However, I believe that the Nakayoshipreschool families chose our Japanese preschool
because they want their children to learn Japanese
languageandculture,manners,andcooperativeness, in addition to develop cognitive,physical, social, emotional, and creative skills.
Several years ago, the transitional kindergarten(TK) was created because of California’s relatively
late entry date to kindergarten. Unfortunately,some of our families choose to send their children
to go to TK before they finish our 4-year-old classprogram. I would like for you to consider having
your children to graduate from our preschool
because they will learn valuable Japanese lessons
from our 2-year-old and 3-year-old programs. It issaid that it is not too late to acquire English if
they start learning in kindergarten programs.	  

Afternoon Teachers
Hiroko Shigetani, Yoko Hersch, & Ryu Wanibuchi
Saturday Teachers
SakuraMiyoko Nishiya (Master)
Kiku
Yuko Yokota (Master), Yoko Hersch
New Teachers
Ms. Risa Arvan, Ms. Hisako Takamura, and Ms.
Michiyo Mejia joined our school in September ofthis year. They have extensive experience ofworking with children, and they are sweet and fullof pep.
We are fortunate to have them asteachers.

1	  Messages from teachers 	  PTCYoko Godinez (PTC president), Noriko Morimoto,
Fukue Kurokawa, Jocelyn Johnson, Mikiko Bilbrey(daily representative), Statcy Toyoaki (Saturdayrepresentative), and other PTC Class Parents will
volunteer this school year. Thank you for accepting
volunteer work.

Daily Classes	  2-year-old classes
It has been more than one month since the firstday of school. The children have become better atgreeting and singing, and they seem to enjoy theschool life. We see the children look at and smileat friends and teachers.

PTC Class Parents
PenguinWendy Arima & Kaori Minei
Risu
Chomchay Mukai & Pornwaragorn
Parnitnun
BananaShiko Ishii & Saori Witkin
Melon
Marie Clark, Ayako Samuels,
Bara
Mikiko Bilbrey & Kyoko Hahn
SumireRie Homma, Takako Walsh
SakuraHilda Young, Lisa DuronKiku
Stacey Toyoaki, Patti Awaya, Trisha
Sasaki3-year-old classes
In September, the children drew their faces andmade their handprints. The teachers measured
the children’s heights and weights. In addition,
they made paper pizzas and rainbows afterpracticing how to use scissors. In October andNovember, they will learn about families,
Halloween, and farm animals.

Messages
To parents and guardians: when you leave a voicemessage on the school’s telephone about yourchild’s absence, please say your child’s full name,class name, and master teacher’s name.

4-year-old classes
New children who started in September haveadjusted to school and play with the children who
graduated from the 3-year-old classes.
Theystarted to practice writing simple Hiragana letters.
Some became interested in Hiragana letters inclassroom print.

After you drop off/pick up your child, please
promptly leave the school’s premises. The parents
who are on the other child’s pick-up list need tohave another car seat for the child who you pick up.	  
Saturday Classes
3-year-old classes
All the children including those who started schoolin September come to school with a big smile.
They run around and are very energetic duringoutside time. In September they looked for things
that are round (maru in Japanese) and played withround stamps and toys that rolled over and over.
In addition, they pretended to be dragonflies andsang songs about dragonflies.

October, November, & December Schedule
October20(Fri)
Daily
Photo Sessions
21(Sat)Sat.
Photo Sessions
21(Sat)Sat.
Tea Party	  27(Fri)Daily
Halloween Parade
November10(Fri)
Daily
Veteran’s Day School Closed
17(Fri)
Daily
Autumn Sale (Cookie)
18(Sat)Sat.
Autumn Sale (Curry & Cookie)
23 (Thu) Daily
Thanksgiving Day School Closed
24(Fri)
Daily
Thanksgiving Day School Closed
25(Sat) Sat.
Thanksgiving Day School Closed
December7(Thu)Daily
Fun Party9(Sat)Sat.
Fun Party
15(Fri)
Daily
PTC Mochitsuki	  16(Sat)Sat.
PTC Mochitsuki
22(Fri)
Daily
First Semester ends
23(Sat) Sat.
First Semester ends
25(Mon)~Jan. 5(Fri) Winter Vacation (Sat. Div. Dec. 30 &Jan.6)

4-year-old-classes
In September, the children learned about“dragonflies” (tonbo in Japanese) through stories,
environment, art, and music, and expressed
themselves as dragonflies.
They performed
creatively. We seek to create an environment
where the children are able to speak Japanesethrough our events and activities.	  

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