T E D A K O P R E S C H O O L

N E W S L E T T E R

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7

CDC STAFF UPDATEWelcome Kiho Koki!

Goodbye Message From Keiko-Sensei!

Kiho Koki pronounced, "Keyhole" without the L-sound and Koki sounds just like

"Cookie“ will be working in the Kafuu classroom as the Japanese teacher from

December. She was born and raised here in Okinawa. She studied in the United

States for two years and Australia for a year. She has been working at an international

preschool for the past few years and exhibits so much passion about working with

young children. She loves traveling all over the world to visit her friends and she

considers discovering new things in different countries fun and exciting. She is looking

forward to meeting CDC families and children and learning about their home

countries.

Dear Parents,

I have enjoyed working at the CDC since December 2016, especially in Kanasan

and Kafuu class. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I am taking

some time away from the classes, and will be returning in March in a more

temporary position. Working with your children has been a very rewarding

experience for me, and I look forward to more of that in the near future!

-Keiko Uehara

Field Trips

ShiSa Mask Pottery Making

Kugani Class: December 22

Shinka Class: December 20

Birthday PartiesWe will celebrate all other

children with December

birthdays at 2:50 pm

Friday, December15th

We plan to have a special

Italian story time.

All family members and

friends are welcomed to

join!

Winter Concert

SAVE THE DATE!

OIST Auditorium

5:00pm-6:00pm

2017 WINTER CONCERTAs the weather is cooler now in Okinawa, let the children warm up

your heart at our cute children’s performance at the Tedako

Preschool Winter Concert. Please join us on Friday, December 8th.

It will start at 5 p.m. and finish around 6:30 p.m. Please pick up

your child after his or her class performance. We will keep your

child's futon and bags outside the classroom, close to the shoe box,

so please don’t forget to pick them up before or after the Winter

Concert.

On Thursday December 7th, we will have our final dress rehearsal.

We are planning to start the rehearsal at 3:15 p.m. , and will finish

around 4:45 p.m. The rehearsal will start with the youngest class

first (Kukuru class) and will end with the oldest class. Each class will

return to the classroom after their rehearsal is finished; however, if

you are picking up your child early or if your child has not returned

to the classroom yet, please pick up your child at the auditorium.

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

CDC BI-ANNUAL HEALTH SCREEN

We have scheduled a health screening with Dr.

Kazuyo Takara, a pediatrician, from Kin Clinic

from 2:00 pm at Tedako on December 7, 2017.

Please update your child`s immunizations and

submit a copy of your child`s shot record to the

CDC office staff as necessary.

Thank you in advance for your support and

cooperation.

ANNUAL REGISTRATION AND EVENT FEES In January, Tedako will charge an annual registration

and event fee in addition to childcare, snack and

lunch fees.

The registration fee is 10,000 JPY per child and the

event fee is 10,000 JPY per child ages 3-6 and 2,500

JPY per child ages 1-2.

OIST Employees will pay the fees via payroll

deducted on January 17th, others will receive an

invoice for bank transfer.

Please contact Junko Shimabukuro if you have any

further questions.

FEVER EXCLUSION POLICY REMINDER• If your child has a fever over the temperature of

38.0 C, they must stay home until the fever is gone.

• They must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of a fever reducing medication before they can return to school. Your child needs to stay home for 24 hours after his/her body temperature comes down to normal.

• If your child gets a fever while at school, the teacher will contact you, and ask that you pick your child up. If you are unable to pick-up within 20 minutes, we will let your child rest in the sickbay, in the CDC office.

BUENO STORY TELLERSFrom 10 AM on November 20th, there was a story telling event by Bueno.

Bueno is an non-profit organization that shares the excitement of books to

schools and other welfare programs. In the toddler class, the song of the

puppet bear and the book with repeated phrases excited the children! For

the preschool children, the story teller read a book about the Japanese

alphabet and the children really enjoyed it. They also performed a puppet

show about baby crows that fawned on its mother and requested many

things. It seemed that the children were able to relate to the story, and there

was so much laughter. It was a valuable experience for the children that

allowed the enrichment of their hearts.

FIRE TRUCKS AND FIRE FIGHTERSEvery month at Tedako Preschool we practice a fire drill but on November 24th, we had special

guests come and talk about fire safety and prevention. The children loved meeting the firefighters and

looking at the fire truck they brought. They showed us the special features of their equipment and

the children got a chance to sit in the vehicles, spray the fire hose and try on firefighting jackets and

helmets. It was a very exciting day for all the classes at Tedako Preschool!

KUKURU SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES

Kukuru class are busy becoming social butterflies! The babies are now becoming aware of the others

around them. They all have a strong bond with their teachers, but now they are beginning to be aware

of each other. The babies have started cooing, talking, and crying at one another to show thier

desire to communicate and play together. These behaviors lay the groundwork for positive social

development into their toddler years. Kukuru teachers play with the babies on the floor and talk

with them in a way to enhance the social growth. We are proud to watch our little ones blossom

into social little toddlers!

.

TODDLER STORY TIMEC

hura

san, K

anas

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es The toddler class children are big fans of stories and love to listen to them. They usually listen to stories both in English

and Japanese during circle time everyday. The children love to sing the “Story time Song” before they start listening.

The song helps them to enhance their excitement towards the story, and this routine helps them to understand that it

is time to listen. Their faces are always full of excitement every time the teacher takes out a book.

Story telling introduces lot of new vocabulary to children, and they are absorbing many words through storybooks. It

allows them to enhance their communication skills, as well as their listening and comprehension skills.

As they experience many different emotions such as excitement, fear, and thrill through various stories, they are starting

to understand about their own feelings and emotional awareness of others (empathy!). The children are always

engrossed in the story and are learning many important lessons such as the importance of following rules and being

kind to others.

FARM TO TABLE EXPERIENCE

The Churasan class children were working on growing sweet potatoes from May until October. The children experienced the

whole process which included planting, watering and digging out the sweet potatoes. They also helped prepare to cook the

sweet potatoes. The teachers made sweet-potato-rice (Oimogohan in Japanese) and the children enjoyed it as their afternoon

snack. This was the best part and the children really enjoyed eating school-grown sweet potatoes!

It was a great opportunity for them to learn about nature while having fun! Being involved in growing/cooking vegetables widen

children’s interests and encourage them to try more variety of vegetables. Additionally, eating something delicious and healthy

always makes children feel so happy.

Please involve your child/ren in gardening or cooking at home as well to help them to build better relationship with food!

Plant Water Harvest Wash Prepare Eat

KAFUU & NUUJI MASTER ARTISTS

Nuuji and Kafuu class enjoyed masking tape art this month. The children listened to the explanation of masking tape art

project from the teachers, imagined what kind of patterns would appear, expanded their imagination, and painted their

favorite colors on the papers. When they saw the color change, they excitedly said "Teacher! Look. Pink turned into green,

amazing!“. These small experiences accumulate day by day and will grow into great memories. We aim to continuously put

effort into creating many important experiences as much as we can.

A FIELD TRIP TO KOMBU PARK

Our 3 years old classes were so excited about visiting the Konbu park this month. As soon as we got to the park,

Kafuu and Nuuji classes’ children immediately climbed, and crawled on all the playground structures, while other

children ran freely and enjoyed playing with the parachute in a different setting. Outdoor play is an obvious

opportunity to develop gross motor skills through exercise and play, but it is also a very important setting for

social interaction. We saw our children help each other, take turns to play with the park amenities. The weather

was nice too, so both classes enjoyed a fantastic day out in the company of their friends and teachers.

KUGANI DRAMA CENTEROne of our class themes this month was "our

family". In the class, everyone's family photos

were decorated in the classroom drama center.

The children enjoy looking at their own family

photo as well as others. "This is my daddy" "My

doggy" etc. They are enjoying the exchange of

information among family members.

While looking at family photos, the children are

role playing in the drama center, "My mom is

a great cook! I can cook like my mom". The

other children who are not participating in the

drama center were involved in other areas, such

as the science center and arithmetic center to

further expand the role of playing their parents.

Every day the theme of the children's drama

center is different, so you can see how they

enjoyed playing the scene of a hospital, a store,

and many other imaginative role plays to expand

their world further. The Kugani class drama

center is very exciting and lively plays are taking

place every day!

SHINKA DRAMATIC PLAYThe drama center is one of those centers that finds its way into all the

other centers some how! The children love dressing up and going on

picnics, camping, playing doctor, and so much more in every corner of

the classroom. On any given day you can come into the Shinka class

and find the kids dancing around with dresses and sunglasses, dressed

up in soccer uniforms, or playing doctor. Dramatic play is a wonderful

way for the children to use their imaginations and strengthen bonds and

friendships with their peers.

We have more of an unstructured style of dramatic play in the Shinka

class. There are items set out for the kids to use in a specific way, but

the children are not required to use them in that way. Most of the time

the children use the toys and items in the drama center, as well as other

centers, to represent whatever they can think of. It is fun to see them

using rocks from the science center as food, when we have actual food

toys in the drama center! Their imaginations are endless.

Dramatic play can take on many forms, and while pretending may just

look like “playing”, it is integral to the developmental learning process. It

should be encouraged, and children need lots of opportunities to

engage in it. Dramatic play promotes language development, conflict

resolution, supports math and literacy, and so much more!

POTATO DIGGING FIELD TRIP

Last month the Shinka class and Kugani class went on their annual potato digging field trip. It was a wet,

cold, rainy day but there were plenty of smiles and hard work going on in the field. The kids trudged

through the mud and did their best to dig up the potatoes. The kids were all wondering if they had dug up

purple, orange, or white potatoes. It was a lot of fun. After the trip we headed back to the classroom to

have a bento party! It was another great field trip :)

SHICHI-GO-SAN

We had our first annual 7-5-3 photo shoot at the CDC on November 13th. The Nuuji and Kafuu class children

wore Okinawan Ryuso and the Shinka girls wore Japanese Kimono while the boys wore Japanese Hakama for the

photo shoot. They all looked beautiful and we were able to take great pictures on this day.

Special thank you goes out to Chieko-sensei, Shizuka-sensei, Sanae-sensei, Oksana-san, Eliza-san, Shoko-san, Tomoko-

san, Naeko-san, Nobuko-san, Fusako-san, and Misae-san. We believe that it was a memorable experience for the

children. We hope that you enjoy the pictures with your children and it will be one of their precious memories at

the CDC.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TOURS

Elementary School Tour by OIST Bus

• January 18, 2018

• 9:30 am-3:30pm

• Ride OIST Bus to Onna Elementary School,

Amicus, Lunch, OCSI, & OIST After School

Program

• Reservation Required, Registration Link

https://groups.oist.jp/cdc/elementary-school-

tour

The CDC is working with the resource center to plan an Elementary School Tour for Preschool Parents. We

would like to introduce you to the most popular elementary school choices for OIST families to ensure and

support a smooth transition and segue to the next chapter of your child’s school life. Please register to join

this Elementary School tour by January 6, 2016. Registration is required and space is limited.

DECEMBER SNACK MENUMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

AM Oatmeal/Raisinsオートミール、レーズン

Prune/Cereal/Soy Milkプルーン、玄米フレーク、豆乳

Bread Stick/

Milkスティックパン、牛乳

Pear梨

Orangeオレンジ

PM Apple/Cheeseりんご、チーズ

Edamame/

Calcium Senbei枝豆、カルシウムせんべい

Banana/Soy Milk豆乳

Baked Sweet Potato焼き芋

Rice/ Furikakeごはん、ふりかけ

SUBSISTUTIONS:

Due to availability or ripeness of fresh fruits or vegetables, substitutions may occur. Young toddlers will not be fed Senbei or

Crackers. Special senbeis for babies will be substituted.

We will celebrate all December Birthdays and the children will enjoy cake and Soy milk with their friends on 12/15.

DECEMBER LUNCH CALENDARMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 -Rice

-Chicken Sauté w G.Onion-Stir Fried Kanpyo(dried gourd)-Broccoli Salad

-Fu(wheat bran) Miso Soup

4-Rice

-Fried Flat Fish w Sesame

-Mabo-dofu

-Cabbage Salad

-Winter Melon Miso Soup

5 -Rice

-Steamed Dumpling crab flavor

-Stewed meet and potatoes

w Miso Butter sauce

-Papaya Salad

-Egg Miso Soup

6-Rice

-Cooked Red Fish

-Ratatouille

-Green Bean Sesame Salad

-Chinese Soup

7-Rice

-Vegetable Ball

-Stir Fried Bean-starch Vermicelli

-Okura w Seaweed dressing

-Pampkin Miso Soup

8-Rice-Grilled White Fish w Curry

Mayonnaise souce

-Stir Fried Broccoli and Ham

-Bean Sprout Salad

-shiitake Mashroom Miso Soup

11-Rice

-Deep Fried Chicken w Soy souce

-Go-ya Champuroo

-Potato Salad

-Green Veg. Miso Soup

12-Rice

-Fried White Fish w Sesame

-Shredded Carrots

-Kuzukiri Salad

-Shiitake Miso Soup

13-Curry Rice

-Broccolli Salad

-Peach Yo-kan

14-Rice

-Grilled Red Fish

-Cooked Winter Melon and Chicken

-Bean Sprout Salad

-Taro Miso Soup

15-Rice

-Fried Pork w Miso souce

-Stir Fried shredded Daikon

-Pumpkin Salad

-Wakame Miso Soup

18

-Rice

-Gilled Red Fish w Ume

-Stir Fried Hijiki

-Nanohana Salad

-Deep Fried Tofu Miso Soup

19-Rice

-Cooked Pork w Oyster Sauce

-Braised Ganmo and Radish

-Konnyaku Salad

-Onion Miso Soup

20-Ju-shii(mixed pilaf)

-Grilled Red Fish w Tomato Sauce

-Green Veg. Sauté-Chinese Cabbage and Celery Salad

-Ko-ya Tofu Miso Soup

21-Rice

-Kyoto Style Grilled Chicken

-Stewed Meet and Potatoes

-Kuzukiri Salad

-Fu Miso Soup

22-Rice

-Boiled Flat Fish w Soy Sauce

-Fried Egg Plant w Oyster Sauce

-Carrot Salad

-Wakame Miso Soup

25-Rice

-Fried Chicken w Tartar Vinegar

-Green Veg. & Mashroom Sauté

-Chinese Cabbege Salad

-Dumpling Soup

26

-Rice

-Shio-koji Marinated Red Fish

-Braised Taro and Pork Sesame

-Nanohana Ume Mayo Salad

-Shiitake Mashroom Miso Soup

27-Rice

-Kyoto Style Miso Pork

-Rotus w Curry Flavor

-Cauliflower Salad

-Vegetable Soup

28-Rice

-Grilled Hoki Fish w Ume Sauce

-Braised Shredded Radish

-Macaroni Salad

-Winter Melon Miso Soup

HOLIDAY