Making a Couple of Minutes into a Quality Time

To prepare for a soon to be held poetry reading, student A wanted her mother to see her practice, so the student asked to watch her. Her mother responded immediately “Yes my dear, go ahead, but do it quickly! I need to make a phone call soon.” The student felt rushed and depressed.
Your child can tell, when you are spending time happily and willingly together. Even if it is only for a couple of minutes during the day, if you are able to give full attention and spend time together, your child notices the difference.
It may be difficult to make time while you are busy. Still, do not forget, a quality time counts for your child, even if it is short.
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Earth Day

I saw a small sign for “Earth Day” on my way to work, so I looked into it.
“Earth Day” is considered as “the day of the planet earth,” when the people take action in order to protect the environment worldwide. The United States Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson made a declaration on April 22, 1970 about the severe ecological problems of the earth, and promoted activities to protect the environment.
The earth, where we live, was born 4,600,000,000 years ago. If I put 4 billion and 600 million years as 1 year, the era of human beings is equivalent to the moment of New Year’s Eve turning into the New Year. Since then, we have developed our cultures within a second, or the blink of an eye, and we have destroyed the natural environment, which is supposed to be our base.
Protecting the natural environment is the big theme of Earth Day, but I believe there are small things we can do in our own lives. 続きを読む…

Practice and execution build up your strength!

Parents and teachers encourage their children. They say “Why can’t you do it? You will surely accomplish what you set out to do, if you work harder.”, or “You can do it, if you keep trying.” It is certain that the “keep doing” mentality will lead to accomplishing what they set out to do. However, realistically not everything is possible. Effort will pay off but the important thing is that you do your best for what you want to accomplish.
When you started riding a bicycle, you had a strong will to accomplish it. You didn’t have the ability to do that by nature. You practiced, even falling down and getting bruised,　Those efforts will eventually lead to success of bike riding.
This is the same for everything in life. Even if it is a professional baseball player, a soccer player or a pianist, they make their best effort. They are practicing over and over and gradually they will be successful in an endeavor. Studying to excel in academics will definitely be the same. 続きを読む…

Welcome to an Exciting New Schoolyear !

Our new schoolyear has begun. Start with new class room, new textbook, new teacher and friends. The beginning of new schoolyear should be an exciting time, but it can be stressful for students in many reasons.
Although every student moved up one grade, April is just a beginning. We have a tendency to students suppose behave better than last school year. All students have a whole year for grow up to be who they supposed to. Please be patient and support your child become comfortable in the new grade. 続きを読む…

Congratulations! Welcome back!

The school is in a cheerful spirit for welcoming new students. I trust you had a great start of the year full of hope and motivation. The change of classrooms and teachers might make you feel uncomfortable, but the beginning of the year is a great opportunity to welcome change. I hope each of you takes steps at your own pace to meet new people, learn new things, and share new experiences. 続きを読む…

Let’s Choose a Right Path for Your Better Future!

Congratulations to our graduating students!

Congratulations to everyone completing his/her grade of the fiscal year 2016!

This school year is coming to an end and new year is about to begin. In this context, you may miss the days when you were together with your friends. Sometimes you may wish you could go back in time. However, I would like you to look for a way to build up your brand new class and school year on your own and change the great atmosphere even further better with everyone, rather than looking back the past. “Making use of your past experience” is not achievable by just missing those days. Let’s move forward by taking advantage of your previous valuable experience.
I strongly feel you should choose a right way, which is not an easy way, needing some additional effort. In this way, there will be a bright future waiting for you. 続きを読む…

Be a Strong and Flexible as bamboo tree

The graduation ceremony will be held next Saturday, March 11.　The school year is coming to an end. Do you remember the fun and tough times and the unforgettable moments of school activities in your daily life? These events can be compared to bamboo nodes on the stem. If a bamboo doesn’t have nodes, it will fall down quickly. Because of nodes, a bamboo stem is able to stand strong and flexible under snowy and windy days. Your experiences that has been overcome are the bamboo nodes. The more nodes you have, the stronger of a person you are able to grow into and take in deep consideration, right judgement and right action. 続きを読む…

Completing one thing now, Another mountain to go over

Let me share a poem called “One Thing” by Kihaku Saito.
“Completing one thing now, another mountain to go over. Wind crossing the field, A song blending in my mind, Mulberry tree filling up and clouds shining, People follow and a road never ends, A road far away and a road far away, Find a mountain to go over tomorrow, Completing one thing now”
The poem expresses the joy to accomplish one thing -climbed a mountain, and the eagerness to go over a higher mountain next. We used to sing the song at a graduation ceremony. A graduation day is approaching. I hope students have found time they spent at school valuable – the time they studied together, played together, and shared together. There are only two school days left before graduation. Let’s cherish every moment with all of your friends. 続きを読む…

When you observe the character 人間:human…

Humans are sociable. People interact with one another to thrive. This interaction forms one’s happiness and purpose in their lives.
When you observe the character; “人間 (human)”, its meaning deeply touches my heart that people bearing one another to carry on their lives and a person can truly become a person among this interaction of people. Great respect in the wisdom of our predecessors for creating these characters.（extracting from “Kodomoeno manazashi by Masami Sasaki） 続きを読む…

Looking yourself through others’ view

As children become teens, they start feeling self-conscious about their looks and check themselves out in the mirror more than ever. They are not only focused on how they look on the outside, but also their inner selves. With peer pressure to fit into the teen culture can be more important than anything else. Mirrors reflect on the outside appearance, but friends reactions impact their inner self image.
(Kodomono manazashi by Masami Sasaki) 続きを読む…