Week 57: Sports Day!

FIRST! Mom wanted to see the pictures I drew for "weather" that my school asked for.

I hate the picture layouts of this blog site.

So, the big news is that this week was sports day!

The schools have been preparing for sports day ALL MONTH.  Some of you may remember it from last year.

So this means learning their routines piece by piece.

getting a single part down.

Like THIS

And then doing the routine in larger chunks.

I wonder who choreographs this stuff.

One of my principals really doesn't like this time, because she's CERTAIN someone is gonna break something.

dunno what she's talking about.

On another note, I'm NOT SUPPOSED to be POSTING these.  Please don't share the pictures.  At least until I'm no longer in Japan.

anyhow, they practice EVERYTHING.

they're doing blocking here.

They practice their presenting, their bows, their marching, their sharp corners, moving props, (including bringing out the tug of war rope), their announcements, everything.

My big complaint about sports day is that, due to practice, it really messes up my teaching schedule, so I really have to keep track of what lessons each class is on.  In my Friday school, each of the classes are on a DIFFERENT lesson, one class is a whole three weeks ahead of the other classes!

blegh.

My other complaint is that it happens on a Saturday, and I GOTTA go.  On the bright side, it means no school on Monday.

So!  Saturday!

what fabulous weather for a sports day.

I showed up early, because that's what I was supposed to do.

Students getting ready.

Now, most schools had extensive tents put up, but this school grew their shade.

Because it rained the night before, the ground was wet, so the students brought their chairs out instead of sitting on the ground.

the milling about.

And even though I brought a little chair, they gave me an adult sized one.

though I think I got one of the worst possible spots.

Remember how I said they were practicing their sharp turns?

They ALL did this!  I was impressed.

Let's see.  What did they do?

They sang their school song.

I'm still impressed that some of these kids casually play accordion.

They did warm-ups.

They did their grade level dances.

2nd graders. I believe.

first graders

third graders?

5th graders. definitely.

4th graders. Really impressive dance.

In between the dances, they had sports.  They had tug of war.

And tug of war with sticks.

they put the sticks in the middle and run to it and pull it to their side.

the fastest side gets a real head start on the pulling.  Ok, so, this picture.

See the kid in the back?

Can you see that grin on his face?  That's the grin of a kid who ran faster than anyone, grabbed the stick before his team even got there and dragged it back to his side, all on his own, before anyone else could touch it. :D  Everyone loved it.

Now, there was another one that involved a stick, and THIS was a fun sport.

:D  Right?!

There were people on either side of the field, and so they had to go through ALL the students on either side.  :)

After a while, we had lunch, and I was invited to join some students in their classroom.

Their lunches were so INTRICATE.  I'm like "my lunches are usually leftovers.  Throw spaghetti in a box, throw some veggies on top, call it good."

They had my favorite game for the first graders!

:D  such chaos!  

For those that don't remember last year, the goal is to get as many of their colored balls in the basket as possible. :)

There were also lots of relay races, which I did not get pictures of, but my cheering was something like "Go blue!  C'mon red, catch up!  Yay white! you're doing it!  Yellow, don't slow DOWN!  Pink is gonna pass you!  Nope, GO PINK! Take advantage of Yellow's laziness!"  :)

They also did a relay with the giant balls. This was not something they had last year, so it was a fun addition.

 And finally, the 6th graders did their presentation

no one broke anything.  

After, I got to help clean up, which was actually nice, because DURING the festival, I didn't get to do anything. I cheered, I enjoyed the show, and I knitted.   On the bright side, now I have a new fall scarf.

I'm very proud of it.