The Power of Peer Teaching

For their Who We Are summative assessment, the students in Grade 3 took on the task of teaching the second graders everything they know about healthy choices. The third graders spent several days reviewing and reflecting upon their learning, in order to select the material they would teach.

The third graders worked collaboratively in small groups to prepare presentations and learning activities that would not only demonstrate their knowledge and understanding, but also engage and educate their second grade peers.

Overall, the experience was enjoyable and educational for all. The third graders did an exceptional job teaching their peers, and the second graders learned some valuable information to help them make healthy choices.

Field Trip to Heiwa No Mori Park

On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, the students in grade three went on a field trip to Heiwa No Mori Park, a large outdoor obstacle course in Ota-ku.

After weeks of learning about healthy choices, and the ways that exercise affects our body and mind, the third graders had a ton of fun testing their strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance on the park's 40 plus obstacles.

All of the climbing, crawling, swinging, traversing and leaping would not have been possible with the kind support of our parent chaperones. We would like to extend a huge thank-you to the ten mothers who gave up their time to help supervise our trip.

Please check out some of the highlights of our trip in the videos below.

Who We Are Unit of Inquiry

For their first unit of inquiry, the students in Grade 3 having been inquiring into healthy choices.

The central idea for this Who We Are unit of inquiry is:

The choices people make can affect their health and well-being

The lines of inquiry which are being used to support this unit are:

● What it means to have a balanced diet

● How exercise can affect our body and mind

● Different sources of information to help us make choices

To learn about what it means to have a balanced diet, the students first learned about the different food groups and the nutrients they provide.

Next, they used everything they learned about the food groups to take part in an activity called Who Am I? For this activity, students were all secretly assigned a food item and asked to gather clues to figure out their assigned food item.