We Have Some Questions
about your playground and your school
The students have many questions for Isamu and his children. Isamu's answers
are in brown while our questions are in black. -- Patti
HI!!
Miss Weeg has just shown me the pictures of your playground. It is a big
play ground. Do you have a soccer field there? Do you have a four-square
game? Do you have a black top? Our playground is small but we have two of
them. They are both different. One of them is for the 1-3 graders and
the other one is for the 4-6 graders. We have a 2 story building. we have
8 portables. They are for the 3rd grade. What grade do you teach? What
story are you on?
Bye.
In the eyes of the children our playground is small. Actually, they have a big play area.
It is interesting to see how they perceive it. We also only have a second
floor over one wing of our school. The school building has three wings coming
out from the main part of the building. The second floor is over the main building.
We have 7 portables right now but at least 3 more are coming by September.
Our school is growing - 1048 students! --Patti
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your mail.
I'm glad to receive from you.
I see, you have two playgrounds. We have only one, and all the people in
Our school use the one playground. Don't you surprise how many students there
are in our school? We have almost 900 students from the first to sixth grade.
We have 25 classrooms. How many teachers do you ask?
Let's see, last year we have 35 teachers but this year, I'm not certain.
Because many teachers left our school and go to work another schools.
But 9 teachers came to our school. Anyway two many people in our school.
Each class is able to use twice a week for PE in their lesson and one more
for gym. Yes, our students get three PE lessons in a week.
About school building, we have two. one has third floor and the other one
has also third floor. We call our school building, south, east and west.
My international class is in south. Other classroom are in east and west.
East and west are the same lane, though.
About soccer, in winter season, we play soccer in PE lesson. as I wrote
above, you'll understand that classes are able to use twice a week for half
ground. Yes, two classes use the playground at a time. But they are an elder class
and a younger class. So it did not matter to use at the same time.
>How many students are there in your school?
I'd like to show our most clouded time for our playground.
Maybe it is so fun to see.
Thanks for our mail,
In your the letter that you sent me you must not know what 4-square is.
Well, there are 4 squares drawn on the ground (blacktop) and one of the
squares is the servers box. The servers square has a little square in
it. They have to stand inside that little square to serve the ball. The
ball can only bounce once in your or another's square. It is really hard
to explain but if I had a picture of it, this would be much easier. Now
to explain a blacktop. A blacktop is a place where we play basketball and
4-square. Do you know what pavement it? If you don't do you know what
cement is? To tell you the truth a blacktop is like what is on a road.
Well, I hope that you understand now. You might not because the blacktop
and the 4-square are hard things to explain.
Well, I got to go !!
I will answer your questions later. They bell just rang!
BYE BYE,
Oh, dear Lauren, thanks for your kindness to explain about my questions.
Anyway, it is some kind of play for children. Right?
And pavement, I can understand this word and I saw your basketball court.
But indeed it is so hard to understand another way of life in schools.
But we are able to use pictures to explain and more understandable.
Thanks for your help and explain my questions.
Isamu Shimazaki
Dear Friends,
I like to play on the merry go round. Why do you have 4 sliding boards?
Your friend,
Hello Brenna, thanks for your mail,
unfortunately it is Friday here in Japan, so we have no school tomorrow.
I'd like to show your mail to our students on Monday. Sorry. Please
wait for a little time.
Now I'd like to answer your question, but I could not perfectly about it.
Some years ago, our school had that sliding boards. They were made by
cement.
Students are glad to play this. Next time I'd like to take a picture
students
playing this.
Thanks for your mail,
Dear friends,
I didn't go outside. I don't mind. How many kids are in your schools?
I like to play on the merry-go-round. Do you have a merry-go-round?
your Friend,
The day we went outside to write about our playground Davinia was not with
us. She was back the next day to type in the lab. This is what she is telling you here. --Patti
hello Davinia,
thanks for your mail,
I'm very glad to receive from you.
Dear friends,
When we went outside we looked on the litte playground and the big
playground. How many kids do you have and rooms too? How many children
are
in each classroom? What subjects do you have?
Your friend,
Hello Dominique,
thanks for your mail. It was so nice to read your letter.
Thanks for your mail, Dominique.
Isamu Shimazaki
Hi Dominique and Davinia
We have 28 girls in each of the two grade 2 classrooms at Springfield
Convent Junior school in Cape Town, South Africa. The most students
we have per class in the whole school from pre-school to grade 12 is
30. There are 30 students in one of the grade 6 classes but our
school prefers the classes to be smaller. When they have subject
choices in high school (grade 8 - 12) the classes are much more
specialised and much smaller. We are lucky - many schools in
empoverished communities in Cape Town and other areas of South Africa
have as many as 60 pupils in each class. The teachers are very
stressed and work very hard.
Best wishes with your project
Dear Friends,
Hi my name is Stacey. I am in fifth grade. I am ten. I am
going to tell you about our playground at school. This is what I do on
outdoor recess. We have a big double sliding board. We have monkey bars,
swings, basketball court, soccer, and football fields. A lot of us go to
Kidlink. I really like to go to Kidlink. I am in it right now that is how
I write to you all.
What I do when it is indoor recess! Yes I still usually go to Kidlink.
Sometimes my class brings in games, and, little toys, cd or tape players.
What kind of equipment is on your playground?
Your New Keypal,
Dear Mr. Isamu,
Hi! My name is Vanessa. I am 11 years old. I just looked at your
web page "Visit our Playground". It was great. I have just a few things
to tell you about our playground and ask you a couple of questions. Our
school has 2 playgrounds, one for little children and one for the bigger
children. How many playgrounds do you have? Our playgrounds have about
ten things to play on. How many things do you have on your playgrounds?
Our school is 2 stories tall. We have extra portables for all 1,048. How
many students are in your school? Do you have any portables? Can students
actually go on top of the roof? Well these are all of the questions I
have for now. I will write back to you soon. Bye!
Your Friend,
Dear Mr. Isamu,
Thanks for the pictures. Mrs. Weeg told us that you took the pictures from
the 3 floor out a window. Do you have anymore pictures? How big is your
school? Ours is Pre-K through 6 and we have 1048. But we only have 2 floors
and 7 portables. We are surveying the equipment outside we like most. We
are going to make a graph from our data. Well, got to go, the bell is going
to ring.
Your Friend,
P.S Write Back Soon,Please??????
Dear Mr. Isamu,
Hi! It's me Vanessa. I'm asking a few more questions. How many
children are in your school? How many classrooms do you have? Are kids
playing soccer on the field? Do we change classes for any time? Is your
playground big? Do you eat in your cafeteria at once? Do you have
kindergarten? How many grades do you have? How many kids are in each
class? What subjects do you have? Do you have recess every day? How many
minutes do you have? When does school begin? When does school end? Are
kids aloud on the roof? Do you have fire drill
practices? Where is your school exactly? Is your playground equipment
old? Have you recently gotten any new equipment for your playground? Can
kids ever lose playground time? Is any of your playground equipment
dangerous? Has anyone ever gotten hurt on a piece of equipment?
Now I
will give you answers about our school. We have 1,048 students in our
school. We have about 38 classrooms. Kids play soccer on our field. We
have lunch on shifts. Our playgrounds are very large. We have 5
kindergarten classes. We have 8 grades. Pre-k, kindergarten, 1,2,3,4,5,
and 6. We have about 30 students in each class. We have math, social
studies, reading, language, spelling, and science. We have recess every
day. We have 30 minutes each day. School begins at 8:30 every day. It
ends at 2:55 each day. Kids aren't allowed on the roof. We have 1 firedrill
practice each month. Our school is in Delmar Maryland. Most of our
playground equipment is mainly old. We have recently gotten a new jungle
gym set. In our school if you are misbehaved you will lose a certain
amount of playground time. Some of our playground equipment is dangerous,
like the see saw. A few people have fallen off and hit their heads. Well
this is it. I gotta go. Bye!
Sincerely,
Dear Mr. Isamu,
Hi my name is Westley. I'm 11 years old. Do the kids in
Japan have a lab write in? We come to kidlink at recces to type.
Bye
Dear Isamu,
We liked the playground pictures. How long do they have recess at your
school? Who watches the kids when they have recess? We have very little
room to play when we have recess. We only get 30 min. for our recess. We
have three classes before lunch then we have recess. We have to go now.
your friends,
Dear Isamu,
What were they doing on the field? Do they have recess everyday?
The town is so beautiful.
Your friend,
Dear Isamu,
Is your playground big? We have two playgrounds. Do you have
recess everyday? Do you have recess inside when it rains?
your friends,
Dear Isamu,
We like the pictures very much. What were they doing outside on the
grass? Do you have recess every day? Japan is cool.
Your friends,
Dear Isamu,
Could I have a penpal from your class? My name is Stephanie H.and I`m
11.Ilke sports.
Tell about your playground. Who watches you? Do you have an indoor
recess? Do you have recess everyday?--
Signed,
Hi! My name is Brian. I saw the pictures of the playground. You
have a real big playground. We hardly have any playground toys. But, we
have a soccer field and a lot of ground. Do you go outside every day? Who
watches the kids? Do you have indoor recess? How long is your recess?
Please write back !!!!!!!!
See-Ya,
Hi I am Lori. I saw some pictures of a school play ground in Japan. I
was wandering do your students make ideas on what kinds of play ground
equipment they get. How long is there recess time. Ours is 30 minutes.
Do they have recess every day. We have it every day. Write soon.
Your friend,
Dear Isamu,
When the pictures were taken were they taken from the roof or the third
floor window? Does your school have portables?
Your Friend,
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