Global Kids Academy States Goals for 2008
Have you made your new year's resolution for this year? The students at GKA have and they were featured in the Dec 21-Jan 3 issue of the Weekender magazine! Eiichiro, Jason, Jun, Kenichi, Kent, Kitty, Michael, Momoko, Riku and Sarah share their goals like trying to help out around the house more and devoting more time to community service. GKA students have a variety of exciting goals and it looks like we are having a great year ahead of us!
To see the article, click Weekender Article Dec 21 issue
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Winter Program 2007
The special winter program was packed with joyful projects like plate making and kyoketsuzome (Japanese paper dyeing). We also went on a scavenger hunt to look for all the festive decorations around the city. We wrapped up the program with a winter concert full of holiday music and a play!
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Takako Yamasaki Violin Performance and Darius Exhibition on Feb 2
We are pleased to let you know that Ogawa sensei and her sister, Madame Miho Hecq-Cauquil, are hosting an art and music event this weekend at the Penthouse Gallery of Global Kids Academy.
When: Saturday, February 2 from 13:00 to 15:30
Special violin performance from 14:00
Where: Penthouse Gallery of Global Kids Academy building
Featured Violinist: Takako Yamasaki
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Evening with French Artist Darius and Madeleine Malraux in November
As many of you know, we had a very successful evening of art and music in June featuring Yale's a cappella group Whim'n Rhythm and French artist Darius. (See details of Darius by clicking the link below.) This November, Darius is coming to Tokyo with his wife Miho (sister of our own Ogawa sensei) and concert pianist Madeleine Malraux, widow of the famous French author and statesman, Andre Malraux who wrote Man's Fate. The tentative date for the event is Friday, November 16th. We hope that many of you can join us. Details will be set over the next few weeks so if you are interested in hearing more about the event, please let me know.
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Yale University's A Cappella Group Whim'n Rhythm to perform on opening night of French Artist Darius' Art Exhibition
As announced before, we at GKA are striving to bring more art and music to the children and families of GKA to enable more hands-on learning of the different cultures that make up the world we live in.
Whim'n Rhythm, the all female a cappella group from Yale University is coming to Global Kids Academy on June 13th! Whim'n Rhythm has performed for audiences all over the world from Maine to Hong Kong and Club Med to the White House. On June 13th, the fourteen members who just graduated from Yale will stop by at the beginning of their World Tour. They will first talk with and teach some of our students. Later, doors will open to the public and they will give a concert.
Posted by mika at 12:22
Category:GKA Blogs
Global Kids Academy students are featured in the Weekender
Read all about it in the March 16 edition of the Weekender magazine! On the cover, you will find the headline "A Taste of Success - Global Kids Academy visits Kidzania" along with a picture of Bobby Valentine. Our story is on pages 14 and 15 under the heading "Global Kids Academy tries Kidzania Careers". As many of you know, the Winter Program participants went to Kidzania in December.
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/In the Press
/News
Africa Remix at Mori Art Museum
Last week’s field trip took place at the Mori Art Museum. Students explored the Africa Remix exhibition, in order to learn more about Africa. Many of the students found that there is more to learn about a place than what is conveyed through textbooks and atlases. Here is what some of the students had to say about the trip.
Q: Why do they call it Africa Remix?
A: “They want to show a mix.” – Soichiro
“ They want to show everything.” – Joe
“My favorite was the dark room with crystal stones. It’s kind of interesting because the room is dark, but from the stones comes lots of light.” –Amy
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/Summer Journals
/Summer Programs
Art of Disney Museum
"Sleeping Beauty
There was a forest and castle background. Water color paint was used. My favorite Disney character is Chip and Dale. I learned how to draw Mickey Mouse. Next time I go, I want to take my friends."
Response by Haruhi
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/Summer Journals
Field Trip to the National Science Museum
Yesterday, in conjunction with this week's focus on extinct animals, the children and counselors at GKA took a trip to the Ueno National Science Museum. Everyone was excited to see fossils and skeletons of the different types of dinosaurs and ancient animals they had read and wrote about earlier in the week. Despite the early August heat, everyone in the group was enthusiastic and full of energy throughout the entire trip, even on the journey to and from the museum. Highlights of the trip included exploring a floor full of interactive science experiments which explained various phsyical and electronic phenomena, observing the vertical and horizontal motions of a gigantic whale's jaw, and of course seeing the life sized remains of tyrannosauruses, supersaureses and stegosauruses. As a new counselor in the summer program, it was a pleasure and a joy to work with and explore together with the children this week.
-Sarah Thomas
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/Summer Journals
GKA Children Study Global Warming
“The polar bears will drown if we don’t do something about this!” This was the reaction of one 6-year old while discussing endangered species and global warming.
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/Summer Journals
Project Zero Classroom 2006 at Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
This is Mika Fukutomi. For the first time since Global Kids Academy was established, I was able to leave GKA for two weeks during our busy summer season to attend a workshop in the U.S. I am very grateful to the team of teachers who made this possible, led by Nao-sensei and Ogawa-sensei.
The Project Zero Classroom is a one-week intensive summer institute designed to help educators create positive learning environments, based on the findings of Project Zero, the research group of Harvard Graduate School of Education. Project Zero's mission is to “understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels”.
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Weekender - Writing Contest
HANAMI
by Nao
The Weekender magazine started a writing contest for every issue starting in April. Many children at GKA were excited about their work being published in a magazine.
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/In the Press
Scavenger Hunt in Roppongi HIlls
by Nao
On April 28th, the Friday group went on a scavenger hunt with Mika-sensei. They were given a booklet with many clues and questions. With the booklet in one hand, and a pencil in the other, six children started their adventure in the Roppongi Hills.
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April
by Nao
This month was a great month for starting a new term. After a week of Spring break, the children came back to GKA for a fresh start. Because the cherry blossoms signify a new start in the Japanese culture, we started the month off with a Sakura theme.
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March
by Nao
We had another great month at GKA with many exciting themes. We studied the HINAMATSURI, St. Patrick's Day, plants and flowers, sharks and the World Baseball Classics.
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Mad Hot Ballroom - Anyone can make it if they know how to shake it
On Monday night, February 27, some of the teachers from Global Kids Academy joined other educators in a nice evening at the movies by kind invitation from Toho Cinemas in Roppongi Hills. ‘Mad Hot Ballroom’ took us on a journey through part of the multicultural New York City school system.
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Mika-sensei speaks at Nishimachi International School
On January 25, Mika Fukutomi visited her alma mater,
Nishimachi International School to speak to the 6th
grade class about her experience at and after
attending Nishimachi International School. The
article she wrote about that experience posted in the Nishimachi website.. It is also attached here
Download file
日本語バージョンは、下のリンクからアクセスしてください。
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February
by Nao
Although winter is still giving us the shivers, the children at GKA had another great month filled with exciting themes. Starting off with Groundhog Day, we studied the groundhog, made cute crafts, and learned about the traditional American story of groundhog Phil.
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January
by Nao
Happy New Year and welcome back to GKA! We had a great beginning at GKA with many themes to cover.
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December
The three weeks of December were filled with fun activities. Despite the cold weather, GKA was warm and energetic with the children excited about the holidays.
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November
November was another fun-filled month at GKA. We had two great themes: a regional study of Germany, and the traditional American holiday of Thanksgiving. In the first week, we studied basic facts of Germany. Many of us made a booklet about Germany, including the flag, a map, famous food, and general facts. Some of us were also able to visit D-Haus in Hiroo to experience life in present day Germany (see below). The following weeks were also filled with fun activities such as
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GKA goes to Tateyama, Chiba
The Chiba trip to David Green's log house in Tateyama was a great success. Everyone had an amazing time at the beach. Through this trip, the children were able to experience a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, make new friends, and appreciate nature.
Please see pictures from Day One Day One and Day Two
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Global Kids go to D-Haus
On November 11th, 2005, GKA’s Friday class went on a field trip to Deutsches Haus, the German Fair taking place in the old Jichi Univeristy Campus in Hiro. This fair gave us the opportunity to experience the German culture.
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Halloween 2005
Our Halloween Event was a great success! There were beautiful fairies and angels, witches and wizards, movie heros and celebrities!
For pictures, please see Halloween photos
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October
by Nao
This is the month that all children have been waiting for. We started off with creative decorations to make the classroom a spooky place, with bats and ghost and a flying cat! The children played consonant and vowel Halloween games and expanded their vocabulary. The younger children created their own witch faces, and the older children thought of as many Halloween words and created a word search puzzle. For English listening comprehension, we watched Halloween videos and discussed the plot and completed fun writing exercises. After creating paper bag puppets of witches, ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, some performed a play called “The Haunted House”. Everyone did a great job with their acting and speech. We studied bats and discussed the interesting facts about this animal. We created our own monsters and recited a monster party poem. In our final week, we studied the skeleton. We made our own skeletons, and learned interesting facts about our bones. Finally, we prepared ourselves for Trick-or-Treating by making candy bags!
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September
by Nao
The Fall Term started off with excited children, all eager to share their summer experiences. We had started off with discussing what each child did during the summer, and created a book called “Our Summer”. With the change of season, we focused on Fall. We created colorful leaves to decorate our classroom with warm colors. We read books on quilts and teddy bears. With the Japanese “Otsukimi” in mind, we created posters of outer space. The boys were especially enthusiastic about the planets. We found out about our constellations using our birthdays. Some children wrote a letter to Mr. Noguchi, the Japanese Astronaut who had returned to Japan after his recent mission.
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Pixar Animation Workshop
written by Nao
On August 12, 9 of our students were able to enroll in the Kinder Film Festival in Kodomo no Shiro. They were taken into a theater-like room with other participants, and were given a special notepad. As they were getting ready, two special guests, Gachapin and Mukku, two famous Japanese TV characters, entertained them on stage. They were warmed up with a short film that was compiled from the Pixar films and animation. They were excited to see scenes of their favorite film. Then, Gini Santos, the Pixar animator who created Dory from Finding Nemo, Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc., and Helen, Dash and Violet from The Incredibles, appeared on stage.
Pixar Animation Workshop Photos
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Summer 2005 Teachers and Counselors
We are pleased to announce that Ogawa Eri Sensei will lead our Japanese Immersion Program. Ogawa Sensei started teaching Japanese at Nishimachi International School when I was a student in the 1970’s. Many of my non-Japanese classmates are fluent in Japanese and use their language skills in their professions, thanks to Ogawa Sensei. We are very fortunate to have someone with such wealth of experience join our faculty this summer.
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Weekender Article - Tokyo's Best Summer Camps
Global Kids Academy was featured in the May issue of the Weekender magazine as one of the best summer camps in Tokyo!
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Posted by mika at 09:17
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/Summer Journals
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IAC Block Party
IAC Block Party, the inaugural event for the International Alumni Council which took place on April 2nd, was a huge success. Over 500 people showed up from more than 10 international schools in Japan. GKA owner Mika worked on the marketing committee of the IAC. It was great to work with fellow alumni from the international school community in Tokyo. 
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Global Kids Care
This is Mika. The 1st grade and 5th grade students of Nishimachi International School (Michael is in the latter group) are collecting 1 yen coins (or any spare change) to raise money for the One-Yen-Can-Make-a-Difference-Campaign to help the victims of the tsunami. Dr. Akiko Ohnogi (a fellow alumnus of NIS and former counselor) is in Sri Lanka to provide help to traumatized children through play therapy. The kids of Global Kids Academy came back with bags of change to put in the milk carton that Michael used as a collection box. Special thanks to KU and KTs!
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Chigirie - Tutu Nene and Nele
Today, we had Marianne sensei lead a project from 2:30. She read the Tales of Tutu Nene and Nele, a story of a baby Nene (a rare goose) and her grandmother Tutu Nene. It is a beautiful book from Island Heritage Publishing in Hawaii.
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About this Blog/Translation Committee
This is Mika. This site has been converted to a blog format, using the Movable Type engine. The new format allows us to make constant updates. We hope to make this site a venue where students, parents, teachers and friends of GKA can exchange information about our programs and thoughts about international education.
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日経記事 「英語習熟すれば脳の活動を節約」
みかです。2005年2月16日の夕刊に興味深い記事が載っていました。東京大学の酒井邦嘉助教授らの研究によると、英語を使う際の脳の活動は、習熟度が高まると節約された状態になります。
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What we did on Wednesday, February 16
Hi, this is Mika. Today, our young English learners (5- to 7- yrs old) had a very full day. At discussion time, the children retold stories of Clifford the Big Red Dog that they had just heard. The kids could recall what happened... I was especially impressed by how they responded to questions like "What is special about Clifford?"
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International Alumni Council Block Party
This is Mika. The International Alumni Council (an organization made up of 10 participating international schools in Japan)is holding a Block Party on April 2 at the St. Mary's Baseball Field. I am working on the marketing committee, representing Nishimachi and ASIJ. GKA is proud to be a sponsor. Please pre-register through the IAC site.
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GKA Summer Programs 2005 - ｻﾏｰﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑ 2005
This is Mika. It is never too early to start planning for the summer. This summer, GKA will offer exciting programs for children in Tokyo and North America! Alison Roberts (my Nishimachi classmate) and I are collaborating again this summer. This time, we will kick off in late June with GKA Camp Washington, a fun camp and home-stay program outside Seattle. In Tokyo, we will run half and full day programs in June/July and Summer Day Camp in late July and August. Make sure you look at the students' photo journals from last summer! Watch this space for details! Click below for the Japanese version.
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Posted by mika at 23:14
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/News
Congratulations - Nishimachi Admission
We are pleased to announce that all applicants to Nishimachi International School kindergarten have been admitted. Warmest congratulations to the children! I know the kids will continue to be friends throughout their lives, just as I am with so many of my classmates from my Nishimachi days!
Mika GKA
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Mid-winter holiday
GKA is closed for the mid-winter holiday on Thursday and Friday, February 10th and 11th.
Posted by mika at 22:25
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