Beijing International School raises money for our fund

Well done and thank you to students and staff at BISS for raising money for our fund through their auction.

The Montessori “Walk of Coins” Fundraising Efforts

The Montessori children’s fundraising event called the “Walk of Coins”, was a staggering success with the amount of ¥51,560 collected by the children. The Walk of Coins is a charity walk thus the children needed sponsors to help them earn the distance for walking. They asked parents and supporters to sponsor them by bringing in as many ¥10 and ¥100 coins as possible to fill up the map of Japan which was made on the floor.  Some children brought in money from their allowance and/or earned the money at home by doing specific chores and/or doing various acts of kindness. 

The ¥100 coins outlined and filled in the areas which were affected by the earthquake and tsunami. The remaining areas of Japan were outlined and filled in with ¥10 coins.  It was both an exciting visual and hands–on learning experience, which also lends itself to a Montessori math activity by counting ten ¥10 coins in exchange for one ¥100 coin, and ten ¥100 coins in exchange for one ¥1000 note.  The focus for this project was in two parts—collecting and walking. Apart from helping the people of Tohoku, another incentive was to collect enough money to walk to a local park and play there for a certain amount of time, which depended on how much we raised. We hope you would agree the children’s efforts with this fun project have allowed them a much deserved playtime!

HOT OFF THE PRESS! The Montessori T-shirts arrived on Thursday, June 2! One of our all-time favorite songs in our Montessori classrooms is “The Alphabet Song”. As fun way of capturing the children’s joy for singing it each day, a T-shirt was designed with the pictures of each letter and below it the children wrote their name according to the beginning sound in their name.  It’s a catchy song and the t-shirt itself is bound to be a winner, too!   

Both fundraising events together brought the grand total to: ¥70,230!!!!

Peace Boat rep. visits Saint Maur

On Monday Meme Madoka Watanable visited the school to talk to staff, parents and students about Peaceboat's activities in Tohoku, and to accept a cheque for Y100,000. She said that the organisation desperately needs more adult volunteers, so if anyone is available and willing to help over the summer you can contact Meme at relief@peaceboat.gr.jp



T-shirt Day Monday 6th June

Don't forget to wear your "PRAY FOR JAPAN" T-shirt next Monday!

Peace Boat rep. visiting Saint Maur next Monday

A member of Peace Boat, a Japanese NGO that is assisting with the relief effort in Tohoku, will be joining us on Monday. Any students/staff/parents interested in hearing a short presentation by Meme Watanabe is welcome to join us in 4M from 12.50pm. Meme will give a short talk and then be open for questions. We'll also be handing over our second donation of 100,000 yen to Peace Boat.

Grade 7 boys buy toys for children in Miyagi

5 boys from 7O (Sung Jae, Sotaro, Oscar, Shashwat, and Avkash) went to Motomachi on Sunday, April 24th to collect money for the Saint Maur Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund as part of their service learning project for English. They collected a total of 38, 063 yen and donated all the coins (14,063yen) to the St. Maur yenny drop. 

 

In addition, Avkash and his friends organised the purchase of some toys which were sent to the Shichigahama Kosodate Shien Center (Children's Support Center) in Miyagi. Avkash's Mom reports that she received a call from the Center this week saying that the toys had arrived and they were extremely happy to have something for the toddlers to use. Well done lads!

 

What else has been happening around Saint Maur?

• The Robotics Club raised 4,000 yen the weekend of May 14th during their Robo Sumo Friendly Event
• The year 11 coffee sherpas under the mountaineering guidance of Mr. G brought hot coffees to the summit of the Bluff each Friday, culminating in a total of 41,800 yen
• At last the 226 PRAY FOR JAPAN t-shirts designed by our own Alisa and Hannah arrived for distribution Monday, May 30^th. We’re hoping to see the Saint Maur community proudly displaying our t-shirts on Monday, June 6^th
• Year 7 students Mizuki, Young Bin, and Kirara decided to donate easy English picture books to Nakahama Elementary School as part of their English service learning project. They asked all their classmates to donate these English picture books, and our fund ensured the delivery of the package
• We are hopeful a representative from Peace Boat will visit the school on Monday, June 6^th to receive a second donation of 100,000 yen from our fund. We are anticipating the representative will be able to give a presentation to students and staff detailing Peace Boat’s volunteer work in Ishinomaki City