St. John the Evangelist third graders journey to Japan

The third grade at St. John's School in Spencerport has been working on a social studies curriculum which focuses on learning about communities around the world. The class learns about different cultures, why cultures change, where people choose to live and why, how cultural exchange happens, how to apply map skills to the geography of different countries, the effects of environmental and geographic factors on lifestyles, and that basic human needs are the same but that people in different places fill those needs in different ways. The curriculum is broad and demanding, but the third grade at St. John School loves every second of social studies class because it is a time of travel and adventure. The most recent "trip" the third grade took was to "the Land of the Rising Sun," Japan. During the five week visit, the class researched and built Japanese homes, read and compared several Japanese stories, and riding aboard the tour bus of imagination, went sight-seeing on the islands of Japan and took photographs of landmarks such as Mount Fuji. The culmination of the trip was a Japanese Festival Day, held on March 17. Class members went to school dressed in kimonos they had worked on at home. They bowed and greeted their teacher with the Japanese word, "Konnichiwa," then sat at low tables on the floor.

Mr. Hopkins, the music teacher, led the class in singing a traditional Japanese song about cherry blossoms, and then students worked on some origami, or Japanese paper-folding. Students prepared Japanese food, such as sushi, miso soup, and bean curd pockets, and then ate together using chopsticks. Some students were surprised to find that they really enjoyed Japanese food.