Message from the Principals 5/2/2025

School Account
May 2
4 min read

Today's Topics:

1: Important Reminders

2: Curriculum Focus: Recording Activities

3: House Points

4: Learning Highlights!

1: Important Reminders

Today: High School Fundraising - session 2 (1:45-3:45)
- Will also be next week - May 9th!
  - The fees will help reduce the total cost of the upcoming HS field trip to Hiroshima.
May 5-6 - NO SCHOOL (Golden Week)
May 23 - Celebration of Learning: Action Ambassadors
2024-25 Yearbook is available for pre-order now!
Summer School registration is Open and spots are filling up: https://www.hopeoki.org/summer-school

2: Curriculum Focus: Recording Activities

Spread out over the past few months of the Curriculum Focus, we’ve explored the mini learning cycle that takes place during subject based tasks - Research, Record, Reflect. This week we will focus on the final part of the cycle, the role of reflection.

Reflection is an important part of successful learning at any age but is often the most overlooked. After taking part in exciting research and recording tasks, pausing to take time to understand and process the new information and skills you are developing and making note of this supports students in continued growth. It also supports students in goal setting for the future and understanding what next steps are required to continue improving. The use of rubrics helps students to self-assess and through taking note of these self-assessments, students can refer back and see their progress over time.

The most powerful reflections allow students to identify their successes and identify areas for further improvement, which matches the approach to assessment and reporting at Hope. Our school strongly believes in the role that reflection plays in allowing all students to grow and see their growth.

An example of reflection in the High School from Mr. Brian's Science class:

"In Earth Science, the G9/10 students are currently studying the final unit of the semester: Unit 8: Celestial Bodies and the Universe. On Wednesday, G9/10 had an in-depth discussion around the topic: Outside of Earth, Are There Other Forms of Life in Our Universe?

Prior to the discussion, students researched the topic and prepared points to discuss with the class. Students first shared what they had researched about the topic, and this led to the question: “What if we find intelligent life outside earth?” This triggered a lot of thought about the ethics this would entail, and students reflected on how, on our own planet, different ethnic groups were contacted. The question was then flipped with “What if intelligent life finds us?” There was a hush over the class as they reflected on this point and the possible implications that could come with such a power imbalance in our disfavor. In the end, the learners came away from this reflection with a greater sense of empathy. I could not have been more pleased!"

-Mr. Brian

3: House Points

Dragon - 4788

Hydra - 4434

Phoenix - 4269

Basilisk - 4262

4: Learning Highlights:

Prep completed a timeline as one of their History Tasks for their toys, arranging them from the oldest to the newest.

Grade 3 had a field trip this week to Murasaki Mura where they got to experience making Pineapple Jam in connection with their unit "What's on the Menu?".

In connection with the upcoming Action Ambassadors project, some grade 4 students volunteered their recess time to help clean the local area!

Grade 5 completed their entry point for their final unit, “Here and Now, There and Then”. They were tasked to define: “home, host, adopted, and heritage countries” and provide examples. In groups they then chose one of those countries, traced it best they could and used old magazines, paper and other materials to create a collage of colors and pictures that represent that country. They then presented it to the class!

Grade 6 is focusing on the consequences of social interactions among humans in their unit "Consequence". The students were tasked with creating a character who is in middle school, and describe their character as well as physical features. In groups, they received a scenario such as "one student is sitting alone in the cafeteria and is bullied by others" and were asked to write a script that shows how the characters would deal with this situation. The learners played out their script. The learning goal in this task was to "use spoken language appropriately to the purpose and situation" and they integrated the PLGs Communication, Collaboration and Ethical!

G8 is giving second life to their extra worksheets and scrap papers they don't use anymore. Instead of throwing them away, they are reusing them to use as their poster for their action ambassador project.

This kind of sustainable thinking is linked to their unit's "Entrepreneurship" learning goals:

geography ~ circular economic model
media class ~ presenting data and information in creative and sustainable way

G11 is preparing for their final speech class project. They are making a video podcast reflecting on and discussing their high school growth, milestones, and future plans as they graduate next school year.