The Owl 4/25/23
Moving for Music and Art is This Week!
Moving for Music and Art: April 26 and 27
Are you getting ready to A.M.P. it up?! Moving for Music and Art is happening this week!
Sponsor forms were sent home with your students last week and the run schedule is available on our MMA website at www.intlschool.org/mma.
If your student is an enrolled half-day student in Low-K, your student is welcome to return to campus with you to participate with their class.
Parents will be welcome on campus to join this event as volunteers and cheerleaders for our runners and we would love your help at this event!
VOLUNTEER! If you are interested in volunteering for our jog-a-thon, please use this form.
Celebrate National Library Week
It’s National Library Week – a time to celebrate your local and school library and all that libraries have to offer for children and families.
Remember that you can drop by the ISP library before school from 7:30-8am or after school from 3-3:45pm (2-2:30pm on Wednesdays) to browse the library’s collection in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and English.
Families can read in the library, complete homework, play games, or draw. Drop by to visit during National Library Week or any other day!
Teacher Appreciation Week is Next Week!
Teacher Appreciation Week is from May 1 – 5. Teacher Appreciation Week is a wonderful way to break up a work day with a delightful treat and make our beloved teachers feel special. All classes and students can participate!
Please check with your room parent if you have not received an email with more details about how you and your student(s) can participate!
Thank You for Celebrating Earth Day with us!
What an incredible day of helping, learning and community on Earth Day at ISP! Seeing so many ISP families working alongside our helpful neighbors for a great purpose brought a warm sense of togetherness in our community. Thank you so much to those of you who were able to attend!
- You may have noticed this week that the area surrounding our campus is looking cleaner than usual. This is thanks to the many volunteers who helped with the litter removal effort. Collected litter – combined with the bulk waste drop-off items – resulted in a total of over half a ton of waste!
- A parent-led bike bus arrived at the event with several young attendees. It was a successful pilot and wonderful to see the group ride in together!
- Many willing hands helped put in plants in the pollinator garden, which is now beautifully lined with rocks painted by students, thanks to the help of our art teachers
- We appreciate the information shared at resource tables by organizations: Families for Climate, Waste-Free Advocates, Okapi Reusables, and Ridwell, along with great information shared by an ISP parent volunteer on hosting mason bees at home. Many attendees went home with native plants purchased at half-off. Families also took home egg carton plantings that will soon produce fresh herbs!
- There was great feedback on the refreshment table, and many of you appreciated the healthier options that were provided.
- Such great participation in the book swap that was led by our library staff, with many families going home with ISP library books that were ready for a new home. Remaining books will be donated to the Beaverton Book Corner to support the Beaverton library’s programming offerings to the community.
- Collection of plastic film, plastic #1 PET containers along with old markers and pens were also utilized.
It was truly a treat to see ISP families, staff, and neighbors come together to play, help, and connect with each other. Thank you, ISP Green Team, for your collective efforts to make this day happen!
Kodomo No Hi – Japanese Children’s Day
On May 5th, we will be celebrating Kodomo no Hi. This day in Japan is the final day of Golden Week and one where children are respected and honored for their individual strengths and happiness is wished upon them. Hallmarks of this tradition include flying cloth carp streamers (koinobori) and displaying items in homes like samurai helmets (kabuto) and armor that represent strength and bravery.
To add to the celebrations, we will have taiko (Japanese drums) performers from Portland Taiko performing for us during the school day! The times are below and will be located at the Lower Playground. If EC students are enrolled half day then parents are welcome to bring their child back for the performance and after school event.
1:25-1:35 Portland Taiko Performance for Grades 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1:45-1:55 Portland Taiko Performance for Grades PreK, LowK, 4th and 5th
From 3:00-4:00 pm, we will have activities for the whole family to enjoy! Come celebrate Kodomo no Hi and Japanese culture under the tent at the Lower Playground. The activities are listed below:
Table 1 – Kabuto Hats (origami)
Table 2 – Kendama Koi
Table 3 – Fishing for Koi
Table 4 – Hashi (chopsticks) Game
Table 5 – Photo Booth: dress up in Yukata or Happi
In addition, there will be a snack table located at the after school event with snacks from Japan.
If you have a yukata, happi or any other Japanese style clothing at home and would like to dress up on May 5th, please join in the fun to celebrate our Japanese track and Kodomo no Hi!
Kids should be picked up by 3:30 pm from classrooms or carline, unless they are in Global Kids, who will also be participating. You can park and walk up to campus; however, please do not park on South Caruthers so that our EC families can park and pick up their children.
ISP AT THE PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDEN!
On May 7th, the Portland Japanese Garden will be celebrating Kodomo no Hi and showing a video, “Curious about Koi”, about koi (carp) that we partnered with them to create. It features ISP Japanese track students!
ISP Alumni Update
Kate A., ISP Class of 2017, won second place in Division 3 (native speaker, immersion student) category this weekend for the Japanese Consulate’s 34th Annual Japanese Speech Contest! The topic was “My Favorite Book.” Her placement qualifies her to apply for the All-USA High School Japanese Speech Contest held in June. The Japanese Speech Contest is open to middle and high school students who are studying Japanese language.
Action M., ISP Class of 2022, also participated in Division III as a 6th grader!
Congratulations to you both!