Mihara Elementary School

Principal and kids at Mihara welcoming us to their school

What an amazing day... the kids at Mihara Elementary School (grades 1 through 6) were SO fun - just friendly, curious, and happy. We had a wonderful time observing classes, eating lunch with them, watching their dance and sports practices and talking with faculty members.

kids playing before school starts There was a welcome ceremony for us here as well, then some free time to wander the school and observe classes, then more structured observations of dance practice (Eisa dancing - a traditional Okinawan dance), participating in an English lesson with 3rd graders, eating lunch with various classes, more classroom observations, a question and answer session with teachers, and then observing sports practice (not sports like basketball or tennis - if this video loads, you will see all of the 3rd through 6th graders competing to roll a giant ball around the baseball field... wow!) after school. We left the school exhausted, but so fulfilled and enchanted with this place.

me and some new friends (5th grade) Kids have much more responsibility here than they would at an American school. Even the first graders I had lunch with all had jobs to do - clean-up duties, picking up lunches and returning them, taking care of class pets and supplies, and leading the class in a variety of activities. The teachers told us that every day, there is a different class leader who helps the teacher, and that every year, the responsibilities of students are increased. Even during recess and whole-school clean-up, there is little to no adult supervision - things just get done, and although it seems chaotic at times, there is definitely order to the madness and everyone seems to know their place.

I saw some excellent 5th grade math lessons in which all students were engaged and working hard - the teacher explained, led through examples, and gave immediate feedback on practice worksheets. We were also very impressed with their English skills - students begin to learn English once a week starting in first grade. The third graders had prepared an interview to tell us about themselves in English and ask us about our lives - then they gave us gifts and many, many hugs. Awwww!!!


3rd graders practice their English
buddies from 1st grade with whom we had lunch