Japan Day

At Hawley School

 

By Tanjua Damon

Hawley School fourth grade students culminated their unit on Japan last week with a celebration that brought their families to school to share in their research and enjoy Japanese food.

The classes have been learning about Japanese culture, traditions, education, family life, and everyday life. The students created stories about particular topics they had researched.

The students found that Japanese culture has similarities and differences to culture in the United States.

“We learned about Japanese homes and food. We learned about the education, which is way different from here,” Brenna Calderara said. “They wear uniforms and have to bow to their teachers. My favorite part was that when you are sick or a sibling is sick, your mother takes your place in school.”

The fourth graders realized quickly that the lettering is quite different than what they are used to in the United States.

“The calligraphy is neat. It’s really hard to write. You have to get it perfect,” Emily Silveira said. “In Japan they have certain ways of pouring tea. They have a lot of interesting thing you can learn about. I like how they do things.”

Many of the students were dressed in Japanese entire. They enjoyed the hands-on activities and being able to encompass Japanese culture right in their classrooms.

“It’s fun. I like the food. It tastes really good,” Chris Haylon said. “The Japanese terrain is really interesting. The mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. They have regular earthquake drills there.”

“Japan was named by the Chinese,” he added. “Using chop sticks is hard, especially trying to figure out how to hold them and make them work.”

Fourth graders districtwide learn about Japan each year.