
Classroom
- Activities
Japanese art visuals have been purchased in Japan and at the Art Institute in Chicago for
use in the art classroom. Pictures of scrolls, kimonos, hand painted silk screen, bonsai
creations, handcrafted artifacts, reproductions of the art works of Japanese artists;
Hokusai, Hiroshige and Rakuten, lacquerware, posters and travel guide scenes of Japan have
been organized on poster board, laminated, and are now being displayed on the hall walls
of Graham School to promote student interest in Japanese arts and culture. These visuals
will remain on the walls through December and will be used in the art classroom, as
needed, for Japanese art lesson presentations.
- Art lessons
In January I will speak to all classes by grade level in the library about Japanese arts
and culture. I will show parts of a video tape which I made while visiting the schools in
Omiya, Saitama. I will discuss the Japanese/Chinese zodiac fortune calendar and the year
2000, which is the year of the Dragon. I will include at least two Japanese art lesson at
each grade level in the art curriculum. Art lessons will include Japanese and U.S. flag
making for a hall display. Origami will be taught at all grade levels. Origami paper forms
will include stars, pagodas, animals, samurai hatsm kimonos, boxes, paper ballons for a
group paper sculture, flat paper dolls and a string of a 1000 cranes will be made to
create a "sembazuru" after reading the story Sadako. Fourth grade
students will have a paper airplane contest at the end of the "Uchiwa" fan
design will be drawn. Clay chop stick rests, made by students, will be used at the
Japanese food tasting event. Sumi-e painting, calligraphy, Japanese panel painting and
silk screen painting will be taught. "Washi" paper making, hand painted gift
wrap and wire design card making will be added to the art curriculum. Japanese wood block
carving and printing techniques will be studied. Paper mache Daruma dolls, straw horse
sculptures and kimono pins will be made. Art work created by the Japanese/American artist,
Isamu Noguchi, will be studied. Carp kites and flat paper kites will be made to fly on
Boys' Day in May. In May I will review what we have learned about Japanese arts and
culture with art classes.
- Music Lessons
Japanese music lessons will be included in the music curriculum. The 5th grade Spring
musical will have a Japanese theme. Japanese musical instrument, purchased with JCCC grant
money, will be used in music class.
- Physical Education lessons
Japanese blow-up paper balls will be used for games in P.E. class.
- Classroom lessons
Classroom teachers will be encouraged to read stories about Japan and Japanese children. A
book list will be provided. Bonsai potato gardening and Zen rock gardening instruction
sheets will be given to classroom teachers as ideas for Japanese classroom activities.
- A two-tiered, origami organizer file on wheels has been purchased to
allow all students easy access to dozens of origami instruction sheets for all grade and
ability levels.
After reading the book, Sadako, to fourth and fifth grade
students, they will work on assembling a "sembazuru", chain of 1000 origami
cranes, during the school year. When the chain has been completed, it will be displayed in
the school library, then sent the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in May of 2000.
The Japanese Pokemon video tape, which I purchased in Haoan, will
be viewed by students in grades K-2, at the end of art class, when time permits. Pokemon
drawing books, comic books and posters will be used to assist K-2 students in drawing
their own Pokemon characters for individual and group posters.
School
A Japanese Arts and Culture Center has been established in the Graham School library.
Handcrafted items and Japanese toys which I purchased in Japan have been displayed in a
prominent corner shelf at the entrance to the library. Kokeshi, Daruma, bamboo and silk
covered dolls in kimonos stand among wooden toys, paper balls, boxes, umbrellas, origami
cranes, and samuri hats. A small tatami hat, a hand carved wooden horse and birds, a woven
straw basket, horse and bird on wheels, and a paper mache cow with a bobbing head await
the students curiosity. Chop sticks, rice bowls, and chop stick rests sit next to
sumi-e painting and calligraphy supplies. Brightly printed origami papers, beautifully
decorated fabrics and wooden "nikko-geta" shoes are displayed to entice
curiosity. Carp kites, a Japanese flag and a shimenawa hang from the ceiling above the
center, along with folded paper dolls dressed in kimonos, wind chimes, birds, string ball
ornaments, and fan mobiles. Books about Japanese culture, Japanese folk stories and
Japanese art and craft books and video tapes reside on a shelf below the displayed
artifacts. I have taken each grade level to the library, during art class, for an
introduction to the Japanese artifacts. Students are encouraged to carefully touch and
play with the cultural center items. These items will be displayed in the library
throughout the school year.
I have organized, mounted and labeled photographs from the 29
rolls of film which I took while in Japan. Presently they are displayed on the Graham
School hall walls. Students will have the opportunity to view the photographs of my trip
to Japan during the months of November and December. These pictures will again be
displayed during the Graham School Japanese Arts and Culture Festival planned for March or
April of 2000.
A reproduction of the Japanese artist, Hokusai Katsushikas
"Great Wave" wood block print from the series, "Thirty-Six Views of Mount
Fuji" will be permanently painted on a Graham School wall in recognition of this
years Japanese arts and culture program.
A Pokemon mobile will be constructed for display in the school
library, as a part of the Japanese Arts and Culture Center. Medium sized, plastic Pokemon
toys, which I purchased in Japan, along with the Burger King Pokemon toys, donated by
students, will be assembled into a mobile using dowel rods and fishing line.
Third, fourth, and fifth grade students will participate in a
Haiku and Tanka Japanese poetry workshop presented by professional poets. Students will
learn about the two forms of poetry and write a Haiku or Tanka poem. Their poems will be
shared with students, parents and the community at the Japanese Arts and Culture Festival,
sponsored by Graham school, in March of 2000.
Ikebana and bonsai floral arranging will be demonstrated in the
school library. Each class will sign up for a 10-minute time slot to view the
demonstrations. Finished floral arrangements will be displayed in the school lunchroom
during the Japanese food-sampling event.
The Graham School PTA will be asked to become involved with the
Japanese Arts and Culture Program by funding and preparing a Japanese food sampling for
students and faculty during all five lunch periods on a specific day. Prepared foods will
be sticky rice, Ramen noodle soup, yakitori (chicken or beef on a stick), nori (seaweed),
and an artistically prepared assortment of vegetables served with chopsticks and iced tea
in Nagano Olympics glasses, which were donated by a parent who works for the Minute Maid
Corporation. In preparation for the Japanese food sampling event, parent volunteers will
attend a Japanese food preparation demonstration and will be given instructions and
supplies for the foods that they will prepare for the students.
School District/Community
Activities
I will offer a staff developjment class to all district
employees which focuses on Japanese arts educatoin. Photos, art visuals, video tape of
Japanese schools and students, Japanese artifiacts and written, Japanese based art lesson
plans will be shared with colleagues. I will also offer a staff development class on grant
writing and program funding opportunities.
I am presently organizing a Graham School Japanese Arts and Culture
Festival which will take place in early April of 2000. The festival would be held on
a week night or on a Saturday afternoon at Crone Middle School or Neuqua Valley High
School to accommodate parking spaces for anticipated festival
crowds. (Graham School does not have adequate parking space for large numbers
of vehicles.) Koto string musicians, Buddhist Temple Taiko drummers, Okinawan dancers and
martial arts instructors will be invited to perform.
Japanese art work, created by Graham School students, will be displayed. Haiku and
Tanka poems, written by third, fourth, and fifth grade students, will be read. Students,
parents, and community will be invited to attend the festival.Next year I plan to write an art education resource/reference book which includes
a K-5 art curriculum guide. The Japanese art lesson plans which I will develop and write
this year, will be added to the K-5 art curriculum guide which I have almost completed. I
will include at least two Japanese art lessons at each grade level. In January of 2000, I
will request a sabbatical leave for the 2000-2001 school year from my school district, for
the purpose of completing the writing for my book.
Personal
Activities
Mrs. Kiyono Takeno plans to vist my home in Naperville. I and my husband are
planning a trip to Japan. We have been invited to visit the Takeno home while in Omiya.
Recently, I received a letter from Kiyono Takeno to let me know that ther friend's
daughter will be visiting Wheaton, Illinois, which is located five miles from my home.
Kiyono and I had tea with her friend while I was staying in Omiya. I plan to invite her
daughter's friend to my home sometime during her stay in Wheaton.