I go to Sakura Elementary School. It is a very old school. I hear it is more than seventy years old. My grandfather and my father also went to this school. My mother didn't go to this school, but went to another school in the next town. However, the school houses are not so old. They were rebuilt about twenty years ago.
There are two school buildings; the south building and the north building. Both buildings have three floors. There is a principal's office, a faculty room, and a nurse's office on the first floor of the south building. The principal's office and faculty room face the playground so that teachers can watch us playing on the playground.
There are two classes for each grade. The classrooms for the third and fourth graders are on the second floor of the south building. The classrooms for the fifth and sixth graders are on the third floor of the south building. There are also four classrooms on the first floor of the north building. They are for the first and second graders. On the second and third floors of the north building, there are special classrooms such as a science lab, a homemaking room, a music room and a computer room.
A wide, covered walkway connects the north and south buildings. We can go from one building to the other without umbrellas when it is raining. There is a gym to the west of the school buildings. There is a courtyard surrounded by the buildings, the walkway and the gym. In the courtyard there is a flowerbed and a circular pond. The pond is not deep. It is shallow. It is not dangerous at all. It is quite safe. There is no fence around the pond. In the center of the pond there is a fountain. We keep goldfish in the pond. The six graders take care of the goldfish and the flowerbed.
School starts at 8:20 a.m. It takes about twenty minutes to get to school. We are not allowed to go to school alone. We have to go to school in a group. The students who live in the same zone meet at one place and go to school in a group. We meet at 7:30 a.m. every morning. It's only five minutes to the meeting place from my house. I always try to leave home at 7:25 a.m.
When I oversleep, I don't have time to eat breakfast. I shove my school stuff into my school satchel, put it on my shoulders, grab a piece of bread, and dash out the door. I eat the bread on the way to school.
We walk to school in single file. One of the sixth graders is the leader of the group. He or she walks at the front of the line. Another sixth grader walks at the end of the line. We always take the same route. The parents on duty, mostly mothers, stand at street corners or at crosswalks. They stop the cars or the other vehicles for us to cross the streets safely. When we cross the street, we have to raise our right hand. Since I am left-handed, I feel awkward when I have to
raise my right hand.
We usually arrive at school a little before eight o'clock. If we get there too early, the school gate is still closed. We have to wait till the teacher on duty opens the gate. We have only twenty minutes before the first period starts. We go directly to the classrooms and then rush out to the playground if it is not raining. When it is raining, we stay in the classrooms and read books or magazines.
There are many kinds of play equipment on the playground. There is a sandbox, a slide, a jungle gym, a seesaw, monkey bars, three horizontal bars, and three swings. There is also a tire obstacle course. Some students slide down the slide. Some climb on the jungle gym. Some play on the swings. Some ride on the seesaw. Some play on the horizontal bars or on the monkey bars. First graders make castles or other things in the sandbox. Some girls jump rope in a group. Some boys jump rope by themselves. Some play dodge ball. Some ride a unicycle. Some jump over the tire obstacle course. At this time the playground is full of cheerful voices.
We usually have six classes every day, except on Mondays. On Mondays we have five classes. The sixth period is assigned to the special classes, such as the committee meetings, club activities or other special activities. There is no school on Saturdays and Sundays. Until 2002, there was school on the first and third Saturdays of the month. It is good to have two days off in a row every weekend.
In our school, each grade has two classes. I belong to class 6A. When I was a fifth grader, I belonged to class 5A. There was no class reshuffle when we became six graders. When I was in the fourth grade, I belonged to class 4B. There was a class reshuffle when we became fifth graders.
My teacher in the fifth grade was Mr. Mori.
He was in his late thirties. He was very strict. When the class got noisy, he got angry. We were very afraid of him. He gave us lots of homework. Sometimes I had to stay up until midnight to do the homework. Then I felt sleepy during class the next day because I didn't sleep well the night before. I didn't do well in his class. I didn't like him very much, though there were some students who liked him very much."
My teacher this year is Ms. Kato. She is young. She is in her early twenties. She is very kind. When the class gets noisy, she gets sad. We don't want her to be sad. We try to be quiet. She doesn't give us much homework. Some of our mothers don't like that. They ask her to give more homework. We don't like that. I think I am doing better this year than last year.
Our principal is Ms. Hayashi. She is plump, medium height, medium build in her mid-fifties. She became our principal this April when the new school year started. I hear she was a principal in a smaller school in the next town before she was transferred to our school. When she gives a speech in the morning assembly, she speaks very loudly without a microphone. Her speeches are always
She always wears a broad smile. When we meet her in the corridor or in the hall, she always smiles at us and talks to us. We can visit her office at any time. She always welcomes us and enjoys chatting with us. She always serves us English tea. She never serves us coffee. She says coffee is not good for our health. We love her very much.
The principal till last year was Mr. Tani. He was an overweight, pot-bellied man with a shining bald head, in his late fifties. He became the principal of our school when I became a third grader, and retired at the end of my fifth grade. His speeches were always long and boring. It was very hard to stand still for a long time in the morning assembly, listening to those boring speeches.
This is my class schedule. We have four Japanese Language classes, four math classes, three science classes, three social studies classes, two art classes, two music classes, two PE classes, two homemaking classes, one moral education class, and three comprehensive studies classes.
For one of the comprehensive studies classes we move to the computer room and learn English with a computer. It's fun to use a computer to learn English. Now we are learning how to make a homepage in English.
My parents have promised to put my homepage on the Internet. I hope some boys or girls in other countries will access my homepage and send me e-mail. Then I can make friends all over the world. If possible, I'd like to study in a U.S high school, and advance to a U.S. college or university. It's my dream. To make my dream come true, I'll study harder to learn more English.
We have four classes in the morning. After each class there is a break. The breaks after first period and third period are only five minutes.
We don't have time to go out to the playground. The recess after second period is twenty minutes long. Most of the students go out to the playground and play if it is not raining. If it is raining, we can't play outside. We hate rain.
We stay in the classroom, and there are not many things to do. We are bored. However, in wintertime, if it snows, we go out and throw snowballs or make a snowman. It's lots of fun.
After fourth period, we have school lunch. We have to wash our hands before lunch. Some of the boys often forget to bring their handkerchiefs to school. They ask the girls to lend them handkerchiefs. We girls don't like lending our handkerchiefs. They get our handkerchiefs dirty. I have never forgotten to bring a handkerchief to school and had to borrow handkerchiefs from my classmates.
At lunchtime the students on lunch duty serve the rest of the class. They have to wear a surgical mask so that they don't contaminate the food. They distribute lunch on a tray to each student.
It is fun eating lunch together. Everyone eats the same thing. I usually like school lunch, but when the foods I don't like are served, I don't want to eat them and want to leave them. However, Ms. Kato never allows us to leave the unwanted foods. So I gulp them down without chewing them.
After the lunch we brush our teeth. We have our own toothbrushes at school. No one wants to use someone else's toothbrush. After brushing our teeth, we rinse our mouths with a glass of water. We use our own glasses to rinse our mouths. We put our names on our glasses so that other students will not use our glasses. We keep our toothbrushes in the glasses.
After school lunch, we have the longest recess of the day, which is thirty-five minutes long.
This is the best time in the school day. Again we go out to the playground. Some go to the gym. This time, since the recess is longer, we usually play ball games such as dodge ball, basketball, volleyball or kickball. Those who play basketball or volleyball go to the gym. Again the playground is filled with the cheerful voices of the students. Strangely enough, our teachers seldom come out to the playground. They stay in the faculty room. I think they should come out and play with us. Then they could get to know us better.
After the long recess, we have cleaning time.
I don't like cleaning time. I always wish there were no cleaning time at school. Mr. Smith, an ALT, who often visits our school, told us that the students don't do any cleaning at school in the United States. I envy American students.
In cleaning time, we are divided into groups and each group is assigned to clean various parts of the building and the ground. We don't like cleaning the lavatories. Although we use vacuum cleaners at home, we have to use old-fashioned brooms and dusters at school. We have to wipe the halls, corridors and stairs with mops or floor clothes. I hear that in some junior high schools students have to be silent during the cleaning time without uttering a word. We don't have to be silent, but we are not allowed to be noisy. We try to keep quiet. There are some students who are chatting all the time and never clean. I don't like those students.
We always feel tired and sleepy in fifth period.
I like PE class, art class or music class better than the other classes in the afternoon, because I don't get sleepy in these classes.
After fifth period, we have a short class meeting for fifteen minutes. In this meeting, we talk about our activities of the day. If there are any problems in our school life, we discuss how to solve them. Our teacher tells us about the next day's schedule, if there are any changes.
We have sixth period on Wednesdays and Fridays only. We have club activities during sixth period in the afternoon on Wednesdays. We choose a club at the beginning of the first term in April and again at the beginning of the second term in September. We belong to the same club in the second and the third terms. Club activities are more interesting than classroom activities.
Our school has both cultural and sports clubs.
The cultural clubs are chorus, marching band, calligraphy, arts, crafts, science, and computer. The sports clubs are track-and-field, gymnastics, baseball for boys, softball for girls, basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton, and table tennis.
I chose calligraphy in the first term. I am planning to choose one of the sports clubs in the second term. I haven't decided yet which sport club I will choose.
We always feel very happy when sixth period is over. We say good-bye to our teacher and classmates and start to go home. Somehow the school satchel on my shoulders feels lighter on my way back than on my way to school. On our way back home we don't go back in a group.
We go home by ourselves. Some students prefer to go back home alone. Others like going back home by twos and threes with their good friends.
I usually go back with my best friends who live in the neighborhood.
This is my last year at elementary school.
I enjoy my school life very much. I think a good class teacher, a good principal and good classmates are very important to enjoy school life.
I hope my first year at junior high school next year is as good as my school life at elementary school.
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