Daruma No Gakko 2012Daruma No Gakko 2012 established 1978 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1 JUNE 29, 2012 Daruma No Gakko 2012 A year of planning doesn’t quite prepare you for the excitement that

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Dar uma N o Gakko 2012 established 19 7 8 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1 JUNE 29, 2012

Daruma No Gakko 2012

A year of planning doesn’t quite prepare you for the excitement that comes on the first day of Daruma no Gakko! Whether it’s a new face or a more familiar one remembered from last summer, all are greeted with warm smiles from our Teachers, Aides, Board and Volunteers. Everyone is eager to see what the day has in store.... What fun projects are planned, what great new story will be told, what delicious aromas will flow through the halls from cooking or what exciting guest speaker will show us something new. A year of planning all packed into a four week session! And at halfway through, we’re excited to see how the rest of the session unfolds!

Being a Co-Director has been a great experience! I’ve been fortunate to have an awesome partner in crime, Alison Shimada, as well as a superb Board of Directors and teaching staff that knows how to get the job done! This exceptional group is what keeps Daruma no Gakko running, and running well. We are saddened that this will be the last year for several of our Board Members: Jill Prather (Secretary), Monica Mori (Cooking), Takashi Nikaidoh (Undokai), Jaime Fukumae (Gakugeikai Logistics) and Margaret Wolfe (Parent Participation). Our sincerest Thank You for their dedication and countless hours (actually years) to the program! They’ve got some big shoes to fill, but we’re lucky to have found replacements for a few positions already! We’re also excited to announce that we have one new Co-Director! It is a huge joy to welcome Julia Mass as an incoming Co-Director for the 2013 session! Please give her a thumbs up, pat on the back, high-five and big Thank You for stepping up! We are still in search for another Co-Director as well as a few Board positions. Please check the website for more details.

We cannot stress enough how important your involvement is to the continuation of this great program. Being a graduate of Daruma myself, I’m grateful that it’s still around for my son and nephew to enjoy! I doubt when my mom was a Co-Director back then, she thought 30 years later it would circle back around, but I have so many wonderful memories of my Daruma days and feel fortunate to be able to give back to a program that had such a lasting impact. It’s not only the program itself that is great, but it’s also the childhood friendships that will be cherished forever. It’s fun seeing other alumni with children now attending Daruma. The hallways may be different, but the conversation often starts with, “remember when”… Whether you’re the first or second generation to be a part of Daruma, I hope everyone recognizes how special this program is and does their part to keep it going. Every little bit helps!

Co-Director’s Corner by Julie Tsukahira and Alison Shimada

Alison On site Weds/Thurs

Julie On site Mon/Tues

Greetings Daruma Families!

Enjoy the second half of the session!

2June 29, 2012Daruma No Gakko 2012

Kindergartenby Kristin Furuichi Fong Sensei

Aides: Ryan Masunaga and Skye Nikaidoh

It’s hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of the 2nd week of our 4 weeks together! We have been having so much fun in our Kindergarten class! Our students Alex, Keiko, Cami, Kira, Romare, Taro, Jude, Delia, Mika, Analisa, and Jordan have all become great friends. Our three hours together go by so quickly as each day we have a Nihongo lesson with Yamada Sensei who has taught us simple greetings, colors, and names of body parts so far. We begin our day with music led by Emiko Sensei. We are hard at work practicing Musunde, Arare, the Daruma Song, and our finale song each day! These sweet children LOVE to sing!

Our classroom Aides, Skye Nikaidoh and Ryan Masunaga are THE BEST aides in the world! Because they are graduates of the program, they know Daruma no Gakko very well. No task is too large or too small for them as they jump right in to help whenever they see the need. They have instantly become a big brother and big sister to the children!

Here’s a snapshot of our daily routine:We begin with Music and then do calendar activities: we’ve learned

how to say “June” in Japanese (Rokugatsu) and practice counting the days of the month in Japanese as well. We also practice chanting the names of the days of the week in Japanese too! During this time, the child who took home our classroom stuffed Daruma the day before gets to share what he or she did with our beloved Daruma. In addition to taking Daruma home, each child brings homes a book titled, “Our Adventures with Daruma” and share in writing, with drawings, and with photographs, everything that he or she did with Daruma! Our Daruma has been to the pool, to playdates, visits to Obachan and Ojichan’s homes, and more! What a well-travelled Daruma-san. We have snack each day and 2 recess times (which the kids LOVE - Sensei Kristin isn’t quite convinced that the 2nd one is necessary as it leaves little time for work on projects.) We hear a Japanese story each day and then do a project based on the story we shared together. We had a guest storyteller who introduced us to the art of Kamishibai (storytelling using storyboards), had fun making udon noodles (from dough to stomping on it to cutting it with a pasta machine), and even got to participate in the Taiko assembly by trying our hand at the Taiko drums.

I look forward to our last two weeks together as more fun and learn-ing is to be done in Kindergarten! Many thanks to all of the families who donated the requested supplies from our wish list and for those who have come in to help (Alinda Togashi, Jason, Akima, Tracy Hatamiya, Cindy Sakai, and Nancy Kawase) and all those who help in spirite each day. Our classroom door is always open!

Doomo arigatou gozaimashita!


First Gradeby Stacy Uyeda Sensei

Aides: Jessie Mano & Cara Wolfe

This bright and talented group of 1st Graders had a wonderful first week and made friends quickly! Our super students are: Keizo Chang, Devan Dantzer, Zachary Dantzer, Jordan Go, Kenzo Ishimaru-Garcia, Tousei Ishimaru-Garcia, Presley Liu, Emiko Martinez-Mass, Jaden Mizuhara, Kira Rice, Yoshinobu Yamasaki, and Owen Yee. It has been a treat to read their journal entries. Thank you, parents, for returning the red journals every day!

Our first week centered on the season of fuyu (winter). Our class painted clay Daruma-san ornaments. We also practiced good, “Obachan” manners with homemade placemats, o-gohan, and furikake. One highlight of the week was listening to Kamishibai (paper theater) storyteller and librarian, Elizabeth Overmyer, and her presentation of Momotaro. We finished the week by stuffing our own daki-ningyo (huggable dolls) and preparing their hand-painted hapi coats. On Thursday, our own onaka (tummies) were stuffed with delicious

spam musubi, made with Monica Sensei and many helpful parents. Totemo oishi katta desu!

This week, our theme is haru (spring), and the first graders have been very busy folding origami for hinamatsuri, and stringing sakura garlands. Later, we will try our hands at traditional gyotaku fish printings. On Tuesday, we were treated to the rhythms of Emeryville Taiko!

Every day, we have a great Nihongo lesson from Yamada Sensei. The students are mastering body vocabulary and are learning two ways of counting. Ask them about the fun activity of figuring out which body part has disappeared from Yamada Sensei’s picture.

Emiko Sensei has our class singing several lovely traditional songs. She is

an expert at helping the students to understand Japanese through the lyrics. She also excels at bringing smiles to all the children’s faces.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu to first grade aides, Jessie Kano and Cara Wolfe. Your children benefit every day from their patience and their positive energy! I am extremely grateful to first grade parents, Stephanie Mizuhara, Jeanene Nehira, Mari Oshiro, Jodie Liu, and sixth grade parent Marilyn Wong, for creating beautiful dolls, hair, and matching hapi coats. A big thank you to the families of

the following students who generously donated supplies to our class: Jaden Mizuhara, Devan and Zachary Dantzer, Presley Liu, Kira Rice, and Owen Yee. Finally, thank you very much to the families who have donated great snacks. Those yummy gifts are eaten every day!

Best new vocabulary invented by this class: “No, not daki-ningyo…daki-ninja!” Banzai!


Second Gradeby Heather Komure-Chan Sensei

Aides: Noel McGuire, Rachel Hirota and Tai Grevious

We have a great group of enthusiastic second graders this year, which include Mia Furuichi Fong, Elle Hatamiya, Kaylee Ishihara, Maxwell Kaneko, Conor Kim, Sophia Lee, Kai Mitchell, Mika Newbery, Matthew Riordan, Miles Robinson, Keira Shimamoto Tong, Mika Shimamoto Tong, Melissa Textor, Jace Tsukahira, Jayden Tsukahira, Kyle Yoshida, and Logan Yost. We are 17 strong! We are

fortunate to have three wonderful aides, Noel McGuire, Rachel Hirota, and Tai Grevious. They have been a big help and the class just loves them! It has also been helpful having such wonderful materials and lessons left by Deidre Grevious, Tai’s mom who taught second grade for several years. She is dearly missed!

We have been very busy in second grade. We started with many crafts during the first week of school and then we topped everything off with a great time at Undokai. The first week we made koi noboris, Kokeshi dolls, their own custom designed nametags, and daruma fans. We read many stories and enjoyed learning Nihon-go with Yamada sensei and singing songs with Emiko sensei. When we made our kokeshi dolls it was wonderful to have

many samples to look at. Many students brought in kokeshi dolls from home to share with the class. One thing that our class really enjoyed the past two weeks during any free time was origami. I think another favorite time besides recess, was snack time. I have been amazed at how many carrots and bananas our class can consume. I am so glad they like healthy foods! During the second week we have enjoyed making some beautiful ikebana arrangements with Takako Miyashita and beating the taikodrums with Emeryville Taiko. We can’t wait to cook at the end of the second week. During the middle of the second week, we have become very good with our songs. Look out for us during Gakugeikai!

Our class had a wonderful time playing all the games at undokai and getting wet during the water fight. In fact, I think our class was one of the most active during the water fight at undokai. Miles was even fully equipped with goggles, which some felt was a huge advantage. We want to thank all those who help make Daruma happen. Thank you co-directors, board members and families. I am so grateful for all of your support buying supplies and offering to help when needed. Thank you! So much of the hard work gets done behind the scenes. As a sensei, we get the fun part of enjoying your lovely children. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past two weeks and can’t wait until the next two weeks!


Third Gradeby Erika Allen Sensei

Aides: Kylie Bondoc, Sachi Moran & Akira Roueche

Our C

lass

Wish

... W

e wish

that we will all have a good time at D

arumaOur 3rd grade Daruma no Gakko class is off to a fun

start! The first week we created a huge class Daruma with 22 pieces (18 students, 3 aides and myself). We each had one part of the Daruma puzzle where we wrote our name and 3 things that represented us. We learned a lot about one another as we shared our interests and things we enjoy. We also filled in the left eye with our class wish being, “To all have a good time at Daruma No Gakko!”

We have had an impressive first two weeks with great projects, stories, and activities. The theme for 3rd grade is to learn and recognize unique characteristics of a Japanese home environment. We created a Venn diagram where we all contributed comparing Japanese homes to American homes. Students also brought in Japanese items from their home to share with the class.

Our first project came out so beautiful and I hope the families are enjoying their child’s creative, painted noren. We also had a wonderful visit from Takako Miyashita Sensei where she taught us the art of ikebana. The students were eager to create and choose their flowers to make their own ikebana to display in their home. The same day we learned how to write Haiku poems. We sat in the garden outside our classroom viewing our

ikebana’s creating descriptive Haiku poetry.

In Nihongo, Yamada Sensei is teaching us the months, the days of the week, and vocabulary for the weather. We have created flashcards to quiz one another as we continue to learn and practice. In music, Emiko Sensei is so impressed how quickly our students are learning each one of our songs. They are strong singers and have amazing voices!

I personally cannot thank my wonderful aides enough for ALL they have done! Akira Roueche, Kylie Bondoc, and Sachi Moran…you are amazing and I appreciate your help each day. I also have to give a huge thank you to the parent volunteers, our donations, and support for our 3rd grade class…Thank you to Jennifer Berten, Aaron Escalante, Lisa Nakamura, Alyson Mitchell, and Marilyn Wong. A special thank you to Carol Newberger and Bess Williams who sewed our norens. They aren’t even parents in our grade, but graciously volunteered their services!

This year’s 3rd graders are: Abigail, Aria, Benjamin, Caitlyn, Hideki, Julia, Kailey, Keiko, Kenneth, Lauren, Lucas, Mika, Miya, Ryoji, Sarah, Tyler, Zoe, and Zora.


Fourth Gradeby Keiko Endo Sensei

Aides: Jared Akiyama & Celeste Furuya

“Ohayo gozaimasu!” Students’ cheerful voices and smiles filled our classroom. They are so happy to meet all their Daruma friends again this summer. We started our fun summer by learning about the Japanese New Year, Oshogatsu. The New Year is the most important event for Japanese. Traditional Japanese Oshogatsu is full of appreciation to the nature gods. People pray for their health and happiness as well as adore thousands of gods we have in Japan from the old days, even though the original religious meanings are forgotten in modern life. To understand traditional Oshogatsu and its customs, we made osechi (New Year’s food in a special box), kagami-mochi (mochi offerings to gods), and Ema (wish board). We also read a story about Junishi (zodiac); “How did The God Choose Animals for Eto.” Now we all know why a cat is not included in the zodiac.

The first two weeks went by so quickly. Ms. Dee diSomma taught us Shibori and we all made beautiful wall

hangings. We’re practicing simple sentences in Japanese, writing in hiragana, and learning the days of the week and names of body parts. Our class learned how to use a “Soroban (abacus)” from Mr. and Mrs. Aoki. It was difficult at first, but it was fun to learn. We also made our own haikus. It was not easy, but everyone made many beautiful haikus. I’m assembling a Haiku Book now and I hope everyone will enjoy reading their Haiku Book later.

The water fight was the most exciting and fun part of the Undokai for many students. We saw many “genki” faces, enjoying a summer day filled with fun games even thought they were soaking wet.

I would like to thank our hardworking aids Celeste Furuya and Jared Akiyama who are helping our class. They are so helpful and we are very lucky to have them. Also, I’m really grateful to many parents and families who are helping us. “Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu” for Patty Katsura, Lynne Yee, Cindy Sakai Kim, Cindy Mekjian, Carlos Monsalve, Eileen Grady, and many other parents who donated class supplies and helped us in many ways.

This year’s fourth graders are: Natalia, Aidan, Aiko, Kiara, Madeline, Peyton, Cameron, Maya, Kyle, Scott, Isabel, Kiyoshi, An-An, Katerina, Matthew, Mateo, Sean, Ariana and Taylor


we will be making shaved-ice treats, which I hear is a tradition for the Fifth Grade Class here at Daruma No Gakko. Last but not least is their music class.

They have been working in collaboration with the Sixth Grade Class during their music lessons with Emiko Katsumoto Sensei, and have been working hard learning songs such as “Sukiyaki” and “Shikararete”. I am looking forward to hearing them perform these songs at the Gakugeikai performance. It has been so much fun so far, and I am looking forward to sharing the rest of our time at Daruma No Gakko this summer!

Fifth Gradeby Stephanie Iseri-Fitzpatrick Sensei

Aides: Mari Masunaga & Courtney Tamaki

Welcome back to Daruma no Gakko! Fifth Grade is off to a great start this year. This is my first year at Daruma, and everyone has been so helpful! All sixteen students in Fifth Grade are returning students, and they are always sharing stories about what they have learned in past years. The aides, Courtney and Mari, have also been super helpful, since they too were students at Daruma in the past.

I especially want to thank Mary Ann Furuichi for agreeing to teach Taiko drums to the class. We’ve made our own Taiko drums out of heavy-duty cardboard tubes and strapping tape, and we’ve been practicing very loudly! Don Don Kara Kara Doko Doko!! The students even got to perform in front of the whole school during the all-school assembly with the Emeryville Taiko Group. They did an amazing job, after only a few sessions with Mary Ann Sensei!!

We’ve also had a few guest speakers come in already. Mr. Fred Furuta taught the class how to play Go (a traditional Japanese board game). The class made their own Go boards on the very first day, so they were ready when Mr. Furuta came to show them how to play the game. Yas and Margaret Aoki, grandparents of one of the fifth graders, taught the students about the Soroban (abacus) and had the class do some math problems with the abacus-click clack!

The students have also been working hard on their Sachiko embroidery projects, and soon they will be bringing home beautiful pillows that have been hand stitched by our very own Fifth Graders!

During the Japanese lessons with Nobue Yamada Sensei, they have been learning about the islands of Japan, locating big cities and prefectures, and talking about the big earthquake and tsunami from 2011.

In the Cooking Department, we are looking forward to making Bento Boxes with Monica Mori (yum!), and later,

This year’s fifth graders are: Ethan, Connor, Charlene, Owen, Isamu, Stacey, Danielle, Ashley, Cole, Mia, Takeo, Peter, Nolin, Lynn, Max, and Jenna.


Sixth Gradeby Dana Moran Sensei

Aides: Bradley Kitaoka & Kelsey Hirota

Sixth graders Ryan Aguila, Faith Crow, Liam Fitzpatrick, Jared Fukumae, Ryan Furuichi Fong, Naomi Furuya, Garrett Hill, Madeline Kaneko, Miles Kaneko, Malia Kobayashi, Anthony Nihei, Brennen Norman, Tracy Weitz, Luke Williams, Elisabeth Wing, Justin Wong and Lauren Yaushiji are off and running with the able help of aides Bradley Kitaoka and Kelsey Hirota.

The theme for 6th grade is Japanese American History, so we spent the first week learning about the first generation! We talked about why the Issei first came to American and compared family stories of why our own ancestors left Japan way back when.

As part of Japanese American History, we started reading Journey to Topaz by famed Japanese American author Yoshiko Uchida.

Journey to Topaz tells the story of one Berkeley family and their experiences during the war, and is based largely on the author’s own experiences. We will continue reading this book in class and for homework every day. We have reviewed original photos of the evacuation and internment, and studied original documents such as Executive Order 9066, the Exclusion Order, and the Bill of Rights. It’s feeling

a lot more like school than summer!The sixth graders got to make yakisoba this week and

we are grateful to our parent volunteers. A huge thank you also to our cooking director Monica Mori for all her shopping, prep and clean up -- the kids and aides gobbled up the yakisoba and everyone had a delicious lunch that day!

We were also treated to a visit and slide show from Kimi Kodani Hill who shared the stories and paintings of her famous grandfather Chiura Obata, who taught at UC Berkeley and was interned at Topaz. Mr. Obata is most well known for his landscapes but also painted events such as the 1906 earthquake, and of course his family’s internment experience. Some of his paintings are in the permanent collection at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Sixth graders also got a refresher course in Goh from Mr. Fred Furuta, and got a chance to try out some new strategies on each other.

The sixth graders also did their part in soaking the aides at Undokai and were enthusiastic participants in all the other activities as well.

Great job 6th grade!


Cookingby Monica Mori Sensei

The 2012 Daruma cooking session has started. We started out with very attentive Kindergarteners. They made their traditional udon noodles from scratch. They completed tasks like rolling the dough and also cutting the dough into noodles. The little ones got to choose items like komoboko, spam, green onions, and nori.

Next our 1st graders got their chance to make their spam musubi. Mission accomplished. Sticky rice fingers and all.

This week we start out with the 6th graders who will make Yaki soba. Students will be able to use knives to practice their cutting skills. They will also be able to cook their own dish in a skillet. Noodles to order.

Looking forward to the other grades.I also would like to thanks the parents that signed up

to help. It is always a pleasure to work with all of you.

1oishii!

Itadakimasu!


It is exciting to see so many books checked out during the first week of school – ranging from classics like Hachiko to the new favorites such as the Last Kappa of Old Japan. This year we have a nice mix of new books for younger and older readers so please stop by before or after school (library is located just inside the door leading to the play yard, near the stage)

For Younger ReadersHello Maggie

The Last Kappa of Old Japan

Slippahs, Slippahs*

Sora and the Cloud

Where are you going? To see my friend!

* Written by Daruma parents, Kris and Patrick Newberry

(Mika 2nd grade and Ben 3rd grade)

For Older ReadersBeing Japanese

A Boy of Heart Mountain

The Friendship Doll

The Manga Cookbook

Sylvia and Aki

Yakitate Japan v. 1 and v. 2

A big thanks to the families who have sponsored one (or more!) of our new books. There are

a still a few new books that we would love to add to our library once we find a sponsor so please look for the instructions in the gray box marked Sponsor-A-Book on top of the Fiction section.

Library by Dawn Taketa Riordan


As of this writing we have completed our first week of the program. I’m delighted to teach music at Daruma for my ninth year! I love to return each summer because your children are such GREAT singers, and their enthusiasm and willingness to learn are very energizing to me. So first of all I must thank you great parents for sending your children to this program.

As usual, we spend the first two weeks learning our songs for the Gakugeikai program, which is challenging, especially for those children who do not usually hear the Japanese language at home. But hopefully singing the music will help reinforce this developing language ability. We will start memorizing our songs in week three. I am so pleased that our students remember much of the music we learned last summer, so something is being retained! We also exchange daily greetings (aisatsu) in Japanese with the accompanying bows at the start and finish of each class. You might ask your children about this and reinforce this at home…

This year we are not providing paper songbooks. Rather, you should be able to download all the songs for your children by class from the DNG website. Our goal is to become paperless and save some trees! As usual, the Gakugeikai practice CD will be distributed to each family the last week of school.

Musicby Emiko Katsumoto Sensei

BERKELEY BUDDHIST TEMPLE & BERKELEY OHTANI JOINT BON ODORI Saturday, July 14, 7:00 pm (Dancers should arrive at 6:30)Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple

1524 Oregon St., Berkeley (between Sacramento St. and California St)

Practices at Higashi Temple 7:30-9 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays June 26 and 28, July 5, July 10 and July 12

Come and learn fun Japanese folk dances. All ages are welcome and everyone is invited to participate.

SAA, MINNA DE UTAIMASHO!

Douzo yoroshiku.


こんにちはKONNICHIWA. KOTOSHI MO MATA AEMASHITANE. (Hello. We meet again.)

Please try to speak Japanese as much as possible at Daruma.

The first week we reviewed and learned #AISATSU (greetings)--”OHAYOO GOZAIMASU”(good morning), “KONNICHIWA”(hello), “SAYOONARA”(good-bye), “ITADAKIMASU”(before eating food), “GOCHISOUSAMADESITA” (after finish food) . “AKEMASITEOMEDETOU” (New Year’s greeting)

# Counting numbers--- “ICHI (1), NI (2), SAN (3), SI/ YON (4), GO (5), ROKU (6), SHICHI/ NANA (7), HACHI (8), KU/ KYU (9), JUU (10). And more.

We’ll learn more Japanese next 3 weeks.

KOTOSIMO TANOSHIKU NIHONGO NO GAKUSHUU WO SHIMASHOO. (Let’s learn Japanese and have fun again.)

Nihongoby Nobue Yamada Sensei

Ikebana

A colorful spotA creative inventionI’m in a calm place

-Zora (3rd grade)

Ikebana

So green and prettySo delicate with colorsAh, it smells so sweet

- Julia (3rd grade)


Taikoby Mary Ann Furuichi Sensei

Seventeen fifth graders in Stephanie Fitzpatrick’s class began learning taiko by striking on cement cardboard tubes wrapped with strapping and duct tape that were made into drums by student aides, Mari Masunaga and Courtney Tamaki. The children were excited when they found out they would be playing a drill they had just learned on “real” drums at the assembly! They will next learn Matsuri which is a popular festival song that’s performed universally by people of all ages and nationalities.

Because taiko will be taught only several times a week, the children will practice primarily at home by using a script, disc or downloading the songs.

Summer School is off with a Bang!

Save the date!

GAKUGEIKAIEnd of session school performance.

See you all there!

This year Gakugeikai will be held at:King Jr. Middle School

1781 Rose StreetBerkeley, 94703

Friday, July 13, 2012, 7pm

Theater style with plenty of seats!Hopefully, you won’t have to run

down the aisle just to catch a glimpse of your child on stage.

Parking will be available on the asphalt yard. Enter gate on Grant

Street, southeast corner of school.

Fortunately, one of our students, Isamu Ishimaru-Garcia, recorded them on his iPad and each person now has his or her own copy.

By performing in front of an audience, it develops self-confidence and camaraderie or playing as a team member and also just for the pure joy and fun of making music together.

Don Don HUP Don Don (pause) YES!

With bachi held up high Reach towards the sky!


Undokaiby Takashi Nikaidoh

Weather on Saturday, June 16th, one week before Undokai– Sunny and 85 degrees. Weather on Friday, June 22nd, one day before Undokai – Cloudy, windy, chance of rain and 65 degrees. Saturday was to be similar weather. With that in my head on Friday night, I went to bed, believing that everyone from Daruma would be bringing umbrellas and rain coats to protect them from the elements. Images of children’s chattering teeth flashed in my head as I slept.

I awoke on Saturday to bright light streaming through the curtains...an Undokai miracle! The clouds had broken and the day grew warmer with every minute.

By the time the students began arriving, I understood that this was to be a good day.

Undokai, as the one of 2 Daruma events in which the whole school is brought together, allows everyone a chance to catch up with those we may see very often, those we have not seen in a while and an opportunity to meet new people.

After lunch, all of the children participated in the traditional game of “Tama-ire” and demonstrated their

knowledge of numbers in Japanese. Parents left the comfort of the shade and lawn chairs

to join in the fun for the beach ball and hula hoop races. Allowing the parents a chance to rest, all of the teams then participated in a series of feats testing dexterity, cooperation and speed.

The water fight culminated the activities with everyone joining in on the fun, bringing our wonderful day to a close.

Many thanks to all of the Undokai volunteers, both those signed up for the event and those who provided help and assistance along the way and the student aides who helped maintain order and kept things moving smoothly. With the efforts of these kind souls, Undokai was both a pleasure to organize and to attend. In addition, I extend my thanks to the Daruma no Gakko commu-nity for allowing me the opportunity to serve you for the past 5 years; I have enjoyed every moment. At this time I am passing the torch of Undokai Director to Ryan Miya whose efforts, I am sure, will eclipse mine. Have a great summer and may your water gun always be full!

ganbare

daruma-san!


Board Position Openings!All board members attend board meetings in the winter and spring, in addition to any and all duties specific to their positions.

Parent Participation Coordinator (for session 2013+) Any parent interested in volunteering can contact Margaret at [email protected] or talk to one of the Co-Directors. Here is a brief description:

Parent Participation manages the various volunteer opportunities available, making sure that every family is assigned two positions for each of their students, and that every position is filled with a volunteer. The vast majority of the workload for this position occurs in May-July starting in preparation for the parent orientation and ending with the end of the school session.

Co-Director (1)The three Co-Directors are appointed for two-year overlapping terms. This is the only board position that has a standard term associated with it. Co-Directors are responsible for planning and scheduling board meetings; the registration process for both students and aides; the teacher selection process; coordinating setup and storage of program materials; oversight of the daily functions of the Daruma no Gakko session; and all other administrative needs of the program.

Benefits: 1. Discounted tuition for children during the two-year term 2. Exemption from parent participation duties 3. Satisfaction of knowing that you helped to move such a great program forward!

Daruma no Gakko is only made possible with the help and support of our parent volunteers! And we need you! If you are able to assist with any of the above, please see one of the Co-Directors or contact us asap at [email protected]. Thank you!

You can do it!

All School Taiko Assembly with Emeryville Taiko


Documents

Daruma No Gakko 2012Daruma No Gakko 2012 established 1978 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1 JUNE 29, 2012 Daruma No Gakko 2012 A year of planning doesn’t quite prepare you for the excitement that