The Photographic Website Of Baby Ella Rose Rosenthal Page 31

Ella in Encino April 2007

Mina and Ella watching a movie

Ella's Easter Egg Hunt in Encino April 2007
Mom and Ella looking at the Easter presents	Ella finding a blue egg in the grass

Ella finding a BIG egg	Ella finding rabbit ears

Ella finding a yellow egg	Ella's last find - A BUNNY

Ella and Annabel in Encino April 2007
Annabel and Ella in the yard	Annabel and Ella - friends forever

Annabel and Ella taking a rest	Annabel and Ella getting up

Annabel, Ella and both Moms at the park	Ella and Annabel playing at the park in Encino

ELLA'S SCHOOL REPORT CARDS

YOYOGI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Toyko, Japan

School Year: 2006-2007    Progress Report

Preschool 2-3 years old    Term 2: March 16, 2007

Student Name: Ella Rosenthal    Teachers:Louise King and Shiho Ogata

Class: Penguins Red

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

During the second term we have been encouraging the children to interact with each other by carrying out non-teacher led group based activities. We have continued to reinforce good manners and classroom rules throughout the school day. Ella really loves being at school. It is nice seeing her come to school with a smile on her face. She is able to interact easily with other children and even though she plays most often with Annabel, recently we have seen her playing with Leon and Jamie.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

The children are beginning to become more talkative this term and we have been working on listening to others while they are speaking as well as to the teachers. We have also introduced name recognition in written form. Ella’s speech has made more progress over the past few months. She picks up new words and phrases with ease and often repeats them. She is becoming a lot more confident speaking with her friends and with the teachers. During Circle Time we ask the children to raise their hand if they have something they want to tell us, Ella is usually one of the first to tell us about something she has done and she usually adds her eyebrow trick for effect! Ella is now able to recognise her own name and she is even able to recognise the names of some of her friends.

MATHEMATICS

This term we have focused on more number based recognition and activities as well as continuing to develop more awareness of colours and shapes in our environment. Ella is able to count from one to ten with ease and she is able to count objects using one~toone correspondence. She is also beginning to recognise some numbers in written form. Ella’s knowledge of shapes and colours is amazing and now she is very good at sorting objects by size as well as by shape and colour. Ella is able to understand the idea of opposite concepts and if asked is able to tell us the opposite of hot, soft etc. We have introduced ABAB patterns during Learning Time and Ella is beginning to complete these patterns by herself.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT — Gross and Fine Motor skills

Every week we spend time doing a structured physical education class in the gymnasium. This term we have concentrated on jumping with control, and throwing and catching activities. We have also been using play dough and paper clay to further develop the children’s manipulative and fine motor skills. Ella really loves joining in with our gym classes. She likes being able to jump around and she is able to do this with control and landing with two feet together. She is a very skilled at catching and throwing balls too. Ella’s fine motor skills have also made a lot of progress. She is able to use paintbrushes, crayons and stick glue with control. Her ability to use scissors is very good, and she is always asking to use the scissors.

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY

During this term we have learnt about growth and change and carried out many exciting explorations, including learning how to cook, to encourage the children’s curiosity and interest in scientific discoveries. Ella loved it when we did cooking in the class this term. She liked being able to make things all by herself and she would become very excited when it was her turn to stir the ingredients together. She especially liked the part where she could eat what she had made! She also really enjoyed planting and watering her cress seeds when we learnt about how things grow.

THE ARTS — Art, Music and Drama

Creative Art time has been used to help foster the children’s creativity and confidence. We have been able to expose them to many different art media. Theme related music and movement and dramatic play are also an integral part of our school day. Creative Art is still one of Ella’s most favourite times of the day. She always listens to the instructions she is given very carefully, which results in some very beautiful and precise pieces of artwork. Recently Ella has not shown as much enthusiasm for dancing as she used to but she still loves it when we use musical instruments and she likes it when she can dance holding her friends (usually Annabel’s) hands.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE   Teacher: Shiho Ogata

In the beginning of the class, we count our Kimono. Ella is able to count 1 through 10 very clearly, and as well as the other Japanese children in our class. She really enjoys learning about Japanese culture, and when we talked about ‘Setsubun’ (Eve of the first day of spring), she especially liked the story about ‘mamemaki’ (bean scattering) and ‘Oni’ (Monster). Ella has helped the other children many times if they haven’t understood what I have asked. She has been a really good helper to me this term as much as she was last term. This term, Ella started trying to ask me some questions in Japanese. She is able to put a few words together to try and make a sentence!! Yoku deki mashita, Ella chan!!

Great job, Ella!

YOYOGI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

School Year: 2006-2007    Progress Report

Preschool 2-3 years old    Term 3: June 4, 2007

Student Name: Ella Rosenthal    Teachers: Louise King / Shiho Ogata

Class: Penguins Red

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

We have encouraged the children to become more aware of their surroundings, people and objects. We have also reinforced how to treat one another as well as our belongings; to be careful with our hands when playing and to take care not to kick or throw toys. It has been lovely to have watched, and been a part of Ella’s growth and development over the past year. Ella is a very caring and helpful little girl. Everyone loves playing with Ella and she has easily formed friendships with her classmates. It has been wonderful seeing her enjoy her days at school so much.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

The children have been communicating more and more with the teachers as well as one another. We have encouraged the children to take initiative when asking classmates questions or for toys rather than asking the teachers to ask for them. We have also introduced tracing and imaginary writing with our fingers. Ella is a very confident talker. She is able to speak in complete sentences and her speech is very clear and easy to understand. She is able to take the initiative when talking and interacting with her friends. Ella’s recognition of the Alphabet is also very good and she loves it when we trace letters and do imaginary writing.

MATHEMATICS

Over the course of the year we have introduced a number of mathematical concepts and ideas including counting, shapes, colours, size ordering and matching games. At first the children were completely teacher led throughout these activities but as the year has progressed they have become more interactive and are now much more independent in their approach to problem solving. Ella really enjoys showing us her knowledge of colours, shapes and numbers. She is now able to recognise the numbers in written form. She really enjoys the matching and sequencing games that we play and is very good at them.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – Gross and Fine Motor skills

Through our weekly use of the gymnasium and learning time activities the children have developed both their gross and fine motor skills. They have learnt how to become much more controlled in their coordination and range of movement. They are also more able now in terms of their manipulative and fine motor skills as their accuracy has increased and their confidence grown. Ella’s fine motor skills are well developed. She is able to use a crayon with control and she enjoys colouring pictures during free play. The pictures she colours are always done with care and precision and she is able to concentrate on this for long periods of time. She is also able to use scissors correctly. She really enjoys our gym classes and enjoys using the balance beams, jumping and catching balls.

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY

We have continued to encourage the children to explore their surroundings and think about what is happening around them. They enjoy playing with new toys in the class and discovering what they can do with them. Ella is very inquisitive and is now asking a lot more questions about what is going on around her. She often surprises us with the things that she says and remembers.

THE ARTS – Art, Music and Drama

During this term we have introduced some more challenging Art projects which require the children to use their own skills and imagination. As the children now know their favourite songs and dances they like to request them during our Music Time. Ella always participates during Art Time with lots of enthusiasm; she loves using her imagination when creating her work and is very proud of her accomplishments. Ella’s enthusiasm for dancing has also started to return, she enjoys dancing to some of her favourite songs with her friends. We love watching her facial expressions when she is dancing with her friends and the teachers.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE - Teacher: Ogata Shiho

Throughout this year, we have learnt about Japanese culture and customs along with Japanese language by using stories, traditional toys, and different activities, such as games, songs, and art and crafts. Ella had been a great helper throughout a year, and she has surprised me so many times by her ability to take in new vocabulary so quickly. It was amazing to see her progress in Japanese from knowing some words and answering to simple question by using “hai, soudesu/Chigau” to actually making simple sentences by putting words together to answer my questions. One of Ella’s favorite activities in Japanese class is ‘Ekaki uta’ where we draw pictures while singing a song. As soon as I showed how to draw ‘Tako’ (octopus) by singing a song for it, Ella could memorize those words and was able to draw it without any help. Also, I saw Ella drawing different objects and making up a song for it as she was drawing. I was excited to see how she could apply what she had learnt to the new things she was learning. I had so much fun having Ella in my Japanese class. I hope she continues learning Japanese and having fun experiencing different cultures!!

It has been a pleasure having Ella in our class and we wish her all the best for the future.

Well done, Ella!

Julie Rosenthal
Oliver Rosenthal
1-12-8 Shoto, Shoto Hilltop House #101
Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo
150-0046 JAPAN

Home: +81 33 485 3667
Julie's mobile: +81 90 3031 7414
Oliver's mobile: +81 90 5416 3119

Julie's e-mail: schweitzerja@hotmail.com