After a long hiatus, Himawari Preschool has returned with our summer Japanese cultural immersion camp for kids ages 3-8 (with 9-10 year olds by arrangement); the ideal ages at which to start learning about other cultures and languages! Give your child a chance to become multicultural, and have fun playing with their new Japanese friends.
Making Big Oni (demon) together and throwing beans at them on Setsubun day (Feb 2).
Also making Oni masks using a decalcomania design transfer process.
This is a difficult question that many parents are facing right now. Is it safe to send my preschool child to Himawari Preschool?
As of today (August 11) I think the best answer is to compare Covid-19 to something similar we have had in past school years: the Flu (Influenza).
Here is a link to the CDC website for Covid-19 For everyone tested in the US and having Covid, 1.6% were ages 0-4 and 5.9% were ages 5-17 (as of Aug 10). Only 0.025% of infected children ages 0-4 (30 kids) and 0.037% of infected children ages 5-17 (43 kids) have died from Covid so far. If we use March 10 as the beginning of the pandemic, then we’ve had 155 days, or 42.5% of a year: so yearly deaths could be estimated at 71 deaths ages 0-4, and 101 deaths ages 5-17.
Here is a link to the CDC website for Influenza The CDC thinks that there were 35.5 million cases of the Flu in the US in 2018-19. Of these, 10.2% were ages 0-4 and 21.6% were ages 5-17. 0.8% of infected children ages 0-4 (266 kids) and 0.6% of infected children ages 5-17 (211 kids) died from the Flu.
Comparing the US rates of these 2 diseases, kids ages 0-4 are much more likely to get the Flu and have serious complications, as well as kids age 5-17.
Also, the general population positive rates for Covid-19 tests in over a 7-day average in Wayne (4.7% as of 8/9/20) and Oakland (4.6% as of 8/9/20) are both below 5%. The statewide positivity rate is currently at 2.3%, and you can see an updated number at this link. This is a good (low) rate and acceptable for opening school.
So preschool age kids 3-5 years old have more personal risk from the Flu than from Covid. This should help us understand the risk of sending our kids to Himawari Preschool this year.
Himawari Preschool is now accepting applications for new preschoolers at our unique Japanese childhood immersion preschool for the 2020-21 school year!
幼稚園の遊びや生活をもとに、お家でできる、遊びのヒントを紹介しています。少しでもお役に立てればうれしいです。 Here’s a listing of our Himawari Preschool ideas for things to do while we all stay at home. Keep watching for new updates until we come back to school in June!
春探しカード：可能であれば印刷して、外でいろいろな”春”をお子さんと一緒に見つけてみてくださいね。 Signs of Spring Search Cards: you can print these out and discover Spring around you together with your child!
なわとびカード：お子様の様子に合わせて無理のないよう、できることから挑戦してみてください。園では、4-5才児クラスでなわとびを行っています。 Skipping Rope Challenge: something we do this time of year at Himawari Preschool with our 4-5 year olds… feel free to try them together
あちらこちらでたんぽぽが咲き乱れ、緑の芝生に黄色が映えていますね！たんぽぽでの遊び方を紹介します。ぜひたくさん、試してみて下さいね！ Dandelions! Some people think of them as weeds, but together with kids you can enjoy a sign of Spring together!
Here at Himawari Preschool, handwashing is an important part of daily routine. We teach 9 “stages” to handwashing, and use a Japanese song to time it so we can wash our hands longer than 20 seconds.
