Interesting Differences in Elementary Schools

On February 19th, I visited the Sunrise elementary school. When I heard that my class will go to the elementary school, I was very excited because I like to play and talk with children very much. The visit was interesting, and I found two main differences between Japanese elementary school and the school.

We gave children their name card

First of all, the structure of the Sunrise elementary school was significantly different from Japanese one. The library which was in the center of the building doesn’t have any doors or walls, and there were just some bookshelves around the room for students read books. Usually, Japanese schools have the library room, so it was surprising. I like Sunrise’s library design because students don’t have to be quiet, but on the contrary, they can talk about books or other things there. Additionally, I saw a lot of colorful art works which were made by students on the wall of the passages and hanging from the ceilings. They were really nice art works and made me excited because most interior of Japanese schools are unified into white color. This style gives clean and sincere impression to people but is a little boring for me. The sunrise elementary school had liberal structure of building

Second, the student lunch at Sunrise elementary school was also interesting. There were a salad bar in the school, so some children use it and other brought their own lunch boxes. However, most of them ate snacks, processed foods, ice cream, or other foods containing a lot of calories. I think it’s important for them to eat nutritious meals, in particular, they are in the growth period in their young lives. In Japan, elementary school children can eat provision of school meals that nutritionists decided on considering its nutrition and the balance. I thought it is natural, so the difference of lunches made me surprised.

To sum up, I found some this American elementary school differ from Japanese ones. I think it might make difference in the basic way of thinking between people. Next week, I’ll visit another elementary school, so I would like to learn more not only interesting differences but also similarities with Japanese elementary school.