Origami

     Origami is the art of paper folding and originated in Japan.  In Japanese Ori means "fold" and gami means "paper."  Each year students learn how to fold a different shape.  Here are the directions for some of our projects, so that you can try origami at home.  All you need is a square piece of paper.  Any relatively thin paper will do!  Besides store-bought origami paper, I like to use colorful pages from discarded magazines.​

     Since I lived in Japan myself for 4 years, as a bonus, I teach students a little bit about Japan, its culture and land, and even a few Japanese words, including Konichiwa (Hello), Ohaio gozaimasu (Good morning), Arigato (Thank you), and Sayonara (Good-bye).  Ask your student what he learned about Japan and the Japanese culture and people.  I love students' enthusiasm for this lesson each year!  :)