Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
Totto Chan: The Little Girl At The Window is a book which has engaging series of childhood recollections tell about an ideal school, Tomoe that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love and adventure. The school was in the railroad cars for classrooms and run by a good head teacher who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity. This book depicts the childhood activities of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, the author of this book, whose childhood nickname is Totto Chan and translated by Dorothy Britton.
Expelled from first grade:
The story starts with by telling of Totto-Chan’s expelling from the previous school when she was in grade one. The little girl ‘Totto-Chan’ was waiting all the morning for street bands to walk by the school and call them over to play their music which was considered as highly disruptive behaviour and aggravated, her teacher decided that the girl would be no more in the school. Finally, her mother found a school after searching and took her to the school- Tomoe Gakuen, where the little girl Totto-Chan impressed the head-master through her talking which stunned to her mother.
The school has only fifty students in total and the classrooms were conducted in disused train cars. In the assembly hall, all students shared their daily lunch consisting of “something from the ocean (fish, seaweed, bonito flakes, etc.) and something from the hills (vegetables, beef, pork, pickled plum, etc.).” So, doubts scaffolding knowledge in Totto-Chan’s mind and she used to ask her mother about it when she returned to home. The headmaster meant to it was balanced food which necessary for children, but the children only concerned about to fulfilled the two requirements. This relates to the everyday knowledge which children can think on it and learn what is necessary for a good health. Mr. Kobayachi, the headmaster believed in experimental learning, even he asked the parents of the children send