It Smells Thanksgiving

November 21st, 2017

Dear Parents,

“I say thank you

Thank you very much

You are so kind (3)

My friend”

We sang this song with John when he came for his Music and Movement session this week. We though it was the perfect song to sing for Thanksgiving and a great follow on activity after reading ‘Feeling Thankful’ by Shelley Rotner and Sheila Kelly. This book was like an invitation to smile and be thankful by considering the warm happy feelings we have about people close to us, places around us and things that make our world feel safe.

A great discussion followed after we read the book. While many of us announced that we are thankful for our family, some of our friends declared that they are thankful for the things they have including toys and clothes, while few of us confessed that we are thankful for our teachers.

Turkeys are eaten during Thanksgiving and hence we did a turkey walk around the classroom and said, ‘gobble gobble’. Another important food during Thanksgiving is ‘corn’. So, today we did some cooking with corn and make ‘corn au gratin’. To make it, firstly we heated the slow cooker and added some butter to it, followed by plain flour. Then we mixed it together and stirred, till it was slightly golden in color, and we could smell the flour and butter. Our classroom was filled with the yummy smell and we couldn’t wait to try our dish. Pooja explained that when we cook, the tiny food particle in the air carry the smell to our nose and to our minds making us hungry. After than we poured some milk and kept stirring till the consistency was thick like porridge. Finally, we added some salt and sweet corn and put it in the baking dish. We garnished it with sliced cheese and corn. Then we baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes till the cheese melted and became brownish. It was so delicious and many of us had several helpings of our Corn Au Gratin during snack time. One of our friend is gluten intolerant and she tried some salted buttered corn which was also delicious.

In the Music and Movement session with John, apart from the ‘thank you song’ in various languages, we also sang many Christmas songs, in preparation for our Winter Party.  Then we sang and wished our friend S a very Happy Birthday. We are celebrating our November birthdays later in the month, and hence we are saving her birthday gift for later. We all gave S a big warm group hug and that made her feel very special and loved.

We also played with stickle bricks and made various shapes and objects. Two of our friends made a long vertical head crown with it and pretended to balance it on their head as they walked, while some of us made bracelets or necklaces. Many of us also worked together to make a large house with it.

Pauline helped us to do our special craft with nail polish and that was the second activity that filled our classroom with aroma. So much so that when John came to our class for Music, he said “It smells so wonderful I want to put some nail polish too”. We all just burst out laughing because, of course, we didn’t paint our nails in school, but just did a craft activity. We cannot reveal much about this craft yet because it’s a part of the present we are making for the Winter party and so its top secret!!

We went for a long walk in the neighborhood later in the day, although we didn’t have enough time to go to the park to play.

Looking forward to another fun day at Ohana tomorrow!

Love,

Little chefs in Petals Class