Viennese Waltz & Ball

Dear Mommies and Daddies,

We travelled to Austria today and had so much fun. Thanks to Eriko, for coming to class and teaching us how to Waltz. Eriko told us that Alex, is from Austria and she has visited Vienna two times with him. When she came to class, we first sang our ‘Hello song’ and introduced ourselves to her followed by singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song to one of our birthday girls this month. We wish her all the happiness and love on her 5th birthday!  Then we looked at the map of the continent of Europe and identified a country that looked like a lady’s boot, Italy. On top of that is Austria, shaped like Aladdin’s genie lamp. We sure are very imaginative, don’t you think? Eriko shared that Austria used to be a very big country that had kings and queens and castles and it was unique as it took influences from Italy and France because of the proximity to these countries. Then Eriko told showed us some pictures and told us that the Opera Hall in Vienna is one of the best in the world where Opera balls are held and people waltz all night. The women usually wear white gowns and white gloves whereas men are dressed in suits. She told us that the Waltz, a ballroom and folk dance, dates back 400 years, and has evolved a lot since it started. Eriko told us that between January and March about 500 parties and balls are hosted in Vienna alone. Then we saw a small video clip of how to Waltz. After that, Eriko and some of the girls in class changed into their princess dresses and chose a partner. Eriko helped us with the positions and told us where to place our hands and we danced beautifully to the music. It was so much fun and we felt so royal. At the end of the dance, the girls curtsied and the boys bowed. After that, we had our question and answer round. A few questions we asked her was what language people speak in Austria? - German. Are there still kings and queens there? Yes, their families are there not they do not rule anymore. Why do people party all night? It’s so beautiful in the night with the moonlight and beautiful lighting that is why. Is the movie the ‘Sound of Music’ from Austria? Yes, it is. Then we asked her what time it is in Austria and she said that it is 9 hours behind and so it was probably around midnight. Finally, Eriko gave us yummy cakes and crackers from Austria. Thank you so much Eriko for this beautiful experience today. It was a wet day and we couldn’t go to the park so we did some music and movement in the classroom. Firstly, Darren used the projector and we saw the video of Do Re Mi from the ‘sound of music’. It’s one of our favorite class songs and we sang beautifully. Then we also saw a few small videos of Beethoven’s composition since he also lived most of his life in Austria. We used the projector as a learning tool for the first time in class today and it was so exciting. Going forward, we sure hope to use it more often in class. Then we sang and danced some more and made a train and ran around the classroom. Pooja also read us a very fun book, called ‘If you give a mouse a cookie’. Then we sang ‘who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?’ We found out that it was Pooja who stole the cookie and she confessed that it was so yummy. After that, we decided to have some free play time again since we had a short free play time in the morning. Some of us wrote Birthday cards for our friends while a few of us even practiced our writing skills. On one of the tables, some of our friends did play-dough. Another popular activity today was playing in the tunnel and pretending to make a birthday cake for our friends 5th birthday.

Have a great afternoon,

Love,

Darren, Pauline, Pooja and all the international travelers in Flowers Class.