We Are Thankful!

It’s already November! Time flies so fast. We just had wonderful and a  spooky Halloween party! When is our next party? We will have to wait and see. Today we talked about thankfulness. We are thankful for our family, friends, Ohana school, toys, everything what we have.

Good morning Ohana! We greeted our teachers and friends. We actually noticed that Halloween is over because we don’t see Halloween decorations anymore in our classroom. Where did our teachers put them away, it happened so fast! But that is okay because we are thankful that we enjoyed a special day with each other. For free playtime, we had magnetic blocks, and feed the monster game from yesterday. It's very funny that we use it as a photo frame. We said, “Peek a boo!” and our teachers took some photos of us. We then listened to the story that Pauline read it for us.

 
While we were waiting for ballerina Maryna, we did a fun game. The rule was that we had to close our eyes, and then guess who is touching us. B had a turn first to touch his friends. It was very tricky to make a guess...but some of us could tell it was Ben! Our teachers also got a turn to guess. Kiki did a great job! She could tell us who touched her quite well. Pauline and Sayaka had a hard time to guess. Hehehe.
Ballerina Thursday! We had a fun time with her as always. Our favourite dance is “Bingo friendship dance” We always have a partner to dance together. It’s so much fun. We got so hungry after that, so we decided to have our snack time!

Its circle time now! We started with our morning song and did our calendar, its already November! Our weather reporter checked the weather for today. He said, “It’s cold and windy.” No wonder we felt so chilly and needed to put our jackets on. Sayaka said that the leaves change their colours in this season. We saw a lot of leaves outside and they were red, yellow, and brown in colour. It means that it’s getting cold and winter is coming.
Sayaka showed us a new book, “Peppa Gives Thanks” This story is about being thankful for what Peppa has. Her friend Suzy sheep got a new toy and she wants it, too. However, her dad reminds her she has many things and should be thankful for it. Then she realizes that she is very happy with what she has. Of course, she is thankful for her family and friends too! It was a nice book to think about what we are thankful for… It was a opportunity to talk about thankfulness. Kiki also read a book about a family, who had lots of people coming into the house. Later we found the house being so packed and busy. But at the end all the folks were coming to the house because it was a surprise Birthday party for the daddy! We are so lucky we have wonderful families around us, who love us and support us so much.

“What does being Thankful mean to you? Who are you thankful for in your life?”

B: It means “Thank you!”
Pauline: That’s right. That’s why I’m thankful for my family because they make me happy and I love them.
L: I’m thankful for my family, my mom.
R: I’m thankful for my family.
L: I’m thankful mommy, daddy.
J: I’m thankful for mommy.
C: I’m thankful for Ohana!
B: I like my toy. I’m thankful for my toys.
R: I’m thankful for toys.
R: Thankful to mommy.
SH: Toy car.
S: Papa pick- up car. Mommy I like. ( I am thankful for mommy. I am thankful for daddy to pick me up by a car.)
Y: Mommy and Teddy Bear
E: Mama and Dada. Grandma and Grandpa. 
S: For mommy and dolls.
M: My pumpkin. At home. We just carved, but it’s starting to get rotten. It’s smells funny now, and it’s squashed outside on the table. I’m thankful for them (family), too!
Kiki: I’m thankful for everything! My family... Petals class.. food.. because everything makes me happy! If we take away one, I will be sad…
Sayaka added that we should be thankful for whatever we have. Kiki also told us that there are some children in the world who don’t have anything. They don’t have a family, food, toys and some can’t even go to school. So, we are very fortunate and should be thankful for all that we have.

M added, “I like my slime” and smiled. He was thankful for what he got yesterday. We are very lucky and thankful for everything that we got from our Halloween Party.

When children are very young, it's easy to remind them to say, "Thank you," but as kids grow, so does their need to say more than a quick thanks. Our challenge is to develop a thankful heart from a very young age. Gratitude is a skill.  An attitude of gratitude is a positive way of looking at life.  Gratitude can increase our children’s happiness, teach them to be more empathetic and help them to be more thankful for everything they have.

After we had a nice discussion, we feel very hungry. It was lunch time! We were thankful for our lunches, “Itadakimasu!”

Thank you very much for today!

Have a great evening and see you next week!

Love,

Thankful Petals class.