How we change and grow
May 23rd, 2018
Dear Parents,
‘Growth is the only constant’ With this thought in mind, we discussed Living Things.
Pooja – what are living things?
Er – tadpoles
Sar – flowers
Tem – cow, bugs
Gr – pigs and animals
Li – children
Pooja – Great! So, plants, animals and people are all living things. What about a book? Is it a living thing too?
Tai – No, because it cannot grow.
Tem – living things can grow up
We then revisited some theme topics that we had previously learnt about. On 12th October 2017, we planted some flowers in the balcony outside our classroom. We were so surprised when Pooja showed us the pictures of that time. Gr, Tai and Ant could recognize themselves planting the yellow flowers.
Pooja - If plants are living things, they should have grown, so how do we find out?
Then Gr, Tai and Antvolunteered to observe any changes in the plants. They took a good look and came back in the group to share that when they planted it, there was only only one flower and now there were 8 flowers. This means that the plants have grown big.
Pooja – Great! Do you remember the mung beans we planted with Pauline? Did it grow? (then Pooja showed us pictures of us planting it)
Log – yes, it was so little then it grow so big.
Pooja – yes, it became a plant with leaves and we measured it using counters (we saw another picture, to help us remember)
Pooja – did our class pet tadpoles grow? When we got them from the pond in the second week of April, how big were they? (we saw pictures)
Er – they were baby tadpoles, no feet Pooja - Why did we bring them back to the pond after 5 weeks?
Gr – because they grew big and they have little feet
Er – because they are not baby anymore
Tem – they were froglets
Pooja – so we saw how our plants grew, how the mung beans grew, how the tadpoles grew, and we have also read about the caterpillar growing up to be a butterfly. What about the ‘children’ growing up, as Lisa said.
Wi – I was a baby and now I am big
Pooja – how do you know you are growing? Would you like to show us your Lifebook?
Wi (opening his Lifebook and showing his friends) – I am sleeping in Christmas, I was little, I was baby. I don’t walk, I don’t talk, I cry.
Pooja (asking him about the last few pages in his Lifebook) – What are you doing here?
Wi – I am doing slide. I am a boy now. I am so big now. Not baby anymore. My mummy’s tummy has a baby, a boy.
Pooja – what has changed since you were a baby?
Tai – tall
Tem – he is fat now
Pooja – you all measured your height and weight when you joined Petals Class, and the teachers are measuring it again now at the end of the year, to see how you have grown. But what makes us grow?
Gr – we need to sleep to grow big
Tem – eat something
A– lunch or snack
Mo – maybe we can eat fish
Tem – yoga and exercise
Pooja – you are in Petals class now, what happens when you grow big? Many of you will go to Flowers class and ..
Er – I am going to ASIJ
An – I am going to big school too, with So
Lo – I am going to a big school too
Ry – me too
Er – Pauline, you miss me?
We will miss you all soo soo much little Petals class children. You are not little anymore and how beautifully you have grown. How time flies and its almost the end of the year now. 3 more weeks to go! Let’s make the most of it!
Ry did his Show and Tell and told us, “I like Brownie. I was sitting there with Brownie for photo picture. Brownie is sleeping. I was walking with Brownie to get blood. Brownie wants to go in my head. I like to go in my papa’s head. I am holding Brownie. Brownie talk in Japanese, he said ‘toy’.” We had a lot of questions to ask Ryan.
Mo – did you bring Brownie for a walk?
Ry – no
Tai – did you take a bath with Brownie?
Ry – no
Tem – did you go to the park and do some slides?
Ry – no, I didn’t
A – did you go home with Brownie?
Ry – yes
Wi – did you see a big crocodile with Brownie?
Ry – no
Ken – Brownie sleep?
Ry – no
Ant – did you go supermarket with Brownie?
Ry – no
Li – did you eat banana with Brownie?
Ry – no
Gr – did you play with brownie in the playground?
Ry – no
Thank you, Ry, for sharing all your adventures! Brownie is going home with Ken now!
It was a fun run for us today when we went to the park and it started raining. We played for a few minutes and felt raindrops on our face, our cheeks, our hands and our whole body. We decided to go back to school and tried to catch raindrops in our mouth. A few minutes later, it stopped raining and we were so puzzled about what to do. This gave us an idea and we went to the pond to see how our ‘froglets’ were doing. To our surprise, we couldn’t see any tadpoles or froglets or frogs. Sayaka thought that they all grew up to be frogs and went for a ‘frog run’.
We also made lemon flavored play dough today. Sayaka gave us a lemon to touch and feel and smell. Then she cut it up and we took turns to smell it.
Gr – lemon, I like it
Er – lemon, mm
Shi – nothing! Haha! Lemon!
Mo – smells like tomato
Li – no like strawberry
An – smell like lemon and tomato
We also had our share of tasting the lemon.
We also enjoyed junk art modelling today. Ken made a necklace and crown combo jewelry, Ant and Sar made bridge, An made necklace, Li made a boat and Mo made a musical instrument.
Love, All of us in Petals Class