Following instructions
Listening ears,
Hear, hear, hear!
We had some sleepy friends coming into class today, but we cannot blame them, as the weather is so cozy and perfect for a nice lie in. We decided to go with the flow and have a cozy book time at the library with Kiki. Many children sat around listening to “If you give a mouse a cookie,” a book they enjoyed with Pauline yesterday.
Slowly children moved to the table and carpet area to see the activities that were set up for them. At the tables, we had puzzles and crafts set up. Children helped us to make a thank you card of M-Sensei, for the wonderful Taiko event. We are also making other cards for future events for our wonderful teachers of Ohana. Children helped by stamping designs and decorating with their fingers, as this will be their “signature.”
At the carpet area, we had an eventful morning. As some of you may know, Marble tracks have been a huge hit in Petals class, so today we decided to change it up and do Dinosaur tracks! We brought out the wooden blocks, but instead of marbles, we had small dinosaurs. We wanted to see what they would come up with.
To our surprise, it wasn't tracks that they made, but houses and roads for the dinosaurs.
Sayaka: What are you making?
H: It’s a house!
C: Look, look.
Kiki: Wow, I wonder what we can make on this side of the carpet girls?
Y: We can make a house too!
Children started to build all different types of houses and roads. It was very fascinating to see their concept of thought and the things they would link up too and connect with.
A: We don’t have a roof for our house. We need to make a roof.
Yo: Yes. Kiki This is Onnie-chan (big sister, pointing to a green dinosaur in their house).
Ms: This is for your house. (He made a statue, as a decoration piece for inside the house).
for inside the house).
Yo and A: Oh no!
Kiki came back to see the house was broken. She asked them what happened?
S: I happened! (Showing a dinosaur in his hand, implying that the dinosaur attacked the house).
Kiki: Oh I see...well dinosaur, can you help build back the house, I think the other dinosaurs are sad because there is no house for them now.
S: Okay!
A: This is for the roof, but I don’t know how to put it up.
S: (Takes the pieces) We can do like this, look Kiki, it’s a bridge.
Kiki: Oh cool! E what are you doing there?
E: This is house (pointing to the carpet area). This E house, no finished. This (acting out stairs). Oh look, it’s M! (a block had two holes going through, that made it look like the letter M).
H: This (pointing at her house she made).
R: This is bed
After our morning fun, we greeted each other and had our yummy snacks. As it was drizzling and not all our friends har raincoats, we decided to have another day in. For today's learning center we decided to practice our listening and self-restrain skills.
Kiki set the circle with our standing board and some papers and pencils. She then read the book ‘No David” by David Shannon, and asked the children what was David’s mistakes. The children answered unanimously that he was not listening to mommy. The importance of listening ears was highlighted, which linked into the “game” Kiki had prepared. The purpose of the game is to see if the children can listen, follow instructions and have the restraint to stop themselves from overdoing things. Yes, this is a hard challenge for our Petals children, but we are proud to say everyone did an amazing job listening to Kiki’s instructions! The game was like “Simon Says,” where children followed instructions to draw something. Hmm...but what are we drawing? Children raised their pencils and did “bibbidi bobbidi boo!” to begin their drawing.
Step 1: Make 1 circle
Step 2: Make 2 line..1...2…
Step 3: Make 1 more bigger or oval circle.
Kiki: Stop to look. What does it look like?
All: Circle!!!
Step 4: Draw, 1...2...zoop! 1….2….zoop! (Two legs)
Step 5: Draw 1...2….kichi kichi kichi. 1...2...Kichi kichi kichi (arms and hands).
Kiki: Stop and look. What does it look like now?
C: It’s standing up!
Y: It’s people
L: It’s Kiki!
Kiki: Pencils up...bibbidi bobbidi boo!
All: Bibbidi bobbidi boo!!!
Step 6: 10 lines on top of the circle. 1..2..3..4……..10.
Step 7: 2 dots. 1..2..pop!
Step 8: Eyebrows, 1...2...lines going down. Rrr...he is angry!
Kiki: Who is it?
All: (looking confused)
Step 9: Now a triangle shape. Try your best. 1,2,3!
H: It’s a face!
Kiki: Ping pong! Now what kind of mouth do you want.. Oooo..or smile or rrrrr.
All: Happy...Smile!
Step 10: A loop….shwoop...and teeth, down up, down up, down up!
Kiki: Who do you see? (Kiki lifts the book up, side by side.)
All: David! David! David!
Kiki: YES! Guess what children, you all drew No David! YAAAAYY!!
All: YAAAAY!
Children were so happy and proud to see their pictures. We discussed how all our pictures looked different, even Kiki’s looked different from the original picture. We talked about how important it is to try things even if it feels hard or looks different. Of course, we will make mistakes, that is okay, but when we don’t listen, that is when things become a problem, as you can get hurt.
Our uniqueness makes us special...Mistakes are okay as long as we try our best!
We had a wonderful day today filled with our best efforts
We hope you have a lovely afternoon and see you tomorrow.
Lots of love,
Listening Petals Class 2018-2019